Located within the northeastern part of the Arabian Desert, Kuwait is characterized by flat to gently rolling open desert with very few minor elevations, wadis, depressions, some low dunes,
Figure 1: Map showing location of the State of Kuwait (Source: http://acc.teachmideast.org).
1 Introduction
coastal salt marshes and small off-shore islands (Halwagy et al., 1982; Halwagy & El-Saadawi, 1992).
From a geological point of view, the Gulf is a very recent sea. Resulting from the eastward migration
or four million years ago. The Gulf is one of the youngest bodies of water in the world and also one of the shallowest. The average depth is 36 meters, with a maximum depth of 90-100 meters along the Iranian coast. Due to the high evaporation (about Figure 2: Habitat of Jal Az Zour ridge (Photo from Abdulrahman Al-Sirhan).
Figure 3: Al Jaharah Nature Reserve (Photo from Faisal Al Nomas).
is quite high. The water along the coast of Kuwait shows salinities of around 40 ppt, and along the Saudi Arabian coast between 35-40 ppt. However, in shallow water the salinity can become much higher. A salinity as high as 70 ppt has been reported in the Gulf of Salwah and in the inner parts of the Kuwait Bay. Tides in the area are basically semi-diurnal and vary from 2 to 3 meters along the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti coasts (Lindén et al., 2004; Omar et al., 2007).
Phasical parameters
The physical factors mainly in the form of extreme temperature fluctuations and elevated salinity exert considerable natural stress on the marine and coastal ecosystems of the Gulf. As a consequence, the biodiversity is significantly lower compared with the Indian Ocean. Because of the relative shallowness, the Gulf supports highly productive coastal habitats, such as the extensive intertidal mud-flats and seagrass beds. Along parts of the coast there are also areas of dwarf mangrove and coral reefs. However, the coral reefs show relatively very low biodiversity.
Many species of corals as well as other species of animals and several plants in the area live close to their tolerance thresholds. In the northern Gulf, most of the subtidal areas are soft sediment bottoms. Extensive seagrass beds mostly Figure 4: Arial photo from Al Jaharah Nature Reserve (Photo from Faisal Al Nomas).
Figure 5: Arial photo from Failaka island (Photo from Faisal Al Nomas).
cover these sediments, which supports a number of commercially important species such as the prawn. Algae mats associated with the tidal flats are also highly productive as they are covered
with blue-green nitrogen-fixating algae during part of the year. These tidal flats are a key feeding area for wintering and migrating waders (Lindén et al, 2004).
References
Halwagy, R., Moustafa, A.F. and Kamel, S.M. (1982). ‘On the ecology of the desert vegetation in Kuwait’.
Journal of Arid Environments 5:95–107.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-1963(18)31543-X
Halwagy, M. and El-Saadawi. W. (1992). ‘Drought and changes in the bryoflora and angiosperm flora in Kuwait in the years 1974-1990’. Acta Botanica Neerlandica,41:183-195.doi.
org/10.1111/j.1438-8677.1992.tb00497.x
Lindén, O., Jernelöv, A. and Egerup, J. (2004). The Environmental Impacts of the Gulf War 1991.IIASA Interim Report. IR-04-01. http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/7427/
Figure 6: Habitat of Wadi Al Batin (Photo from Abdulrahman Al-Sirhan).
)Photo from M. Al-Dosari(
Methodology
Birds:
BirdLife International
Kuwait Birds and Kuwait bird official site (www.
kuwaitbirds.org/birds).
Mammals:
Cowan, P.J. (2013). ‘An annotated checklist of the mammals of Kuwait’. Sultan Qaboos University Journal for Science 18:19-24.
Harrison, D.L. and Bates, P.J.J. 1991.
Mammals of Arabia. Harrison Zoological Museum. Kent, UK.
Extensive literature review was conducted through all databases, including google scholar, biological abstract and others.
Reptiles:
Sindaco, R. and Jeremcenko, V.K. (2008). The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Volume 1.
Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina, Italy.
Sindaco, R., Venchi, A. and Grieco, C. (2013).
The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle
2 Methodology
(Photo from Faisal Al Nomas)
Arid Environments 54: 237–256.doi.org/10.1006/
jare.2001.0874
Carpenter, K.E., Krupp, F., Jones D.A. and Za-jonz, U. (1997). The living marine resources of Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. FAO Species Identification Field Guide for Fishery Purposes, Rome.http://www.fao.org/3/v8729e/v8729e00.
htm
Marine invertebrates:
Al-Yamani, F.Y., Skryabin, V., Boltachova, N., Revkov, N., Makarov, M., Grinstov, V. and Kolesnikova, E. (2012). Illustrated Atlas on the Zoobenthos of Kuwait. Kuwait Institute for Sci-entific Research. https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/266021661_Illustrated_Atlas_on_
the_Zoobenthos_of_Kuwait_Kuwait_Institute_
for_Scientific_Research_Publisher
Al-Yamani, F.Y., Skryabin, V., Gubanova, A., Khvorov, S. and Prusova, I. (2011). Marine Zooplankton: Practical Guide for the
Northwest-Al-Yamani, F.Y., Skryabin, V., Gubanova, A., Khvorov, S. and Prusova, I. (2011). Marine Zooplankton: Practical Guide for the Northwest-ern Arabian Gulf. Volume II. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. https://www.
researchgate.net/publication/233793652_Ma- rine_Zooplankton_Practical_Guide_Vol- umes_1_and_2_for_the_Northwestern_Arabi-an_Gulf
Carpenter, K.E., Krupp, F., Jones D.A. and Za-jonz, U. (1997). The living marine resources of Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. FAO Species Identification Field Guide for Fishery Purposes, Rome. http://www.fao.org/3/v8729e/v8729e00.
htm
Hodgson, G. and Carpenter, K. 1995. ‘Scler-actinian corals of Kuwait’. Pacific Science 49:
227-246.
Naderloo, R. (2017). Atlas of Crabs of the Per-sian Gulf. Springer.
.)Photo from Faisal Al Nomas(