Assessment of plant diversity of Utomah Natural Reserve for environmental sustainability

Abstract

Utomah Natural Reserve in Yemen is a unique repository of plant biodiversity that are in danger. Several species of plants are now classed as rare, some as threatened within the context of Yemen. The overall goal of this paper is to contribute towards sustainable use of natural resources in the Utomah Natural Reserve. This study seeks out to present and discuss several plant diversity indices which help assessing the plant diversity of Utomah natural reserve. This paper also tries to figure out the management implications for sustainable use of Utomah 's natural resources. It is based on investigating and analyzing the results of the field survey designed and aimed at assessing the plant biodiversity of Utomah Natural Reserve. The design of the study was based on 15 representative quadrats across 3 transects over 3 sites of the study area of Utomah natural reserve. The study identified plant species that are highly exposed to threats which needs urgent intervention to protect from extinction. The delineated plants threaten by extinctions were: Punica protopunica, Olea o leas tel' and Ziziphus mucronata. Unclear management structures, low human and institutional capacity, and urbanization, high population growth are among the most devastating factors resulted in the loss and unsustainable use of Utomah plant biodiversity.