Plant-soil Interlinkage Indicates Functional Green Water Areas in an Arid Ecosystem

Abdullah, Mansour T; Abdullah, Meshal M; Al-Ali, Zahraa M; Almousa, Mohammad A

doi:10.21608/cat.2024.374014

Plant-soil Interlinkage Indicates Functional Green Water Areas in an Arid Ecosystem

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Science Department, College of Basic Education, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Alardyia P.O. Box 23167, Safat, Kuwait

² Geography Department, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, P.O. Box 50, Oman

³ Natural Environmental Systems and Technologies Research Group, Ecolife Sciences Research and Consultation, Kuwait

10.21608/cat.2024.374014

Abstract

The biodiversity of arid ecosystems is endangered due to environmental factors and human anthropogenic activities. Assessing green water areas and finding biological and ecological indicators is critical to conserving biodiversity. This study investigates the impact of annual plants in conserving green water areas and supporting the ecosystem. We explored the influence of soil conditions and annual plants on establishing and developing perennial shrubs from northern parts of Kuwait dominated by the Rhanterium epapposum community. The study plots comprise 25 vascular plants, with herbaceous plants dominating. The Simpson's reciprocal index for species-rich plots had the highest value of plant diversity (1/D = 14.9), while species-poor plots had the lowest (1/D = 7). Furthermore, Rhanterium epapposum from species-rich plots had the most significant structural values and canopy cover (42%), whereas species-poor plots represented only 8.4% cover. Soil characteristics such as phosphorus (>20%), nitrate (>42%), carbon (>10%), total organic carbon (>63%), and moisture content (>70%) were higher in species-rich plots. In addition, the PCA biplot correlation analysis between vegetation and soil parameters revealed that total organic carbon, nitrate, nitrite, and soil moisture content were the key variables in species-rich plots. We determined that arid areas with a significant number of annual plants are considered a biological indicator of green water areas. In addition, the presence of loamy soil texture is an ecological indicator of a healthy species-rich ecosystem. However, further research is necessary to understand the relationship between biotic and abiotic factors influencing the degree of elements present in green water areas.

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