Scientific Area
Distribution and History of the wild Alien species in the Egyptian Flora.
ID: 613 / 246
Category: Abstract
Track: Pending
Proposed Symposium Title: Distribution and History of the wild Alien species in the Egyptian Flora.
Authors:
Salma K. Shaltout¹*, Hasnaa A. Hosni², Mohamed H. El-Beheiry¹, Ahmed Sharaf El-Din¹, Dalia A. Ahmed¹, Kamal H. Shaltout¹
Affiliations: ¹Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527, Tanta, Egypt. Salma.shaltout@science.tanta.edu.eg, mbehery58@yahoo.com, sharafelden49@yahoo.com, drdalia1080@yahoo.com, kshaltout@yahoo.com ²Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. h.hosni@yahoo.com.
Abstract:
The present study aims to achieve the following points: 1- re-updating the checklist of the Egyptian alien taxa, 2- assessing the origin, way of introducing, which taxa survived without human agency and the date of first record (FR). 3-differentiating the categories of the alien taxa in Egypt, 4- recognizing the distribution of the alien taxa in Egypt and the World. The re-updated alien list includes 250 species arranged according to Engler system; it was updated from literature reviewing, field trips and herbaria consultation. Three categories of alien species were recognized: casual (114 species), naturalized (129 species) and invasive (7 species). Four major groups of habitats are determined (aquatic, moist, fields and gardens, ruderal and natural habitats). Cultivation fields are the most represented, while the natural habitats were the least. Fifty-three species were distributed in only one phytogeographical region, but three species had a wide distribution. One hundred and twenty eight of the alien species belong to the Palaeotropical Kingdom. The species under study belong to 24 origins: 18 in the Old World and 6 in the new world (the plants from South America are the most represented). The date of introduction covers a period of 250-300 years (1750 up till now). Forty-nine species matched with the period of 1850-1900, followed by 1950-2000 (42 species) and 1900-1950 (19 species).