Increasing human pressure has presumably led to a decrease in the cover and herbage yield of Kuwaiti desert vegetation, but, to date, there has been little detailed study on such human impacts. A study of Rhanterium epapposum (local name arfaj) and Haloxylon salicornicum (local name remeth) steppe was therefore effected to determine the seasonal variation in above-ground phytomass and percentage cover, and to investigate differences between protected and adjacent grazed areas.

An average seasonal precipitation of 90 mm supported a mean of 223 kg ha-1 in arfaj steppe in 1979–1989, whereas an average mean seasonal precipitation of 73 mm during 1983–1989 maintained a mean phytomass of 102 kg ha-1 in the remeth steppe. Annual forbs and perennial shrubs were the greatest producers of dry matter per kg of phytomass in the arfaj and remeth steppes, respectively. The seasonal production of dry matter was related directly to the seasonal precipitation in the arfaj steppe, whereas the remeth steppe did not show an obvious relationship to the precipitation. The plant cover was 83% and 70% less, and herbage production was 76% and 91% less in grazed areas than in protected areas in the arfaj and remeth steppes, respectively.