Various options can be used. Of these, 1) Species selection that can adapt to the arid environment; 2) practicing water harvesting techniques (water conservation techniques including pit preparation time for plantings); 3) carrying out seedling plantings at an early stage of rain-onsetting; 4) provision of shelter or fencing to reduce disturbance from animals, etc.

Please have a look at the below link too;

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02436.x

Dear Gonfa Kewessa

Thanks for your replay. we actually did all these steps and actually the seed germination ranged from 20 to 40% and this awesome for us, but the problem that these seedling didn’t survive for long time in the wild and the remain is only 1% of the germinated seeds, although there is a source of water, with no grazing or human activity. t is worth noting that the seeds are very small in size and weight.

Are there treatments in the laboratory that work to raise the efficiency of seeds vitality?

Dear Karim Omar

1. If your question is about how to maintain moist conditions in an arid locality, then you might like to look at the literature on "small water cycles", describing techniques for holding water as high in a catchment as possible, through small-scale engineering, obstructing the flow of water into rivers and maintaining vegetation cover as much as possible. This is consistent with item 2 of Gonfa Kewessa's answer above.

I agree with Gonfa Kewessa's recommendation number 4 to protect the site from grazing animals and perhaps from direct sunlight by artificial shade.

It's important to understand why the seeds that germinated satisfactorily failed to survive in the wild. Was it severe sunshine? Drought? Compacted soil? Absence of symbiotic fungi necessary for survival in the wild? (Transmitted by adding a small amount of soil from their native habitat to the new planting site). Acidity or alkalinity? Some plants are very sensitive to pH which may not be obvious on casual inspection. It is necessary to understand the biology of these plants in order to understand their ecology.

Dear Geoff Edwards

Thank you very much for fruitful information and advice. Actually we have collected fresh seeds from viable subpopulations, then cleaned, dried, stored based on the criteria of the scientific community. Recovery sites were selected to be in the species known range in terms of climate, topography, soil, etc. the recovery sites were copy of species natural habitat. water were available all the year with no grazing or human activity.

Is there any seed treatments to increase the survival rates!

Dear Karim

I am coming at this from a field restoration ecologist perspective. From my experience the germination rate is always higher than the survival rate. New plantings start with a few individuals that increase over time as the plants adapt to and change their local microclimate. Look at the edges of the viable subpopulations, what is the density of individuals compared to the centre of the patch? Are you close to that density in your plantings? If the number of established seedlings you have is considerably less, perhaps your solution is as simple as sowing more seeds and giving the restored area more time.

Craig's Checklist to avoid failures when planting seeds in deserts--

1.) Are these seeds potentially eaten by rodents, birds, ants? They could be "harvesting" everything you put out these, within a few days. Did you check by putting some seeds out on a small plate, and see if anyone comes to eat or carry them away?

2.) Did you add organic matter and organic fertilizers when you sowed the seeds?

You may be sowing these seeds is soils too poor for their seedling survival.

3.) Does the area surround them have stable upland native plants keeping the soil in place?

If not, you need to improve the areas surround these wetland areas, to produce a stable environment for your planting. The northern hemisphere deserts are all man-made by our grazing animals that have removed the insulating cover of native plants and exposed the bare soil that heats up the air and changes the dew point so it does not rain.

Replanting the native plants, to produce that original native cove to insulate the soil, and kicking all of the domesticated animals off the land, can increase the rainfall of an area by 100-300%--see the project in Tunisia at the Sidi Toui National Park, image above.

I have successfully used this method on 240 hectares in the Great Basin in 20-25 cm of annual rainfall. Was able to get solid native plant cover in six month, and that native cover has remained now for 25 years in a grazed area. Try it and you will love it! ---See https://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html

Dear Lynne Atwood

Thanks for your replay, Actually, as you said, the subpopulations on the edge are less densely populated than the central one. But out of 20,000 seeds, only 5,000 were germinated, and in the end, only about 20 individuals remain. Is this logical? If we bear in mind that some subpopulations contain only one individual.

Dear Craig Carlton Dremann

Thanks for the valuable information and sugesstions, your work is awsome but need a lot of money. we need to secure a fund for this

Thanks again for your replay

In general water loving plants are rarely found in arid conditions.plants which grow in arid conditions should have to possess physical, anatomical and physiological adaptations. Rehabilitation of water loving endemic plants in arid conditions, during water available season is best to adapt to the habitat. To make the rehabilitation process successful of such kind of plants, providing the water or aquatic conditions without taking into account of any cost and benefits.

