Biogeography and Introduction to Vegetation

Abstract

Plant migrations during past geological periods, long-term geological and climatic changes, recent climate and hydrology, edaphic, geological and topographical structures and the effects of man and his livestock have all played a part in the establishment and development of the flora and vegetation of Arabia. The varied and often dramatic terrain of the 2.7 million km2 of the Peninsula (Figures 3.1–3.4) is subject to a climate that ranges from the hyperarid to the humid subtropical (see Chapter 2), and the consequent complexity of the landscape is reflected in the variety of its plant life.