Biodiversity and land degradation in the lower Euphrates subregion of Turkey

Abstract

A total of 107 plant taxa were determined in this study, 24 being new records for the area. Out of 813 plant taxa reported from the study area 100 species couldn't be verified. The number of endemics in the study area is around 46. The major families and genera are Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae and Astragalus, Euphorbia, Allium and Trigonella. The area shows a relatively rich and highly diverse fauna. For terrestrial vertebrate species peculiarly showing marginal distribution, this area forms their northernmost distributional limits. Avifauna along the Euphrates valley is quite rich with 207 species. Globally threatened species, Geronticus eremita (Waldrapp), has been observed locally in the area. Many macromammal species once common have gone extinct. Out of 18 lizard species, 3 lizards are known only from the study area. There are 20 species of snakes, one being exclusively endemic to the study area. Nearly 30 fish species are found in Euphrates system. Very scanty information is available for the invertebrate fauna except for some groups of Mollusca and Arthropoda. The biodiversity of the area is under threat from recent developments and abiotic interferences.