Chemistry Reference
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be taken urgently including vegetation maps and monitoring exercises to document the state
of the vegetation [99]. Such efforts should include ecophysiological aspects of the wild life, as
prerequisite for ecological restoration [5, 100].
Looking at the changes in Doha, many habitats in this city are being demolished and / or
threatened with the completion of construction of new buildings and facilities to comply
with the great expansions in the industrial and urban sectors and responsibilities of hosting
a number of activities in the coming years. These changes that are taking place at the coastal
areas and inland as well; are lacking appropriate impact assessment and restoration plans
[98]. One example of these changes is well demonstrated in a location near Qatar University,
the details of changes were discussed in some reports and papers [41]. Restoration of
endangered habitats is urgently required to maintain and sustain wild life since many
scientists and decision makers in the State of Qatar are aware of the serious threats facing
the natural habitats especially at the coastal line and other parts of inland areas [4, 97]. Such
threats had been neglected for long period of times in the past, and there is growing worries
about the diminishing natural sources of land and good quality water for agriculture and
the scanty seasonal rains as well as all types of wild life. It would be very useful for the local
authorities to take the initiatives to avoiding the consequences of putting the environment at
real risk due to these changes in all sectors of life in the State of Qatar. Therefore, successful
ecological restoration and maintaining healthy environment are based on the following
main principles: (1) Information, (2) Problems, (3) Plans, (4) Solutions, (5) Monitoring.
5.2. Information
Successful restoration programs need information about the environment and wildlife
which includes inventory of fauna, flora and microorganisms, their morphological
characteristics and the mechanisms of adaptation. In Qatar, there has been cconsiderable
information documented in a number of publications covering the above topics [2, 5, 6, 10,
101-106]. Recording and documenting the existing wild life and their ecophysiology in their
natural habitats have been considered as a first important step toward conducting successful
ecological restoration. For example, Ecology and Flora of Qatar, a monograph written by
Batanouny [6], covered the ecological features of Qatar, the landforms, the prevailing
climatic conditions, soils and resources and their effects on the plant life, description of the
vegetation and the widespread plant communities, and the flora of Qatar which includes
description of 301 species. Another monograph worth to be reported here prepared by
Abulfatih and his colleagues [5]: Vegetation of Qatar, which recorded the state of the plant
communities and ecosystems in the state of Qatar especially at the locations of oil and gas
industry. Such efforts were considered essential for monitoring the future state of natural
habitats and very valuable to biologists, environmentalists, naturalists, agriculturists as well
as the decision makers and planners. Other published works, worth to be mentioned here,
covered various topics of wild plants, horticultural plants, fungi and algae and their
chemical constituents [2, 9, 98, 102, 104, 106-109].
During the last ten years some studies on the ecophysiology of wild plants in Qatar have
shown that soil texture ranged between sandy to silty loam at the coastal line, while inland
