Description: Macroalgae communities.Status: Environmentally sensitive within Abu Dhabi emirate.Location: In Abu Dhabi emirate, this habitat type is distributed from west to east from the Saudi Arabia border to the Dubai border, along the coast line and around the islands.Description: Thirty known seaweeds (macro algae) are found either in combination with seagrass and reef communities or in a separate community aggregations. They are characterised by greater than 10% cover of rooted vascular seaweed species. The most abundant species are Phaeophyceae (brown algae), with this habitat type providing a nursery for fisheries and juvenile turtles. It has also been identified as a marine habitat that sequesters carbon.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Coastal Sabkha.Status: Environmentally Sensitive within Abu Dhabi emirate.Location: The distribution of this habitat type can be found from the Western Region with the border of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, where it follows the coast to the Abu Dhabi / Dubai border. The largest, most continuous area of this habitat is found from Abu Dhabi city mainland, to Mirfa, however, other large expanses of this habitat type can also be found in the far Western Region, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Description: Coastal sabkha is salt-encrusted desert close to the coast covering wide expanses. It is devoid of vegetation due to the high salinity of the substrate. Halophytes, however, may occur where there is a thin carpeting of sand on the surface. Abu Dhabi’s coastal sabkha are some of the best documented in the world, with the sabkha south of Al Dabbi’ya and Abu Al Abyadh Islands, the only complete sabkha in the world that represents the four main distinctive layers of sabkha, together in one site. While not a traditional Blue Carbon ecosystem, historic soil carbon stocks in Coastal sabkha are likely to have a Blue Carbon origin. When these ecosystems are destroyed, buried carbon can be released into the atmosphere, which subsequently contributes to global warming.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Intertidal Flats with cyanobacterial matsStatus: Environmentally Sensitive within Abu Dhabi emirate.Location: This habitat type can be found in Abu Dhabi distributed east to west along the coast and islands from Khalifa Port to the Saudi Arabia border. There is a higher concentration of this habitat type around the islands to the east Abu Dhabi Island and around the coastal areas and islands found between Mussafah and Sila.Description: This habitat consists of exposed intertidal substrates having greater than 25% cover of particles smaller than gravel. Species include a heterogeneous mix of those described in the Saltmarsh section.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Islands (Salt domes) & coastal rocky cliffsStatus: Environmentally Sensitive within Abu Dhabi emirate.Location: Abu Dhabi’s waters within the UAE’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Islands of this habitat type include Sir Bani Yas, Delma Island, Qarnein and Zirku Island.Description: Includes low to high cliffs on the immediate coastline as well as salt domes located on islands. This habitat provides nesting habitat for seabirds including the White-cheeked Tern (Sterna repressa), Bridled Tern (Sterna anaethetus), Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis), Greater Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii) Sooty Gull (Larus hemprichii), Socotra Cormarant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis), Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor) and the Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Storm Beach RidgesStatus: Environmentally SensitiveDescription: Sandy, hummocky vegetated ground (More than 20% vegetation cover) above and parallel with the high water mark, less than 1 m high, occasionally overtopped by storms and traps sand blown inland from the intertidal zones. Several parallel ridges may be developed, with the older ones frequently showing dense cover of halophytic chenopods. The most characteristic species is Sueda Vermiculata. Kentish Plover and Saunder’s Tern locally breed in storm beach ridges, while Hawksbill turtles use them for nestingDistribution: Formerly present along the majority of the mainland west coast of Abu Dhabi Island and on some barrier islands.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Beach Rock and Gravelly Beaches Status: Environmentally Sensitive within Abu Dhabi emirate. Location: Generally in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi emirate. Description: Exposed low-angle intertidal shoreline terrace characterised by bedrock or boulders which singly or in combination have an aerial cover of 75% or more.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Name: Sandsheets Dunes with Perennial Herbs Graminoids
Display Field: HabitatType
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: Sand Sheets and Dunes with perennial herbs and graminoidsDescription: Areas of undulating sandy desert with dunes less than 20 metres in elevation, and without significant cover of trees, shrubs and dwarf shrubs. Vegetated to non-vegetated sand and dune areas colonized by perennial herbs and/or graminoids. The most characteristic plant species are Cyperus conglomeratus, Panicum turgidum, Pennisetum divisum, Stipagrostis plumosa, Tribulus spp., Dipterygium glaucum, Eremobium aegyptiacum. Several reptile and invertebrate species may be supported by these habitats when in good condition. Breeding species include Greater Hoopoe-lark, resident species may include Crested lark. Distribution: Widespread in the Emirate, particularly to the east of Tarif to Liwa road.
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.
Description: Coastal sand sheets and low dunes (Sandy coastline)Status: Environmentally sensitive in Abu Dhabi emirateLocation: This habitat type has a patchy coastal distribution within Abu Dhabi emirate. Main areas within which the habitat is found include near Ghweifat along the Abu Dhabi / Saudi Arabia border from which it is sporadically distributed eastward to just east of Mirfa. Fragmented patches also occur between Mirfa and Abu Dhabi and from Yas Island along the coast to Khalifa Port.Description: Coastal white (coralline) sands with a relative profusion of perennial plant species and dense vegetation cover (up to ca. 15%). Perennial grasses and dwarf shrubs are the most prominent elements of the flora, including Ghada (Haloxylon Persicum) and the Arabian Primrose (Arnebia hispidissima).
Service Item Id: 278463782b5b450683bfa4ccd79aec0a
Copyright Text: Created by Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Baseline Habitat Mapping project. Data Origin: EAD.