Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print)0976–1098(Online) TOWARDS A BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF SETTAT FORESTS, MOROCCO FATIMA NASSIF1* AND ABBES TANJI1 EX-RESEARCHERS AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR Universal Impact AGRONOMIC RESEARCH, CRRA-SETTAT, MOROCCO. Factor 0.9285:2012; Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] 1.2210:2013 Index Copernicus ABSTRACT: ICV 2011: 5.09 ICV 2012: 6.42 A study was conducted in all forest areas under the management of the Settat ICV 2013: 15.8 provincial directorate of waters and forests located in Settat with the aim to NAAS Rating inventory plant species growing in these forests. Taken into consideration 2012 : 1.3; climatic conditions, particularly rainfall, three years (2013 to 2015) of 2013-2014:2.69 fieldwork were achieved to capture existing plant diversity. The number of Received on: visits per site varied between two and eight based on the nature and surface 14th September 2015 area of the site. Data on vernaculars and uses were collected directly from the Revised on: people living in these forests and nearby communities. A total of 561 plant 20th September 2015 species is recorded, representing 11.5% of Morocco’s flora. Tree species count Accepted on: 31 and shrub species count 32 species. The remaining 498 species are 20th September 2015 herbaceous plants. Inventoried species belong to 81 families and 334 genera. Published on: Fourteen species are Moroccan endemics and one species is endangered. The 1st October 2015 inventory provides clear evidence on the diversity of the local flora in studied Volume No. Settat forests despite their restricted areas. Nonetheless, signs of deterioration Online & Print 68 (2015) are evident. Some sites are almost depleted from their trees. Adequate forest management is essential to preserving this diversity. Further research is needed Page No. 98 to 137 to better assess existing diversity and understand the dynamics of Settat forest ecosystems for conservation purposes. Life Sciences Leaflets is an international KEY WORDS: Morocco, Settat, Forests, Inventory, Diversity. open access print & e journal, peer reviewed, INTRODUCTION: worldwide abstract listed, published every The present study covers all forests under the management of the Settat month with ISSN, RNI provincial directorate of waters and forests located in Settat, Morocco. This Free- membership, directorate is part of the Regional Directorate of waters and forests for the downloads and access. Centre-Region located in Casablanca. Existing forests are organized into four http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 98 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print)0976–1098(Online) forest districts (secteurs) which are 1) Sidi Sbaâ, 2) Machraâ Ben-Abou, 3) Settat, and 4) Sidi Rahal. Administratively, while the three districts of Sidi Sbaâ, Machraâ Ben-Abou and Settat are entirely located in the province of Settat, some forest sites of the Sidi Rahal district are located in the province of Berrechid created in 2009. In other words, there are forest sites which are administratively located in the newly created province of Berrechid but are still managed by the Settat directorate of waters and forests. The following statistics on land area and land use pertain to the province of Settat before the creation of the Berrechid province in 2009. The total land area amounts to 910,000 ha. Land use consisted of 650,000 ha of arable land, 150,000 ha of rangelands, 83,000 ha of non arable lands, and 27,000 ha of forests. Evidently, the Settat province can hardly be considered a forest province as it is the case of some mountain provinces in the Rif, the Middle Atlas or the High Atlas where forest ecosystems can cover up to half of the province’s territory. For example, according to the latest study on the Fès-Boulemane region, forests cover about 705,000 ha in the Boulemane province representing 47% of the total territory of this province (URAM Intl., 2013). According to the same source, about 76.8% of these forest areas consist of alfa grasses while the remaining 23% are natural forests. Another example of forest provinces is the Chefchaouen province where forests cover 175,000 ha which represent 40% of the province total land area. Nonetheless and despite the limited area of Settat forests, they are hosts of unexpected and unknown plant diversity. This paper is intended to improve our knowledge on Settat forests and their plant diversity. More precisely, the objective of the study was to inventory plant species growing in Settat forests. Table 1 presents synoptic briefs on studied forests, their location and surface area based on information from the Settat provincial directorate of waters and forests, and combating