Four surprising facts about UAE habitats: a talk by Dr. Gary Brown

Dr. Gary Brown recently visited Abu Dhabi to give us a bird’s-eye view of the UAE’s habitats, from coastal sands to mountain wadis, sabhka salt flats to desert dunes. Gary literally wrote the book on habitats in the UAE, with his 2004 publication of ‘Interpretation Manual of the Major Terrestrial Natural and Semi-Natural Habitat Types of the Abu Dhabi Emirate,’ the product of intense fieldwork with Benno Böer to map out the identity and distribution of habitats as a tool for conservation planning.

sabkha and megadunes

They based their classification of habitats on three factors: basic vegetation type, geomorphology, and soil type. Each has a distinct array of flora and fauna that thrive there, and Gary has an enviable assortment of photos to prove it, some of which we are proud to use here.

sabkha: seems lifeless, but look closer

 He stressed the need for fieldwork, as opposed to remote data collection, since so many of the UAE’s habitats can look ‘dead’ to the naked eye—plants that appear desiccated can spring back to life after a rain, for instance, or a barren sabkha--salt flat--could shelter a nest of hoopoe lark eggs, as in the photo below.  

Some other fascinating things we learned from his talk:

Mangroves are not the only significant coastal habitat:

The most endangered habitat in the UAE is the ‘coastal white sands,’ which are composed of coralline sands and located 20 kilometers inland from the coastline. These areas are extremely species-rich, said Gary, especially for reptiles and birds, as well as some biogeographically interesting plant species, but they are also subject to intense development, and only small stretches of untouched coastal sands remain. 

coastal white sands

hoopoe lark displaying over coastal white sands

One species of lizard, Teratoscincus keyserlingii (Wonder gecko), lives almost exclusively in a relatively small area around Dubai in the Arabian Peninsula, and as such is highly endangered. Other coastal habitats may be crucial for individual species, e.g. undisturbed beaches for nesting marine turtles.

Wonder gecko--highly endangered

Ghaf trees: hardy but endangered

Inland, the largest proportion of the UAE is covered by sand sheets, and a ‘priority habitat,’ or one that requires special conservation efforts, is the relict Ghaf woodland – a woodland type that was more predominant under milder climatic conditions that once existed in the region. 

The Ghaf tree (Prosopis cineraria) is the UAE’s national tree, and thrives in the desert’s ferocious heat and arid conditions. However, due to the harsh climate in the UAE, it does not reproduce through germination anymore, but rather from root suckers, and so is especially vulnerable to pressures like grazing. Natural ghaf woodland does not require artificial irrigation, as it survives on water stored deep in the desert dunes.

The incredible richness of the mountains

The UAE’s mountain habitats are far more biodiverse, Gary said, with a rich assortment of animals and plants that do not appear in the desert or on the coast. There are animals such as the elusive Tahr, pictured below via a camera trap, and flowering plants that thrive on rainwater caught in wadis and rock crevices.

There are also natural freshwater habitats. In Hatta, two wadis with intermittent running water house amphibian species like the Arabian Toad (below) and three native species of freshwater fish, one of Gary suspects is now extinct due to the wholly avoidable consequences of minor construction activities in Hatta.

Arabian Toad

Camel grazing is causing havoc with desert vegetation:

Surprisingly, drought and climate change are not—at least at present—the cause of desertification in Arabia. The main causes are instead overgrazing, inappropriate agriculture and irrigation, indiscriminate off-road driving, and deforestation.

Overgrazing by domestic livestock, particularly sheep and camels, has endangered palatable plant species, and left plants that are toxic to livestock to thrive.

The below picture, taken at the Dubai Desert Conservation Centre, shows an area that has been grazed on left side of the fence, as contrasted with the greener area on the right side.

Work on the manual is ongoing, and the manual is continually expanded. As ENHG members have always said, there is so much still to be discovered about the natural wealth around us.

Gary’s website, with a plethora of amazing images and articles, can be found at http://gary-brown.co.uk.