The Contribution of Land Uses in Determining the Vegetation Structure and Species Composition in High Altitude Areas of Al Baha Southwest Saudi Arabia

Abdulrahman Al Zandi^1, , Nageeb A. Al-Sagheer^{1, 2} and Abdul wali Al-Khulaidi²

¹Department of Biology, College of Science and Arts, Albaha University (BU), Qilwah Saudi Arabia2Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (AREA), Yemen

²Department of Biology, College of Science and Arts, Albaha University (BU), Baljurashi, Saudi Arabia

Cite this paper:
Abdulrahman Al Zandi, Nageeb A. Al-Sagheer and Abdul wali Al-Khulaidi. The Contribution of Land Uses in Determining the Vegetation Structure and Species Composition in High Altitude Areas of Al Baha Southwest Saudi Arabia. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2020; 8(1):12-20. doi: 10.12691/aees-8-1-2

Abstract

The present study has been carried out in Al Baha region, southwest of Saudi Arabia. Five land use types were selected, namely abandoned terraces, communal areas, protected areas (enclosure areas), national parks and settlement areas. The quadrat of 25m * 25 m was laid over the different land uses to study the vegetation structure, plant composition, plant diversity and seedlings regenerating status. The results showed a total of 365 plant species belong to 72 families. The similarity in plant species composition among the land uses types was high in the abandoned terraces and protected areas with 92 %. The class distribution size of regenerated plant species was normal in abandoned terraces and protected areas but this normal trend was disturbed irregularly in communal areas, national parks and settlement areas due to a high level of human interference. However, a higher average of disturbance among the land uses was found to be significant with p- a value of 0.04 and 0.001 respectively. This amount of disturbance severely affecting the seedlings recruitment especially in the communal and settlement areas, indicating that there is an urgent need for planning the sustainable management for the appropriate measure to overcome the problem. IVI index revealed that there are somehow similarities in species composition between both communal areas and settlement areas. The outcomes of this study concluded that understanding the conflicts between human activities and land uses has to be taken into consideration for developing and sustainable management plans in futures. Therefore, the reduction of disturbances and creating participation management plans with local and indigenous people is essential to enhance the sustainability of the forests.

Keywords:
Abandoned terraces Al-baha disturbance land use protected areas species richness and diversity

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