A scientific study conducted by the Department of Ecology at the University of Basra’s College of Science—authored by Dr. Suhad Abdul-Sadah Taha, Dr. Widad Mizban Tahir, Dr. Najlaa Hashim Adlan, and Adnan Abdul-Hussein Obeid (of the Directorate of Agriculture)—investigated the biodiversity of the southern desert in Basra Governorate.

The study, published in the *Pakistan Journal of Botany* (indexed in Scopus, Q2), highlighted the importance of plant biodiversity in desert regions.

The research involved selecting ten sites within the southern Basra desert to study the vegetation cover at each location, calculating the frequency and density of plant species.

The results indicated that the highest number of plant species was recorded at the South Rumaila site (60 species), followed by the Khidr Al-Mai site (56 species). Conversely, the lowest numbers were recorded at the North Rumaila, Al-Hartha, and Juwaybidah sites, with 16, 15, and 14 species, respectively.