Thanks Pasupuleti Sivaramakrishna

This species is distributed in wells and springs where water source are available all time, in the beginning it gave germination rate reached to 40% but at the end only 1% remain

CHECK and See--Are there low levels of soil organic matter down to about 5 cm from the surface, and are the nutrients in the soil BELOW the minimum thresholds required for seedling survival,? Those two issues are the NUMBER ONE cause of seeding project failures in arid areas.

Ever since projects started replanting local native seeds for restoration, especially in areas with less than one meter of annual rainfall.. we have always make the assumption that if we plant a native plant into its original native plant habitat, the soils should be good?

We NEVER considered-- that through our animal grazing over time, we might have removed organic matter and soil nutrients, so native seedlings can no longer survive? And that "soil mining" process can be done very rapidly, in less than a decade. So, you can see places like Egypt and the Middle East, western India, where grazing has been done since the fifth millennia B.C. or the last 6,000-7,000 years, that you could be left with a "Zombie Ecosystem" like what has resulting in only 150 years of cattle and sheep grazing here in the Western USA.

A "Zombie Ecosystem" is my term for where you have old perennial plants-- grasses, shrubs and perennial herbaceous natives-- and they are still producing viable seeds, but there are few to zero seedlings in the population...so that means you have a population aging out towards extinction, until you cure whatever caused it to become Zombized. I have written a paper about this problem, that is being reviewed right now for publication in the journal Ecological Restoration.

While I was doing a workshop on ecological restoration in Nevada a couple of years ago, I went out to the desert to search for Zombies in the native grass populations, and the article tells the story of what I found.

Do a basal diameter survey of any native perennial plant population that you are trying to recover, and measure the basal diameter of 33-100 plants, and divide the results into size/age classes, like 0-2 cm, 2-4 cm, 4-6 cm, etc. and then that produces what is called an "Age-pyramid" For and perennial native plant populations, it should look like a sharpened pencil, fairly column-shaped with a point at the top. If you have an Egyptian pyramid, it means you have a reproducing population, but it is being disturbed too frequently. If you have an upside down pyramid, that means you are Zombie-infested.

And think about expanding out your restoration from the target-species, and restore the whole surrounding ecosystem? If done correctly you can do it with only a couple of years of test plots, and then the larger scale should only take six months, to give you 100% native cover on those barren soil areas.

The money should come from a government who has its populations squeezed and confined into small areas where water currently exists, and they want to produce new areas where by planting the local native plants, the annual rainfall could increase and eventually be settled to release the human pressure.

And that money could come from each Country's military budget, because like the US, because if you stop and think about it, there is nobody outside of our countries who wants to come with armies and conquer either of our countries?

So expenditures for a standing military at this point, is only keeping the militaries and the corporations in business that supply them? By using that money for Ecological Restoration of our deserts and producing more annual rainfall, would give us more "National Security" than any military could?

If I were doing Ecological Restoration in Egypt, I have shown the part of the Eastern Desert where I would start... because in that part of the desert, rain was still falling not too long ago--within the last 7,000 years--so could be brought back faster by the replanted of the local native plants, that would harvesting the India monsoonal moisture in summer.

You see that triangle piece?--the watershed that flows into the Nile at Qena-- that could be revegetated as new lands to move to once it was replanted. However, starting now and in the future, only the wadi bottoms could be used for grazing and farming. In order to do the restoration properly, all domesticated animals would need to be removed now, like they did for the National Park in Tunisia, and KEPT out permanently and forever, outside of the Wadi-bottoms.

And really, revegetation of the desert areas of the planet, is going to be our best solution to global warming, since we will accomplish three things that way--sequester carbon in the soil, the plants will insulate the land so the air temp is lower, and increase the rainfall so that more plants can grow and cool more and sequester more carbon, etc.

This sentence should read---For ANY perennial native plant populations, it should look like a sharpened pencil, fairly column-shaped with a point at the top.

I was thinking about your problem yesterday while walking around my own property. It is notable that some young tree-ferns that are water-loving plants normally growing in moist gullies were regenerating along the side of a highly exposed, bone-dry track cutting exposed to the full sun; whereas young trees that I had planted recently with large root balls and regular watering were wilting under the clear skies and hot sun.

It is possible that at the micro level, the tree-ferns that established themselves did so during moist conditions and their roots have formed a close association with living and nonliving elements and this has enabled them to withstand the seasonal dry conditions. It is also possible that at a more macro level, the roots of germinating tree-ferns have travelled much deeper into the subsoil during the moist conditions and are tapping into moisture and nutrients that are not available at the surface. This explanation is consistent with the advice of Craig Dremann.

