A Review of the Flora and Fauna in the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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WETLANDS CONSERVATION
A Review of the Flora and Fauna in the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Pritpal Soorae 1 & Sabitha Sakkir 1 & Anitha Saji 1 & Shahid B. Khan 1 & Rashid Al Zaabi 1 & Junid N. Shah 2 & Ahmed Ali 1 & Khaldoun Al Omari 1 & Ahmed Al Dhaheri 1 & Salim Javed 1 & Sai Ravi Tubati 1 & Shakeel Ahmed 1 & Zamzam Ali Alrashdi 1 & Shaikha Al Dhaheri 1 Received: 31 May 2019 / Accepted: 4 October 2019 # Society of Wetland Scientists 2019
Abstract 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 higher and this can be attributed to various factors such as the lake not having a water outlet, seepage of untreated waste water from an adjacent sewage treatment plant and various industries in the surrounding areas that could lead to these high values. A twenty-year biodiversity assessment and monitoring program, has documented a total of 354 invertebrate species, 16 reptile and amphibian species, 262 bird species, 10 mammalian species, and 39 plant species. These represent 21% of Abu Dhabi Emirate’s terrestrial animal and plant species. Out of a total of 44 marine and terrestrial habitats identified within Abu Dhabi Emirate, 6 of these are represented within AWWR. Keywords Wetlands . Al Wathba Wetland Reserve . Biodiversity reservoirs . Water Quality . United Arab Emirates
Introduction Wetlands are important for ecosystem services and generally support a rich biodiversity (Khan and Arshad 2014). Wetlands can also be threatened by invasive plants and animals, nutrient inflows and urbanisation (Clarkson et al. 2013). In the West Asia region, wetlands are limited in abundance, due to the extreme hyper-arid conditions. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven Emirates and Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate with a landmass of approximately 87%. One of the key wetlands, the Al Wathba wetland, is protected in an area known as the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve (AWWR). This was the first protected area declared by Royal Decree in
* Pritpal Soorae [email protected] 1
Environment Agency-ABU DHABI, P.O. Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2
Dubai Municipality, Environment Department, P.O. Box 67, Dubai, UAE
the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1998. The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has managed AWWR since 1998 and it was recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands on 24th April 2013, becoming the first Ramsar site in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE (Ramsar Sites Information Service 2013). In 2018, the wetland was listed in the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas (UNEP-WCMC 2018). Desert ecosystems generally have a low biodiversity abundance and richness due to the challenging climatic conditions. The UAE has a hyper-arid climate with extrem
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