Vegetational and other changes at il-Ballut saline marshland : a nature reserve in the making

Abstract

The historical development of il-ballut saline marshland in Marsaxlokk, together with the recent habitat engineering works as part of a plan to turn the area into a nature reserve, has given rise to three clearly distinguishable sub-regions. These are the saltmarsh itself, which developled from the remains of what once formed a system of fishponds, an abandoned field on the northern side of the marsh, and a recently reclaimed area to the east of this marsh. The distributional pattern of the vegetation of the saltmarsh, is determined by marsh elevation, type of substratum, hydrology of the area over the past few years, and disturbance by human activity. Human interference has also influenced the distribution of the dominant perennial Inula crithmoides and the dominant annual Salsola soda, on the abandoned field. The habitat engineering works, on the reclaimed area created a bare area which was rapidly colonized by a variety of species, the greater part of which were ruderals. The rate and extent of colonization over this area by these species, was largely determined by rainwater floods and differences in soil compactness as a result of the more recent access by heavy vehicles to the region.