That other sentence should read, "...because in that part of the desert, rain was still falling not too long ago--within the last 7,000 years--so could be brought back faster by the replanted of the local native plants, that COULD HARVEST the India monsoonal moisture in summer.

Two photos from my website at https://www.ecoseeds.com/cool.html -- Show how native vegetation brings the rainfall to the mountains of Oman around Salalah--And the picture from nearby in Oman where there is very little native vegetation, the same India monsoon moisture passing over in the summer each year, but is wasted, when you lack the vegetation to form rain clouds and produce rain.

Myself, Professor Elfatih A.B. Eltahir, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and former MIT graduate student Anke Hildebrandt (https://news.mit.edu/2006/cloudforest) believe that in arid lands, there is a native vegetation/rainfall threshold--that if you get your native vegetation cover (and I am adding, the Pseudomonas host plants) over a particular threshold, you can go from "desert" conditions back to native grasslands and savannah.

Dear Dr. Karim Omar

From your reflections, I learned that the survival rate is 1%, which is, really very-very poor performance.

I am really wondering if you and probably your teams carry out pre and post-planting management?

You have mentioned that the site is a moisture stress area while the species are water-loving ones. As to me, there is a need to undertake a detailed site assessment. And also try to identify the ecological elasticity/ adaptability of the selected species...... MATCHING SPECIES WITH SITE.

In relation to treatment to increase survival rate, really I don't have experience in this regard. But, mostly seed treatments are carried out to break seed dormancy....to increase the rate of germination.

Last but not least, I am not clear with your planting materials...... seeds or seedlings? If your planting materials are seedlings, you can train during the nursery period with so-called.....hardenings. Just to mean training seedlings while in the nursery, to adapt to the harsh environment by reducing the amount of watering,,,,,, exposing to direct sunlight. These activities may be considered as treatment to increase the survival rate. Best regards

Dear Gonfa Kewessa

thanks for very detailed information.

we planting the dormancy treated seeds directly in the wild as the target species is located only on cliffs on very thin soil layer (0 to 3cm)

water source were final all the experiment. Germination rate was fine 25-40%.

after 7 months from this germination only a1% remain survive.

i beleive that the low organic matter in the sine soil layer may be the answer.

what you think?

Can you please give us a clue, what plant family this plant is from, and what kind of plant (annual, perennial, herbaceous perennial, shrub, etc.) ?

1.) When you plant, cut terraces in the side of the slope. Do not make the terrace flat, have it sloping very slightly inward towards the slope. And then make drains at either end--so that water from the springs, or in case of a downpour of rain, water can drain out.

2.) Get some soil from around the site that already has some organic matter in it, to put into your "terrace garden" at least 4 cm deep.

3.) Make your own compost, ideally from local native plants like grasses and FORBS, and no shrubs or tree leaves--and add a 1:40 ratio of bone meal and blood meal to the compost, and keep it moist and age it for about three months so all of the herbicide-like allelochemicals in the plant materials have decomposed, so you will not have interference with the seedlings. Only use bone meal whose N-P-K percentage numbers have "0" as the first number, which means zero nitrogen and indicates pure bone meal.

4.) Or you could harvest the surface litter as compost if there is enough, and add the two fertilizers and compost it for 2-3 weeks, to get rid of the fertilizer smell so animals will not be attracted to it. In both cases, you should sift the compost through 1/4 inch (7-8 mm) mesh screen to use.

4.) Sow your seeds on top of your "soil" then cover them with your compost, only 3-4 times as deep as the seed's diameters. Easy to sow seeds too deep, so be very careful when sowing.

Adding compost with a little organic fertilizers added, may solve all of your problems. You can see the difference in sowing seeds in a desert, without and with compost and fertilizers at https://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html -- from my classes on Ecological Restoration that I taught here in California.

Dear Craig Carlton Dremann

thats a very important recommendations. I will get back to you soon

Dear Dr.Karim Omar,

Thank you for your more information.

As you stated low organic matter maybe the reason.

At higher elevation points....the problem of low survival rate could also be due to the concept of timberline. In my country, Ethiopia this problem can be easily noted at Bale Highlands, Southeastern Ethiopia. At an elevation of 4377masl ONLY one plant species adapt to the frost condition. Moreover, other factors like soil moisture + soil temperature may also determine plant survival and growth.

Karim Omar -- If you post THREE pictures here, it may get you some better answers:

1.) Picture of the overall area with the natural plants growing, and 2.) Picture of your planted seedlings coming up, and 3.) Picture of your planted area a while later with only 1% surviving. PLUS, the plant family and type of plant would be very useful also.

