81 

CHRONOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE VEGETATION OF FOREST 

MASSIF OF SDAMAS 
 

Mohamed Azzaoui 
1
, Benchohra Maamar 

2
, Leila Soudani 

3
, Abassia Ayache 

4
 and 

Mohamed Berreyah 
3
 

1
Ecole Supérieure d’Agronomie (ESA), Mostaganem, Algeria  

2
El wancharissi University Center, Tissemsilt, Algeria 

3
Ibn Khaldun University, Tiaret, Algeria 

4
Djillali Lyabes University, Sidi belabass, Algeria 

moha-1500@outlook.com 

 

The massif of Sdamas to which our contribution relates is located in West Algeria, it is an 

integral part of the mountains of Tiaret. 

The main objective of this work is to quantify the plant diversity of existing plant groups, 

and to understand the architecture and the structure of the various groups of vegetation by the 

method of floristic analysis and statistical analysis. 

The bioclimatic study revealed a drier bioclimatic environment and shows that our region 

belongs to the semi-arid stage with cool winter. 

About vegetation diversity, we have been able to describe a list of characteristic species of 

the maquis of Western Algeria. The main dominant species in the floristic composition are 

Tetraclinis articulata, Pinus halepensis and Quercus coccifera for forest species and Pistacia 

lentiscus and Phillyrea ssp for pre-forest species. 

The factorial analysis of the correspondences (FAC) allowed us to treat the floristic and 

ecological variables jointly. This overall treatment allowed us to have a view on certain aspects of 

plant groups and plant formations in the study area, and to verify that there are indeed original 

floristic groups characteristic of the area of Sdamas. 

Factorial correspondence analysis, performed on species inventoried in the region of 

Sdamas, shows that the acting ecological factors are the bioclimate, the nature of the substrate and 

human action. They explain the great part of the information provided by the different axes. Indeed, 

the bioclimate, through the atmospheric drought, is the main factor of the diversity of the 

formations of the Sdamas mountains. For its part, human action (overgrazing, fires and 

deforestation) contributes to the drying up of environments. Finally, the nature of the limestone 

substrate  (calcium carbonate) can cause pressure on vegetation in the same direction as human 

action, as the two preceding factors affect plant performance and geographical distribution of 

species. 

For further analysis of dynamics, the aim is to analyze the land cover of the Sdamas region 

over a 43-year interval grouped into 9 thematic classes: Mineral Surfaces (Urban Planning), 

Wetland, Thuja stand, mixed stand, maquis, grounds of alf-alfa, bare soils and fallow, maquis of 

Pine. The spatial and temporal dynamics of land use require regular monitoring of vegetation cover 

from remote sensing imagery. It is for this reason that we relied on field data to perform the 

diachronic analysis with three well-defined scenes 1972, 1998 and 2015, using Landsat satellite 

images (MSS, TM and ETM +). The analysis of these maps allows us to observe the different 

changes that take place at ground level. We found that the natural plant cover has undergone a 

strong degradation, disruption and regression from maquis with a dense cover to degraded 

(garrigue) because of the different human activities, namely: fires, overgrazing, clearing, 

urbanization, (a remarkable increase of population in the communes of the study area). 

Moreover, inadequate and ineffective forestry interventions and work, and the lack of 

continued protection. has aggravated pressures due to human activities. Indeed, the degradation and 

the regressive changes of plant communities in this region and in the whole of the Mediterranean 

area are man-made, and it remains the main cause of the fragmentation of natural ecosystems. 

Key words: Dynamics, Cartography, Remote Sensing, Sdamas, Tiaret