desertification. According to this source, forests in Settat and Berrechid provinces cover about 24,639 ha (Table 1), representing 2.7% of Settat territory before the creation of Berrechid province in 2009. The tenure status of these forests includes state owned forests and communal wooded lands under forest regime representing 79.2% and 20.8% respectively. According to the Settat provincial directorate of waters, forests and combating desertification, natural forests cover 13.608 ha while artificial forests cover the remaining 10,931ha. In 2008, Belouarda reported that the main tree species of the Aâchach natural forest are Tetraclinis articulata, Quercus ilex and Quercus suber to a lesser degree either in pure stands or in varied mixtures. Secondary species include Pistacia atlantica, Pistacia lentiscus, Phillyrea latifolia, Olea europaea, Arbutus unedo, and Searsia pentaphylla. Artificial forests consist of perimeters destined to soil conservation, sylvo-pastoral reforestation, production and protection. They are essentially composed of Eucalyptus and Pinus species. Atriplex, particularly Atriplex nummularia, is also used in most of the reforestation areas. In spite of their restricted area, existing Settat forests play important ecological and socioeconomic roles. They provide http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 99 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print)0976–1098(Online) habitats for plant diversity and preservation of particular endemic species. Surprisingly, Settat forests are hosts of significant plant diversity. They even provide habitats for several strictly Moroccan endemics such as Thymus maroccanus, Teucrium decipiens, Anacyclus maroccanus, and many other species. Research on Settat forests is rather limited. Little is known on the past structure of these forests, their current situation and their plant diversity. Available literature consists of few studies on medicinal plants (Nabih, 1992; Bammi and Douira, 2002; Tahiri et al., 2012) and a report on a management plan of Aâchach forest (Belouarda, 2008). The only study of vascular flora in the Aâchach forest is produced by Bammi and Douira (2004). This study revealed the presence of 269 species belonging to 61 families and 181 genera. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the conception and implementation of this study, several factors were taken into account. First, two years of fieldwork were initially planned to accommodate annual rainfall variability typical of arid and semi arid environments of which Settat is a case in point. During the first year (2013), intensive fieldwork was conducted from February to May with sporadic observations during the remaining months for verification purposes and detection for summer and autumn related species. The second year (2014) was devoted to complete the inventory. The significant amounts of rainfall in November 2014 in the Settat region provided the impetus to add a third year of fieldwork with the objective of a better assessment of existing plant diversity. Second, studied forests include all the 25 forest perimeters identified in the list provided by the Settat provincial directorate of waters and forests. Table 1 presents the complete list provided rearranged based on surface area and forest district. Given the substantial differences in surface areas and the density of the vegetation, some forest sites were visited more than once. The number of observations in each site was in fact pending on the extent of prevailing diversity and area with the objective of more complete coverage. For example, the Aâchach forest was visited more than ten times over the three years period of fieldwork. Each visit consisted of the entire day with several stops across one specific area. At each stop, plant observations were conducted simultaneously with discussions with at least few local people present on site and/or nearby villages. Third, climatic conditions of two out of the three years of the study were exceptionally favourable (Figures 1 and 2). Rainfall amounts and their distribution created enabling conditions for vegetation’s optimal growth. With completely different climatic conditions, the three years of fieldwork were sufficient for completing the inventory, verifying doubtful plant identifications, and collecting vernaculars. Fourth, in order to elaborate the inventory, visits were conducted by the two authors. Additional visits were conducted by the first author to collect vernaculars, verify gathered ones and incidently collect http://lifesciencesleaflets.ning.com/ PEER-REVIEWED Page | 100 Life Sciences Leaflets FREE DOWNLOAD ISSN 2277-4297(Print)0976–1098(Online) ethnobotanical information. The number of people encountered varied from one visit to another from at least five people to over ten people.