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Floristic and Inventory Study of Mallaha Wetland
Tripoli – Libya
Mohammed Hadi Mahklouf 1,*, Fathi G. Al-Sghair 1
1 Botany Department, Faculty of Sciences, Tripoli University, Tripoli, Libya
* Corresponding author: Mohammed Hadi Mahklouf, Botany Department, Faculty of
Sciences, Tripoli University, Tripoli, Libya. E-mail: mahklouf64@yahoo.com
Abstract
e aim of this study is to investigate the biodiversity status of Mallaha wetland, the study
was carried out in the period between February and July 2016, with one trip per week,
the result of the survey let to collection and identication of 90 plant species belonging
to 24 families and 76 genera, of which 24 species are belonging to monocotyledons
and 66 belonging to dicotyledons. Floristic analysis were carried out which showed the
predominance of the family Poaceae with 18 species followed by the family Asteraceae with
16 species, the result was also showed the predominance of the genus juncus with 4 species.
Life forms and chorological spectra were analyzed as well which showed predominance of
erophytes with 59 species and Mediterranean chorotypes with 29 species.
© 2016. American Journal of Life
Science Researches.
Submited: 06.18.2016
Accepted: 09.03.2016
Keywords:
Flora
Biodiversity
Salt-Tolerant Plants
American Journal of Life Science Researches
Oct 2016, Volume 4, Issue 4
Original Article
DOI: 10.21859/ajlsr-040401
INTRODUCTION
e total coastline of Libya is about 1975 km long, numer-
ous salt marshes bordered by sabkhas occur along the coast,
these sabkhas cover some a very large area on the coast line
and most of them are completely dry during the summer
season. e sabkha has been identied as a natural bio-
tope for special poor vegetation cover composed mainly of
halophytes and desert plant taxa around the sabkha due to
coarse sand texture and prevailing semiarid conditions [1].
Salt pans (sabkhas) and salt-marshes occur along the coast-
al strip, formed by the ponding and subsequent evapora-
tion of water behind the coastal dunes. ese arise where
run-o collects, but the capillary rise of groundwater from
a shallow water table has also contributed to the develop-
ment of these features. One of the largest sabkhas is located
in the western part of Libya and is called “the Abu Kam-
mash salt marsh (Abu Kammash subkha)” and it is found
along the coastal Libyan-Tunisian highway about 150 km
west of Tripoli in the Abu Kammash area near the Tunisian
border, carry salt-marsh vegetation. In addition, there are
saline marshes on the Plain of Gefara inland. To the east of
Tripoli there are some water bodies so formed may persist
from year to year. e most important of these are in the
Wadi Kaam between Al Khums and Zlitan, and in the Wadi
Turhat some 50 km east of Tripoli, these water bodies are
brackish and fringed by reeds, rushes and sedges. To the
east of Mistratah is the great sabkhat of Tawurgha which
extends along shore behind the sand beach for 100 km
between Misratah and Bu’ayrat al Hasun. Other salt pans,
some of considerable extent, occur inland on the Plain of
Sirt. the Sabkhat al Qunayyin, and the great marsh behind
the coastal dunes at Ajdabiya, this is 70 km long and 12 km
wide in places, and carries typical salt-marsh vegetation.
North of this, continuing up the eastern side of the Gulf of
Sirt towards Banghazi, there is a series of salt pans subject
to temporary inundation behind the barrier beach. Immedi-
ately north of Qaminis, a system of pans reaches 40 km in-
land from the sea carry halophytic vegetation. Others north
of Banghazi have fresh water pools, but these particular sites
are very much disturbed and threatened by the encroach-
ment of urban development. To the south of the country
also there are several oases and wetlands such as oases of
the Ghat region, oases of Sebha district, the lakes of Wau En
Namus, the oases of Kufrah and others. All these wetlands
with special halophytic and desert vegetation [1].
In Libya there are no adequate oristic studies on such sa-
line habitats, except the study of Kikili & Erteb [2] on the
ora of Farwa island, so one of the important coastal salt
marches is Mallaha wetland in the North east of Tripoli,
the diversity of Mallaha which is mainly characterized as a
salt-marsh habitat suitable for halophytic and salt tolerant
plants, it is still oristically unexplored and this work is the
rst oristic and inventory study in this wetland, so it may
provide new contribution to the biodiversity status of such
habitats.
Study Area
Mallaha is a wetland located in northeastern Tripoli (32°
53’ 58” N, 13° 17’ 15” E) (Fig 1). e site is about 2.5 km
in length with a maximum width of about 1.5 km. It has a
surface area of about 3.75 ha. It is a salt marsh, fed by a canal
from the sea year round and by rainfall during winter. e
northern part of Mallaha is dominated by dry sandy areas,
grasses, dry and wet streams, canals, and brackish and salty
pools. It also contains trees and shrubs, dumping yards for
garbage and waste materials, the ruins of old residential and
military buildings, and gravel and dust roads. ere are salt
marshes in the south western portion that considered suit-
able for halophytic plants and provide food and shelter for a
variety of aquatic birds [3, 4] (Fig 1).
