The prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L. Miller) is a xerophytic cactus species widely cultivated in arid and semiarid regions worldwide and used in rehabilitation programs of rangelands in Algeria since 1990. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2018) 42: 448-461 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Diversity and functional traits of spontaneous plant species in Algerian rangelands rehabilitated with prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L.) plantations 1, 2 1,3 Souad NEFFAR * , Taha MENASRIA , Haroun CHENCHOUNI Department of Natural and Life Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Natural and Life Sciences, University of Tebessa, Tebessa, Algeria 2 Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Natural and Life Sciences, University of Tebessa, Tebessa, Algeria 3 Laboratory of Natural Resources and Management of Sensitive Environments ‘RNAMS’, University of Oum-El-Bouaghi, Oum-El-Bouaghi, Algeria 1 Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: The prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L. Miller) is a xerophytic cactus species widely cultivated in arid and semiarid regions worldwide and used in rehabilitation programs of rangelands in Algeria since 1990. This study analyzed the diversity and functional traits of plant species established in prickly pear plantations growing under arid and semiarid climates. A 3-year plant assessment (2008–2010) was carried out using ecological descriptors (abundance, species richness, diversity indices, disturbance index, and Jaccard index) and plant functional traits (life forms, chorological types, dispersal types, Grime’s, Noy-Meir’s strategies, and morphological types). The results revealed 36 and 31 species in arid and semiarid rangelands, respectively, with remarkable dominance of therophytic () and hemicryptophytic plants () growing in the semiarid climatic zone. The Shannon and diversity index showed low values (– in surveyed rangelands) with a maximum of in 2009. The disturbance index ranged between 51% and 55% and the dispersion scheme of diaspores was dominated by anemochorous .
