Language: English
Rich and diverse, the flora and vegetation of Oman are among the most varied in the Arabian Peninsula. In this time of climate change, global threats to biodiversity and accelerating loss of species worldwide, Oman's rich flora represents an invaluable resource and the country is leading conservation efforts in Arabia.
Efforts to seek out plant species of high priority for conservation have become increasingly urgent in light of losses of natural habitats and the biodiversity they contain. The concept of identification of threatened species and their presentation in Red Lists is an important international tool for helping to determine which species should receive priority attention for conservation. The Oman Plant Red Data Book was compiled with the aim of assessing and documenting all threatened plants and to provide guidelines for why and where conservation efforts should be concentrated.
Until recently, however, there had been little research and information into this subject. It was also very apparent that the rapid development and modernisation of the country would pose challenges to the survival of some of Oman's rarest and most threatened plants. As many baseline data about the distribution area of species and their population sizes were lacking, detailed botanical surveys throughout the whole country have been undertaken.
The author Annette Patzelt provides a comprehensive record for 261 plant species. Oman Plant Red Data Book is the result of an analysis of the entire flora of Oman and the information has been carefully researched, documented and analysed. Photographs of most species provide easy identification and support this most significant first publication of the Oman Botanic Garden.
Dr. Annette Patzelt is a botanist who has lived and worked in Oman since 1998, specialising on Arabian flora and vegetation. She studied biology at the universities of Braunschweig, Freiburg and Münich (Germany) and Paris (France). In 1991, with a Bachelor degree in Biology from Braunschweig and a Masters degree in Geobotany from Freiburg, she joined the Technical University of Munich (Germany) for her PhD studies. Together with her family, she moved to the Sultanate of Oman in 1998 and as an Assistant Professor taught for eight years at the Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University. Since 2006, she has worked as Director of Science in the Oman Botanic Garden, an iconic botanic garden being created in the Sultanate of Oman.
The Oman Botanic Garden has the unique aim of collecting, propagating and displaying the complete indigenous flora of the Sultanate of Oman, while providing a model of nature conservation and sustainability. Dr Patzelt's role in the senior management of the Garden, is to help develop and coordinate the garden concept and to develop the plant collections while also training a cadre of professional Omani staff. Her research focuses on floristic and vegetation studies of Oman, propagation and cultivation of native plants, endemic species and conservation. Her responsibilities have taken her to all areas and landscapes of Oman and have given her the opportunity to explore and document the country's diverse flora and vegetation.
She lives in Muscat with her husband and three children.