Mahklouf, et al
120
Figure 1: Satellite Image of the Study Area (via hp://maps.google.
com.ly).
METHODS
e study was conducted during growing season 2016, in the
period between February and July for one trip a week, col-
lected plants were brought to herbarium and subjected ordi-
nary herbarium procedures such as drying, pressing, mount-
ing, labeling and identication. Identication of plant species
were done using data from literatures provided such as [5-8]
the collected and identied plant species were deposited at
national herbarium, Botany department, Faculty of Sciences,
Tripoli University.
RESULTS
At the end of the survey a total of 90 plant species belonging
to 24 families (3 families belonging to monocotyledons and
21 families belonging to dicotyledones) and 76 genera were
collected and identied, of which 24 species and 19 genera
are belong to monocotyledons, and 66 species and 57 genera
are belonging to dicotyledons (Tables 1 and 2).
Floristic analysis were carried out which showed the pre-
dominance of the family Poaceae with 18 species, followed
by the family Asteraceae with 16 species, the result was also
showed the predominance of the genus Juncus with 4 species,
followed by genus Bromus and Lotus with 3 species each, then
the genera Senecio, Hypochoeris, Acacia, Erodium, Mesembry-
anthemum and Malva with 2 species each.
59
13
5
7
4
2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Figure 2: Shows the Number of Species According to eir Life Forms.
Family Species Life Form Chroptype
Juncaceae
Juncus acutus L. G Med./ Ir-Tu.
Juncu bufonius L. GCos.
Juncus maritimus Lam. G Med./ Eru-Si.
Juncus subulatus Lam. GMed.
Liliaceae
Allium ampeloprasum L. G Med./ Ir-Tu.
Asphodellus festulosus L. GMed.
Poaceae
Avena barbata Po ex Link. Med.
Bromus diandrus Roth. Med.
Bromus molliformis Lloyd Med./ Eru-Si.
Bromus rigidus Roth. Med./ Eru-Si.
Cenchrus ciliaris L. Sah-Ar.
Cutandia maritima (L.) Barbey. GMed.
Cyrodon dactylon (L.)Pers. GPlu.
Elytrigia juncea (L.) Nevskli in Acta. G Med./ Eru-Si.
Hordeum marinum Hrds Plu.
Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf. Plu.
Lagurus ovatus L. Med./Eru-Si.
Lophochloa cristata (L.) Hyl. Plu.
Parapholis incurva (L.) C. E. Hubbard Med./ Ir-Tu./ Er-Si
Phalaris minor Retz. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Phragmitis australis (Cav.) Trin ex Steud. GCos
Piptatherum meliaceum (L.) Coss. HMed.
Polypogon monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Plu.
Stipa capensis unb Med./ Ir-Tu./ Sah-Ar.
: erophytes; H: Hemicryptyphyes; G: Geophytes; NP: Nanophanerophytes; P: Phanerophytes; Ch: Chaemephytes.
American Journal of Life Science Researches
121
Life form spectrurm of collected species were analyzed ac-
cording to Raunkiae system [9] as modied by Govaerts et
al.[10] , which showed absolute dominance of erophytes
with 59 species, followed by Geophytes with 13 species, the
rest of life forms were with lile appearance, that Hemicryp-
tophytes with 7 species and Nanophanerophytes with 5 spe-
cies, then Chaemephytes with 4 species and Phanerophytes
2 species (Tables 1, 2 and 3) (Fig 2).
Family Species Life Form Chorotype
Aizoaceae
Carpobrotus edulis (L.) Bolus. G Plu.
Mesembryathemum chrystallinum L. Med./ Eru-Si.
Mesembryathemum nodiorum L. Med. /Eru-Si./ Sah-Ara.
Apiaceae
Daucus carota L. H Med./ Ir-Tu.
Asteraceae
Aetheorrhiza bulbosa (L.) Cass. G Med.
Amberboa libyca (Viv.) Alavi. Med.
Atractylis serratuloides Cass. Ch Sah-Ara.
Carduus argentatus L. Med.
Calenula arvensis L. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Chrysanthemum coronarium L. Med.
Hypochoeris achyrophoprus L. Med.
Hypochoeris L. Med./ Ir-Tu./ Eru-Si
Launaea resedifolia (L.) kuntze. Med.
Leontodon simplex Med./ Eru-Si.
Phagnalon rupestre (L.) DC. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Reichardia tingitana (L.) Roth. Sah-Ar./ Ir-Tu
Senecio gallicus Chiax vin. Med.
Senecio vulgaris L. Med./ Ir-Tu./Eru-Si
Sonchus oleraceus L. Cos.
Urospermum picroides (L.) F.W.Schmidt Med./ Ir-Tu.
Boraginaceae
Echium angustifolium Mill. HMed.
Heliotropium curassavicum L. Cos.
