Biography

I am Dr. Ali Mala Khedir Galalaey, a plant diversity researcher. In 2021, I received my PhD in Plant Diversity (The Plant Diversity of Sakran Area in Northern Iraq). At the Department of Bio-Engineering and Science, Kahramanmaras Sütçü Imam University. Kahramanmaras-Turkey.

The study's survey of plant diversity focuses on understanding plant diversity in the Kurdistan Region - Iraq, especially the plant survey. We aim to reveal the status of plants in terms of geographical distribution, their status in terms of extinction, life form, and Ethnobotany and I have more than 15 years of field experience:

·         Wild Plant Survey for the Kurdistan Region/Iraq

Duration: January 2011 - 31 May 2011

Location: From Zakho to Jalawlah in TRI Institute Twain River, American University in Sulaimaniya, Kurdistan Region- Iraq.

·         Herbarium Management

Duration: 1-28 November 2011

Location: Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, United States of America.

·         International Summer School: Tree Rings, Climate, Natural Resources, and Human Interaction

Duration: 10-25 June 2014

Location: Kahramanmaras, Turkey.

 

·         Plant Taxonomy Training Workshop

Duration: 25 March – 05 April 2012

Location: Sponsored by Kurdistan Botanical Foundation and Nature Iraq, Sulaimaniya, Iraq.

 

·         Botanical Field Technique Workshop

Duration: 27-29 March 2013

Location: Pira Magruum Mountain, Sulaimaniya, Iraq

Support: DEFRA Darwin Initiative, Nature Iraq, and Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh.

 

·         Field Survey of Agricultural and Economic Development in Northern Iraq

Duration: 1 June 2013 - 5 July 2013

Location: Kurdistan region, Iraq

Comparison: With other provinces of Iraq (2003-2012)

Plant diversity, also called biodiversity, is critical to the health of an ecosystem. In a biodiverse ecosystem, each organism plays an important role and helps regulate natural processes and growth cycles.

Plant biodiversity is invaluable because it balances ecosystems, protects watersheds, mitigates erosion, moderates climate, and provides shelter for animals. Threats to plant biodiversity include the increasing human population, pollution, deforestation, and species extinction.

Why survey plants? Monitoring land management impacts on vegetation and understanding long-term vegetation changes through succession and climate change. Using these tools, we can identify new species and improve our understanding of their unique roles in the ecosystem. With this information, we can monitor populations and track how species respond to disturbances in their environments.

The Zagros Mountains Forest Steppe is a semi-arid climate ecoregion in Iran, extending from northwest to southeast. It shares borders with Iraqi Kurdistan and is part of the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hot spot, renowned for its high rate of endemism in biological diversity. Biodiversity: The area supports oak-dominated deciduous and pistachio-almond forests amidst a diversified steppe flora. In the northern reaches of the mountain range, lower altitudes (400 m to 500 m) host communities dominated by Astragalus spp., Salvia spp., and/or others, while higher up (700 m to 800 m) forests contain Quercus brantii and/or Quercus infectoria up to an altitude of about 1,700 m. Above the timberline (1,900 m to 2,000 m) appears a relatively wide zone of sub-alpine vegetation (Zohary in WWF, 2006). In the Dohuk governorate, a remnant pine forest of Pinus brutia (in Zawita, northwest of Dohuk city) is likely part of the Eastern Mediterranean conifer‐sclerophyllous‐broadleaf forest ecoregion that extends slightly into Iraq. On the south side of the range, the forest becomes more steep with scattered shrubs. Conservation Status: This terrestrial zone is considered to be critical or endangered, but there are greater protections offered in this ecoregion due to rules enacted by the Kurdistan Regional Government relating to resource protection (e.g., seasonal fishing moratoriums, hunting, and wood-cutting controls). Large sections of the border zones with Iran and Turkey, mostly higher elevation sites, are covered with extensive land mines.