Spatial relationship of ephemeral plants to Artemisia monosperma (Asteraceae) canopy in Egyptian deserts | ||
| Taeckholmia | ||
| Article 1, Volume 20, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 115-122 PDF (256.13 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/taec.2000.12480 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Mohamed ZAYED* 1; Detlef Bartsch2 | ||
| 1Botany Dept., Fac. of Science, El-Menoufiya University, 32511, Egypt. | ||
| 2Biology V, Aachen University of Technology RWTH, 52056 Aachen Germany | ||
| Abstract | ||
| In desert plant communities, annual plant species interact both positively and negatively with perennial shrubs. In this study, the influence of Artemisia monosperma shrubs on soil nutrients, plant density and biomass of annual plants underneath and outside the canopy was examined. Two desert habitats were compared with similar soil texture but with different climatic attributes. Levels of soil nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter were significantly higher underneath than between shrubs, but differed between the two habitats which may be attributed to differences in climatic conditions. Despite higher availability of nutrients underneath the canopy, density and biomass of most ephemerals were lower than between shrubs. An hypothetic explanation could be the difference in canopy shading or water supply as well as allelopathic effects of oil leachates from the shrubs. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Allelopathy; Artemisia monosperma; nitrogen; phosphorus; Soil nutrients | ||
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