Ecologia Mediterranea

Tamarix aphylla (Rudich & Danin 1978).
Other similar communities are the evergreen
Tamarix nilotica-Tamarix aphylla-Salvadora
persica woodland, found on the drainage runnels
and sandy terraces of larger wadi beds in
the Tihama mountains of Yemen (Deil 1986;
Deil 1998), the Tamarix-Calotropis community
in wadis of Dubai (Deil & Müller-Hohenstein
1996) and the Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.)
Bunge community in the Sinai (Abd El-Ghani
& Amer 2003).
With regard to the Tamarix gallica-
Desmostachya bipinnata association, several
vicarious communities can be compared
across the Saharo-Arabian belt. These are the
Desmostachya-Acacia ehrenbergiana community
in the Tihama mountains in Yemen,
the Saccharum ravennae-Nerium oleander
community in the canyon-like wadis of
the mountains of the eastern United
Arab Emirates and northern Oman, the Saccharum
spontaneum-Tamarix nilotica-
Tamarix aphylla community in the Yemeni
lowlands and in the southern Arabian Peninsula,
where sandy terraces are stabilized by a
dense, tall layer of Desmostachya bipinnata
and Jatropha curcas shrubs with scattered
Tamarix trees (Deil 1986; Deil & Müller-
Hohenstein 1996). In the Middle East, a
Desmostachya bipinnata association is
described by Zohary (1973) in the Arava valley
in Israel. A similar association, Tamarix
nilotica-Desmostachya bipinnata, is
described by Zahran & Willis (2009) along
the Nile River.
Conclusion
The present study described two new associations
and confirmed the existence of four
others in regions which have not been investigated
before. The phytosociological hierarchy
proposed by Quézel (1965), unchallenged
in its overall authority as a framework for
describing the vegetation of the Algerian
Sahara, has gaps which haven’t been adequately
treated until now. Addressing these
gaps via up-to-date field data should make it
possible to strengthen the proposed framework
and describe new associations, new
alliances or rename associations in the light
of objective new field data. Indeed, remote
areas of the vast Ahaggar complex are still
poorly investigated in terms of the distribution
of its plant communities. Detailed
ecologia mediterranea – Vol. 38 (2) – 2012
description of these communities will provide
a better tool for managing those fragile
resources which are under increasing human
pressure, particularly in the Tamanrasset
region.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to Professor A. Danin and B.
O’Hanrahan for valuable comments on the
manuscript and linguistic corrections. We also
would like to thank the National Institute of
Forestry Research for providing the logistic
assistance which enabled us to undertake the
fieldwork. Our gratitude goes particularly to
our guides Samat L. and Anaba M.
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