Goods and Services Provided by Native Plants in Nile Delta, Egypt: in the Viewpoint of Conservation

Abstract

T HE NILE Delta is one of the oldest and largest deltas in the world covers 4 % of Egypt’s area and occupies 63 % of the Egyptian cultivated land. The present study focuses on the goods and services offered by Delta’s natural ecosystem. Thirty field trips were conducted to different locations to cover the study area from spring 2020 to summer 2022. Based on field observation and information gathered from residents and herbalists (60 people from the study area were interviewed, ranging in age from 30 to 60 years old) the goods, services and threats of the recorded species were assessed. Forty-nine were recorded and their roles in goods and services; identified threats that cover the gradual change in the study area were recorded. Recorded species offer many goods such as grazing (36 species), medicinal (26) and human food (15). Also, they provide environmental benefits that ruderal and segetal weeds are the most commonly offered service, followed by bank retainer (16 species) and weed controller (6 species). Thirty-six species (73% of recorded species) suffer from at least one type of threat; over-collecting and over-cutting were the most common threat (46.9%), then habitat loss (40.8%), browsing and over-grazing (34.7%), clearance for agriculture (24.5%) species) and disturbance by cars or trampling (10%). Authors recommended that Nile Delta natural flora need continuous monitoring and conservation, as this region faces deteriorating habitat loss and even extinction of plants; which offer many goods and services for humans and the environment.