Categories · Geographic Regions

Eastern Mediterranean

The Eastern Mediterranean Threatened Conifer Region extends from southern Italy, eastwards to the coasts of the Black Sea and southwards to the coasts and mountains of eastern North Africa. It includes important conifer areas such as the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey and the mountains of Syria and Lebanon.

Dominant species include Abies cilicica and Cedrus libani. In these areas, the mountains receive most of their precipitation in the form of winter snow fall followed by long hot summers. Similar climates occur in the mountains of Cyprus and Sicily where restricted endemics such as Cedrus brevifolia and Abies nebrodensis occur. The temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in the Balkans, which also occur cover limestone mountains, supports fragmented populations of Picea omorika while the sparsely forested karst limestone coast have locally recognised narrow endemic threatened pines. The threats to conifers in this region are numerous: they include fire, over-grazing, habitat loss through urbanisation and deforestation, pathogen and pest outbreaks that are associated with prolonged droughts that are symptomatic of climate change and more locally, negative activities associated with winter sports.

There are 14 taxa in the category – Eastern Mediterranean:

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