Biology
Department, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, DuzceUniversity,? Duzce, 81620 Turkey
Publication Data
Paper received:
20
October 2010
Revised
received:
02
July 2011
Accepted:
30 July 2011
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, Alliumand 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, Geronticuseremita(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.
Key
words
Biodiversity, Lower
Euphrates, Land degradation, Turkey
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