Age structure and static life tables of the endangered Juniperus phoenicea L. in North Sinai Mountains, Egypt: implicati
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Age structure and static life tables of the endangered Juniperus phoenicea L. in North Sinai Mountains, Egypt: implication for conservation Emad A. FARAHAT
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3115-1912; e-mail: [email protected]
Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt Citation: Farahat EA (2020) Age structure and static life tables of the endangered Juniperus phoenicea L. in North Sinai Mountains, Egypt: implication for conservation. Journal of Mountain Science 17(9). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-6123-2
© Science Press, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract: Studying the population ecology of endangered plants provides important baseline information for its monitoring and conservation. Juniperus phoenicea L. is an endangered species in arid ecosystems in Africa and the Middle East. The static life tables, survival curve and age structure of J. phoenicea populations from two mountains in North Sinai, Egypt (Gabal (G.) El-Halal and G. El-Maghara) were investigated. In each mountain, fifteen plots were selected, and field measurements such as stand density, tree height, and crown diameter were conducted. Moreover, 44 trees were cored and crossdated according to standard dendrochronological procedures. The results showed that the tree ages ranged from 50 to 262 years at G. El-Halal and 96 to 431 years at G. El-Maghara. Mature J. phoenicea individuals dominated the study area, with only a few individuals being younger than 100 years. Moreover, seedling recruitment was extremely limited. Since the studied J. phoenicea populations showed high mortality rates among both old and young individuals, there is an imminent need for establishing a conservation program to prevent its extinction in the future. Therefore, management and conservation efforts should be made to minimize human disturbance and protect the relic habitats of this endangered species at its southern distribution limits in Africa. Received: 05-Apr-2020 Revised: 12-Jun-2020 Accepted: 27-Jul-2020
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Keywords: Juniperus phoenicea; Age distribution; Life history; Mortality; Endangered plant; Sinai
Introduction The spatial analysis of plant population structure can reflect the current status of the species and reveal the future population dynamics. For studying the population structure and its dynamics, life tables, survival function curves and time-series analyses are efficient tools for that (Li and Zhang 2015; Swart et al. 2019). Juniperus phoenicea L. (Ar’ar in Arabic, family: Cupressaceae) is an evergreen coniferous monoecious tree (Boulos 1999). It is native to the Canary Islands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Sinai (Egypt) and the coastal areas of the European Mediterranean region (EMR) such as in Yugoslavia (Vidakovic 1991). In North Africa, it occurs on hills and dunes, and in arid mountain regions (Boulos 1999). It is classified in Egypt as very rare species that suffered
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