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ecosystems to the threat of desertification due to overgrazing. The large number of livestock poses tough competition to wild herbivores. The significant findings of vegetation assessment over three years included three new species the floral world (Tamarix, sporobolus Fimbristylis) and a new species of Tamarix, new records including Chenopodium opulifolium, Euphorbia helioscopia, Lotus krylovii and Tamarix szovitsiana. Besides this, Ranunculus scleratus, Potentilla henyii and Tamarix sarenensis have been collected after a gap of 35-50 years. Twenty endemic species were recognized from the province of Sindh, of which 10 are restricted to Sindh only and 10 occur in some nearby parts of other provinces, as well. Except 3 species all endemic species fall in the categories of rare to endangered, with 2 species of Asparagus already extinct. Three species of Abutilon and one sub-species of Acacia nilotica are endangered due to persecution and habitat destruction. Indus For All Programme xv
Final Report of Vegetation Assessment 1. Introduction The province of Sindh falls in the category of arid lands with scanty and unpredictable rainfall. The importance of the biodiversity of arid and semiarid lands is recently being increasingly recognized as these dry lands occupy more than 40 percent of Earth’s land surface have to support more than one billion people (Hassan 2003, Donaldson et al. 2003). The natural flora and vegetation being the primary producers play the most pivotal role in every ecosystem by providing food and shelter to the natural fauna and livestock. In arid ecosystems, one of the most important ecological services of natural vegetation is the control or erosion. The process of desertification is known to be associated with decreasing species diversity and habitat degradation (Xueli and Halin 2003). Sindh while situated in arid zone largely depends on the River Indus for its economic, ecological and social well being. Presence of mighty Indus in Sindh also somewhat ameliorates the otherwise hostile climate of the area in which biodiversity persists in healthier way. The Indus River traverses the entire length of Sindh, meandering and giving-off many natural and semi-natural lakes and water reservoirs thus giving rise to a mosaic of habitats such as aquatic, coastal, and riparian habitats. Riparian habitats are often notably species rich places, with a variety of microhabitats within which numerous plants species coexist (Swanson et al. 1988, Gregory et al. 1991; Urban et al. 2006). Both the terrestrial vegetation along the banks and macrophytes greatly influence the aquatic ecosystems, as the detritus from the former contributes more than 90% of organic matter input, while the composition of the aquatic flora influences littoral phytoplankton, zooplankton, invertebrates communities and fish communities (Smith & Smith 1998; Nurminen 2003). Indus River is one of the large rivers of the world and the largest river of Pakistan with a basin area of 963480 Km 2 , a length of 2898 Km and a discharge of 269.1 Km 3 per year, it ranks 19 th in the world by basin area and length, and 17 th by volume (Archibold 1996). This river is crucially important for sustaining the people and economy of Pakistan. For this reason, the ecosystem of river, its associated lakes, and delta face tremendous anthropogenic pressure. The anthropogenic pressure is complex of factors, with the form of land-use having a great impact on species diversity of a given area (Sundik-Wojcikowska and Galeria 2005). This is why the need for vegetation surveys and cataloguing has become increasingly important in recent years (Ninot et al. 2000). Up-to-date information on biodiversity is critical for the proper management and conservation of any area, thus the first step towards conservation should be to compile a species inventory or check-list (Klopper et al. 2007). Inventorying is considered as fundamental starting point in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity while monitoring guides us how biodiversity changes with the passage of time due to natural and anthropogenic causes (Stork et al., 1995). Generally, monitoring of biodiversity is almost nonexistent in Pakistan (Khatoon & Ali, 2003, 2004). However, monitoring cannot be done without prior inventorying. Local inventories (α – diversity) ultimately help in understating and analyzing diversity at landscape (ß – diversity) and regional (γ – diversity) scales (Khatoon et al., 2005). The inventorying of plant biodiversity and vegetation studies has been conducted in four selected localities of Indus Ecoregion (Keti Bundar, Keenjhar, Chotiari and, Pai). The Indus Ecoregion lies almost entirely in the province of Sindh from its border with Punjab to the coast of Arabian Sea and is one of the 40 th most significant ecoregions on regional level for its ecological significance and representation of earth’s biodiversity richness. The Indus Ecoregion partially or fully covers 18 districts of Sindh including Thatta, Badin, Hyderabad, Dadu, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Khairpur and Umer Kot. It includes the lower reaches of River Indus For All Programme Page 1 of 131
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