I have attached a photo of a desert native-seeding project done by our US Federal government last year in Nevada after a fire and only a single native grass plant survived in the area of the photo, but the introduced weed grasses are doing very nicely.

That is what I do professionally--invent methods to make desert native planting projects 100% successful to produce native cover in six months under natural rainfall conditions. My company The Reveg Edge has been doing this work for 19 years now, and so far, replanted or restored 800 acres (325 hectares).

WHAT you WANT to see--- is the attached example from my Great Basin desert project in 8-10 inches (20-30 cm) of rainfall--solid native plants to the horizon without any weeds in it?

What are the names of these plants? Do they have a tap root that could reach deep into the soil to obtain deeper moisture? What is the aspect (north, south, east west) of the mountain side your are planting; plant where there's the least sun exposure. Transplantation technique matters - prevent transplantation shock.

Dear Gonfa Kewessa

I strongly agree with you that the lack of organic matter in the soil is one of the most important reasons for the inability of the plant to complete its growth stages after the end of the energy reserve in the seed. Even if water is available and there is no soil, the plant will not be able to continue growing

Dear Marilou Montemayor

It is Veronica spp It is located in the north and northeast aspect on steep slopes (90 degree) where there is no deep soil layer (maximum depth of 3 cm). The adventitious root grows horizontally on the rocks and does not bear the slightest pressures and floods, even minor ones

Veronica used to be in the Scrophulariaceae, and that genus is famous for needed associated plants that they are semi-parasitic on, with their roots.

If you dig up a thriving plant, see what the kind of plants they have their root touching--and that may be the other plant you need to plant along with the Veronicas?

Adiantum spp

Karim Omar --Now you mention maidenhair ferns (Adiantum app)--HOW does that fern fit into the picture? Can you post a photo of what this area looks like when it is thriving, and also what an area looks like when you are trying to restore it?

Maiden hair fern usually grows in the vicinity of a spring and a shady spot (being somewhat in a crevice or a draw and an aspect with the least sun exposure).

Dear Marilou Montemayor

This make it very sensetive to chlimate change if drough increase

The Maidenhair fern is a relict from the pre-domesticated animal grazing rainfall period, about 6,000 years ago, so unless you are willing to restore the grassland-savannah like they are for the "Great Green Wall" in Western Africa, or the Sidi Toui Park in Tunisia, those populations will continue to dwindle away.

Each site, should have its grassland-savannah restored for about a kilometer in radius...and that could very easily be done just by making those areas into "National Ecological Restoration Preserves" and fencing out the domesticated animals, like they did in Tunisia for their Sidi Toui park, before-and-after pictures are attached from NASA.

If we continue to focus on individual disappearing species, we will never see, that we must restore the entire ecosystem to save them? You cannot possibly save one thread from the fabric, you must save the whole fabric that holds everything together.

Dear Craig Carlton Dremann

Your work is impressive, but such restoration programs need a lot of money and international support

I hope we can find this support

All it takes is three things--Only local government support--you do not need to wait for international support at all?

1.) The government if it is land controlled by the government, establish these areas as "Ecological Restoration Preserves" and put them on a map officially.

That costs ZERO Egyptian Pounds--just set aside the critical pieces of land and that will allow the process of Ecological Restoration to get started at some time in the future.

That is exactly what happened to the property I am working on right now in the Town of Woodside--40 years ago, the land was set aside as an Ecological Restoration Preserve, but nobody had the money or the successful restoration techniques, until I got started five years ago.

But now there is money AND the successful ecological restoration method together at the same time, now the party can begin!

2.) Then, the funding source could be selling carbon credits, when carbon start getting sequestered in the soil from the native plants that grow back.

3.) Also, the people who used to graze the area, need to be paid to now replant those areas--and you calculate how much net profit they make per hectare now from grazing or drylands farming, and pay them that plus a little more.

You do not wait for funding, you create funding from the carbon credits that you will create.

Where or how are you selling your carbon credits? Thus far I have found no one buying.

Several of the Western US states have decided to become carbon-neutral by a certain date in the future, and the only way possible will be by buying carbon offsets or carbon credits, to be able to achieve that goal.

For example, GOOGLE right now does that, so they can put at the bottom of their search page, "Carbon neutral since 2007"== Anyone on the planet who has a goal to be carbon neutral, MUST buy carbon credits or offsets.

From wikipedia--Currently there are five exchanges trading in carbon allowances: the European Climate Exchange, NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe, PowerNext, Commodity Exchange Bratislava and the European Energy Exchange.