Shahid Khan

Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi | EAD · Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity Sector

Biodiversity is under enormous pressure from multiple threats including climate change, land use change, habitat alterations and hunting pressure. One way to ease this pressure on biodiversity and to mitigate the effects of above-mentioned threats, is to establish protected areas. Importance of protected increases many folds in regions that are con...

Species diversity and abundance of wild birds in Bul Syayeef, a Ramsar Site in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) host valuable coastal and marine biodiversity that is subjected to multiple pressures under extreme conditions. To mitigate impacts on marine ecosystems, the UAE protects almost 12% of its Exclusive Economic Zone. This study mapped and validated the distribution of key coastal and marine habitats, species and critical...

The greater flamingo is a predominantly winter passage migrant to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), though a small proportion of resident birds is present at a few sites throughout the year. Some of these resident flamingos breed in early summer at Al Wathba Wetland Reserve, a man-made inland wetland in the predominant desert ecosystem of Abu Dhabi E...

Wetlands play an important role in ecosystem function, and are known to support rich biodiversity, this becomes even more pronounced in hyper-arid climates. The Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi Emirate is a wetland mosaic that boasts both brackish and freshwater pools. The levels of nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and total organic carbon is much...

This is a Guide to the common native, naturalized and introduced grasses and grass like species of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Researching grasses and grass like species in the UAE needs a lot of interest and many different habitats such as wadis, wetlands, gardens, gravel plains and the desert have to be monitored and it takes many years of de...

Using greater flamingo tracking and count data in delineating marine protected areas in the coastal zone of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Conservation planning in an economically important area

Systematic conservation planning is essential in the justification and design of protected areas, especially in an era where every piece of land or water is at a high premium. We used satellite tracking data and regular monitoring of Greater flamingos into the spatial prioritization planning tool Marxan to identify the most important zones for t...

United Arab Emirates is an important range country for the ‘Vulnerable’ Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis and Abu Dhabi Emirate holds most of the remaining breeding colonies. Emirate-wide monitoring of all breeding colonies was undertaken annually for 11 breeding seasons from 2006–2007 to 2016–2017 to monitor the status of breeding colon...

An assessment of alien species was carried out by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi using fieldwork data, questionnaires and networking with relevant stakeholders. The initial assessment in 2015 showed a total of 146 alien species in the UAE which comprised 49 invertebrate species, five freshwater fish species, one amphibian species, six reptile s...

Epipactis veratrifolia is recorded for the first time from Jebel Hafeet, a mountain in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). This species had been previously recorded from the northern part of the UAE and other areas on the Arabian Peninsula. The occurrence of E. veratrifolia in Jebel Hafeet expands the eastern distribution limits of the species a...

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) monitoring was undertaken in the United Arab Emirates from 2003 to 2015 at 36 permanent sites to find key wintering and breeding sites. Bul Syayeef Marine Protected Area with monthly mean of 6553 (±3594) flamingos followed by Al Wathba Wetland Reserve with 1228 (±1190) flamingos topped the list. In addition,...

Little is documented on the alien terrestrial and freshwater species in the United Arab Emirates. To address this, an assessment of terrestrial and freshwater alien species was conducted using various techniques such as a questionnaire, fieldwork data, networking with relevant people, and a detailed literature review. The results of the initial ass...

Little is documented on the alien terrestrial and freshwater species in the United Arab Emirates. To address this, an assessment of terrestrial and freshwater alien species was conducted using various techniques such as a questionnaire, fieldwork data, networking with relevant people, and a detailed literature review. The results of the initial ass...

Little is documented on the alien terrestrial and freshwater species in the United Arab Emirates. To address this, an assessment of terrestrial and freshwater alien species was conducted using various techniques such as a questionnaire, fieldwork data, networking with relevant people, and a detailed literature review. The results of the initial ass...

Abstract: Little is documented on the alien terrestrial and freshwater species in the United Arab Emirates. To address this, an assessment of terrestrial and freshwater alien species was conducted using various techniques such as a questionnaire, fieldwork data, networking with relevant people, and a detailed literature review. The results of the i...

Following recovery and successful rehabilitation, a young Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis was tagged with a 45 g GPS satellite transmitter to track its migration and identify potential wintering and summering areas of the species passing through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study is part of a larger study on understanding migration of importa...

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A field guide to common invertebrate, reptiles, birds, mammals and plants of Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE.

The movement and migration pattern of the ‘Near Threatened’ Sooty Falcon Falco concolor is poorly known. Sooty Falcons breed on the islands of the Arabian Gulf after arriving from their non-breeding areas that are mainly in Madagascar. In the first satellite tracking of the species we fitted a 9.5 g Argos solar powered transmitter on an adult breed...

We studied the nesting and distribution of the Crab Plover, Dromas ardeola, in the United Arab Emirates through regular monitoring of colonies during the breeding season and counts at other key waterbird sites throughout the country during the non-breeding season. Based on counts of active nests, we estimate 1400–1500 breeding pairs of Crab Plovers...

The second highest numbers of 4,284 flamingo were recorded from Al Aryam in April 2009 followed by Al Wathba Wetland Reserve with 1,919 and Shahama, a privately owned inland wetland near the east coast of Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, out of 13 islands that were surveyed the highest numbers were recorded from Butinah Island (257 flamingos) followed by Je...

Nest-site selection and nesting habitat use by the Sooty Gull (Larus hemprichii) was studied on Jarnein Island in the United Arab Emirates during the 2002 breeding season. Sooty Gull nests were located mainly on the north and northeast sides of the island. Birds showed definite preference for rocky substrates.

This paper reviews the distribution and status of Galliformes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over recent years. Hunting being strictly forbidden, the protection offered to bird species in general and Galliformes in particular in the UAE has helped them establish healthy breeding populations and some of them have expanded their range. Five specie...

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a regional priority and a resident breeding species in the United Arab Emirates. Extensive surveys were conducted during the 2007 breeding season to assess the current breeding status of Ospreys in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. A total of 61 sites were surveyed, which included 46 islands and 15 coastal sites. Altogether...

The Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor), a migrant breeder in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been recorded breeding only from the Abu Dhabi Emirate. EAD undertook an extensive survey in 2007 to document their current status. A total of 22 sites (19 island sites and 3 coastal sites) were surveyed in the Abu Dhabi Emirate. Surveys were conducted three...

The Red-billed Tropicbird, Phaethon aethereus breeds only on three islands in the United Arab Emirates. In March 2007, extensive searches and mapping of tropicbird nests were carried out on Jarnein Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. A total of 217 nests was recorded of which 71% (155) were active with either chick or egg or adult bird present. Considering o...

The mudflats of the southern Gulf support several million waterbirds during spring and autumn migration and an estimated 250 000 shorebirds use the vast inter-tidal zone of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at peak periods (Evans 1994, Butler et al. 2001). The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with nearly 70% of the total land area of the Emirates, a 340 km coast...

Habitat suitability modelling of the Western tragopan using remote sensing and GIS modelling using field data collected between 1998-2001.

The Western Tragopan is one of the four species of tragopan that occur in India and it inhabits a small range in the western and north-western Himalayas. It is vulnerable to extinction and no more than 5000 birds survive in the wild. Many surveys have been undertaken to map its distribution and to access its population status. The most common metho...