Brassicaceae
Brassica tournefortii Goun. Med./ Sah-Ara.
Sisymbrium irrio L. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Caryophyllaceae
Silene gallica L. Cos.
Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb. Plu.
Chenopodiaceae
Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (Moric.) K.Koch Ch Med.
Beta vulgaris L. Med./ Ir-Tu./ Eru-Si.
Chenopodium murale L. Plu.
Kochia indica Wight. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Salsola kali auct. non L. Plu.
Suaeda vera Forssk. ex J.F.Gmel. Ch Med./ Sah.-Ara.
Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbia terracina L. H Med./ Eru-Si.
Ricinus communis L. NIr -Tu .
Astragalus stella L. Med.
Fabaceae
Hippocrepis bicontorta Loisel. Sah-Ara.
Hippocrepis multiseliquosa L. Med.
Lotus edulis L. Med.
Lotus halophilus Boiss. & Spruner Med.
Lotus cytisoides L. HMed.
Medicago polymorpha L. Med./ Ir-Tu.
Melilotus sulcatus Desf. Med.
Mahklouf, et al
122
Retama raetam (Forssk.) Webb N Sah-Ara.
Scorpiurus muricatus L. Med.
Trigonella maritima Delile ex Poir. Med.
Gentianaceae Centaurium pulchellum (Swartz.) Druce. Med.
Geraniaceae
Erodium laciniatum (Cav.) Willd. Med.
Erodium glaucophyllum (L.) L’Her. Sah-Ara.
Lyhraceae Lythrum sp Med.
Malvaceae
Lavatera sp Med./ Ir-Tu.
Malva parviora L. Med./ Eru-Si.
Malva sylvestris L. H Med./ Ir-Tu.
Memosaceae
Acacia karroo Hayne PPlu.
Acacia cyanoplhylla Lindl. P I r-Tu.
Oxalidaceae Oxalis pes-caprae L. GPlu.
Plantaginaceae Plantago coronopus L. Med./Er-Tu./Sah-Ar.
plumpaginaceae
Limonium sibthorpianum (Guss.) Kuntze H Med.
Polygonum equisetiforme L. Ch Plu.
Primulaceae Anagalis arvensis L. Med. /Ir-Tu/ Eru-Si.
Solanaceae
Datura innoxia Mill. Plu.
Hyoschyamus albus L. Med.
Lycium schweinfurthii Dammer. NMed.
Nicotiana glauca Graham. N Plu.
Solanum nigrum L. Cos.
Tamaricaceae Tamarix aphylla (L.) Karsten N Sud./Sah-Ara.
Tetragoniaceae Tetragonia teragonoides (Pallas) O. Kuntze Sud.
: erophytes; H: Hemicryptyphyes; G: Geophytes; NP: Nanophanerophytes; P: Phanerophytes; Ch: Chaemephytes.
Table 3: Shows the Number of Species According to eir Life
Forms
Life form No of Species
erophytes 59
Geophytes 13
Nanophanerophytes 5
Hemicreptohyts 7
Chaemephytes 4
Phanerophytes 2
Table 4: Shows the Number of Species According to eir
Chorotypes
Chorotype No of Species
Med. 29
Med./ Ir-Tu. 12
Plu. 14
Cos. 6
Sah-Ara. 5
Med./ Eru-Si.9
Eru-Si./Ir-Tu/ Med. 5
Med./ Sah.-Ara. 2
Sah-Ara./Eru-Si./ Med. 2
Ir -Tu . 2
Med./Er-Tu./Sah-Ar. 1
Sah-Ar./ Ir-Tu 1
Sud./Sah-Ara. 1
Sud. 1
DISCUSSION
Chorological spectrum of collected and identied plant spe-
cies were analyzed as well, the results have shown absolute
predominance of Mediterranean species with 29 species, fol-
lowed by Pluri-regional species with 14 species, then Medi-
terranean / Iranu-Turanean species with 12 species, the rest
of chorological spectra were with lile appearance as shown
in Tables 1, 2 and 4 and Fig 3.
29
12
14
6
5
9
5
222
1111
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Figure 3: Shows the Number of Species According to eir Choro-
types
e dominance of the family Poaceae and Asteraceae were
expected because these families are dominated the Mediterra-
nean climate conditions, in addition, these families are cosmo-
American Journal of Life Science Researches
123
politan in distribution, and the dominance of erophytes and
Mediterranean chorotypes were expected as well because the
study area is located within the coastal Mediterranean region in
which the Mediterranean erophytes are dominating.
As expected, most of the study area are covered and dominat-
ed by true halophytic vegetation, such species are Suaeda vera,
Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Tamarix aphyla, Kochia indica,
Phragmitis australis, Beta vulgaris, Heliotropium curassavicum,
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, Mesembryanthemum nodi-
orum, Juncus spp, Lotus cytisoides, Limonium sibthorpianum,
Salsola kali, Trigonella maritima, Tetragonia tetragonoides, and
many others which considered as Euhalophytic species.
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