Floristic study and plant diversity of Wadi Abo Alakmal basin west Tobruk city in North-eastern Libya
Abstract
This work was conducted along Wadi Abo Alakmal in north Libya on the Mediterranean coastal region. The aim of the present study is to assess the floristic composition and plant diversity of the Wadi Abo Alakmal basin. The floristic studies carried out in the vegetation season from 2022 to 2024 led to the identification of 85 plant taxa belonging to 66 genera and 27 botanical families. The predominant families are Asteraceae with 14 species (16.47%), followed by Fabaceae 12 species (14.11%) and Amaranthaceae 9 species (10.58%). Furthermore, the most dominant genera were Limonium with 4 species (4.71%) of the recorded species, followed by Euphorbia and Lathyrus 3 species (3.52%) each. Two endemic taxa (Echinops cyreaicus E. A. and Limonium cyrenaicum (Rouy) Brullo) and one near-endemic taxa (Limonium tubiflorum (Delile) Kuntze) have been collected in the present research. Data of the present study revealed that perennials had the highest contribution (49.41%) than annuals (47.05%). In addition, the most frequent life span class was herbs 45 species (52.94%), followed by shrubs 30 species (35.29%) and sub-shrubs 10 species (11.76%). Regarding the life forms spectra, Therophytes had the highest records with 39 species (45.88%), followed by Chamaephytes with 24 species (28.23%) and Phanerophytes with 12 species (14.11%). Furthermore, Chorotype spectrum analysis of the recorded flora has shown that dominance of the Monoregional (55.29%) of the total flora, followed by the Biregional (35.29%) and finally Pluriregional (9.41%). In conclusion, this research shows that even small portion of the Mediterranean cost such as Wadi Abo Alakmal has high species diversity. In addition, this study provide data on floristic diversity for effective implementation of conservation approaches in study area.
Keywords:
Chorotype, Flora, Plant diversity, Wadi Abo Alakmal, Tobruk-Libya.
How to Cite
Omar A. F. Arwag. (2025). Floristic study and plant diversity of Wadi Abo Alakmal basin west Tobruk city in North-eastern Libya. Bani Waleed University Journal of Humanities and Applied Sciences, 10(2), 356-371. https://doi.org/10.58916/jhas.v10i2.750
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