Invasive Plant Communities in the Nile Delta Coast

Plant communities dominated by the invasive species Heliotropium curassavicum, Bassia indica and Chenopodium ambrosioides were investigated in fallow land, coastal desert land, newly reclaimed land, canal banks and old reclaimed land in the Nile Delta Mediterranean coast. A total of 19 common species were recorded in this study. They constituted 12 annual and 7 perennial species. The vegetation was classified by the Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) into five vegetational groups representing different habitat types. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) demonstrates the separation of TWINSPAN groups of different habitat types into five vegetational groups along the plane of the first and second axes. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) demonstrates that soil factors especially CaCO3, organic carbon and soil texture contribute significantly to the distribution of species. The Shannon diversity index (H') of the five vegetational groups showed parallel results to those obtained in case of species richness. The highest species richness value was attained in the fallow land and desert, then lower values obtained in canal bank and newly reclaimed land, followed by the minimum value obtained in the old reclaimed land. The highest value of evenness attained in the fallow land while the minimum value recorded in the old reclaimed land.