Plant Endemism Centres and Biodiversity Hotspots in Greece

Biology

Arne Strid¹  Athanasios Kallimanis²  Maria Panitsa³  Panayotis Dimopoulos³  IoannisP. Kokkoris³  Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis³ 

[1] Bakkevej 6, DK-5853 Ørbæk, Denmark;Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece;Division of Plant Biology, Laboratory of Botany, Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece;

关键词: biodiversity conservation;    CANAPE;    conservation prioritization;    ecosystem services;    EU biodiversity strategy;    GIS analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/biology10020072

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Biodiversity hotspots (BH) cover a small fraction of the Earth’s surface, yet host numerous endemics. Human-induced biodiversity loss has been increasing worldwide, despite attempts to halt the extinction crisis. There is thus an urgent need to efficiently allocate the available conservation funds in an optimised conservation prioritization scheme. Identifying BH and endemism centres (EC) is therefore a valuable tool in conservation prioritization and planning. Even though Greece is one of the most plant species-rich European countries, few studies have dealt with the identification of BH or EC and none has ever incorporated phylogenetic information or extended to the national scale. Consequently, we are unaware of the extent that Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) of the Natura 2000 network efficiently protect Greek plant diversity. Here, we located for the first time at a national scale and in a phylogenetic framework, the areas serving as BH and EC, and assessed the effectiveness of the Greek SAC in safeguarding them. BH and EC are mainly located near mountainous areas, and in areas supposedly floristically impoverished, such as the central Aegean islands. A critical re-assessment of the Greek SAC might be needed to minimize the extinction risk of the Greek endemics, by focusing the conservation efforts also on the BH and EC that fall outside the established Greek SAC.

【 授权许可】

Unknown