Seasonal changes in the spatial distribution of flora in the Hagar Qim area

Abstract

Ħaġar Qim area in Qrendi was chosen to investigate seasonal changes in the spatial distribution of flora and environmental factors in the area. Various abiotic factors, some of which change seasonally, were measured. These included temperature, pH, soil depth, orientation, light intensity, wind force, pollution, accessibility and slope inclination. All these factors contributed to control the vegetation for the summer 2012, autumn 2012 and winter 2013 seasons. In total sixty-three different species of plants were found in the site studied. During the time of investigation, Galactites tomentosa and Urginea pancration were the most abundant species across the three seasons. The Asteraceae family was abundantly represented. There was more similarity between the species identified in winter and autumn than between those of summer and autumn and summer and winter. There was also more correlation between the slope inclination and number of species than between the soil depth and number of species. It was the temperature variation associated with seasonal change that exerted most influence on the type of plants identified. Apart from the factors mentioned above, anthropogenic disturbances present at the time were also taken into account when the study was conducted.