Transcript Second presentation about flora

Phytogeographical
classification of the
Aegean Islands
(afterRechinger 1948)
– Flora and vegetation of Karpathos –
Local plant endemism and phytogeographical
peculiarities
There is sufficient geological evidence that
Karpathos has been isolated as an island at least
since 5 million years.
In this period a number of plant species evolved
which are actually confined in distribution to their
area of speciation, so-called endemic plants,
not occurring elsewhere in the world.
Species evolution driven by isolation: The case of annual Campanula in the S Aegean.
Carlström in Willdenowia 15: 378. 1986
– Flora and vegetation of Karpathos –
Local plant endemism and phytogeographical
peculiarities
Some plant species have exclusively survived on the islands
of the Karpathos group, sheltered by insular isolation against
competition of aggressive species from adjacent areas.
This happened during the Ice Ages (i.e. the geological period
called the Pleistocene) when the level of the Mediterranean
Sea was lowered for approximately 120 m and most of the
present W and E Aegean islands became connected to their
adjacent mainlands making immigration of continental species
possible.
In Karpathos, like in Kriti, old relict plant species could survive
under insular isolation, being protected then from competition
of aggressive continental invaders.
Lowering of the
sealevel in the Aegean
for c. 120 m during the
Pleistocene
“Continentalisation“ of
the East Aegean Islands
Continued insular
isolation of the
Karpathos group
(after Greuter 1970)
Rechinger‘s „Cycladian window“ (from Runemark 1969)
Centaurea raphanina, a facultative chasmophyte of calcareous rocks
[Karpathos, Arkassa, 1984]
Distribution of
Centaurea raphanina
in the Aegean,
substantiating
„Rechinger‘s line“
Runemark 1969
„ Rechinger´s line “
Flora Europaea, 1.
Tutin & al. 1964
– Flora and vegetation of Karpathos –
List of endemics on Karpathos, Saria, and Kasos:
•Campanula carpatha
•Campanula pinatzii
•Carthamus rechingeri
•Dianthus fruticosus subsp. carpathus
•Erysimum candicum subsp. carpathum
•Limonium carpathum
•Nigella carpatha
•Ophrys aegaea
•Ophrys helios
•Origanum vetteri
•Phlomis pichleri
•Ricotia isatoides
•Silene ammophila subsp. carpatha
•Silene insularis
•Teucrium gracile
– Flora and vegetation of Karpathos –
List of endemics on Karpathos, Saria, and Kasos:
•Campanula carpatha
•Campanula pinatzii
•Carthamus rechingeri
•Dianthus fruticosus subsp. carpathus
•Erysimum candicum subsp. carpathum
•Limonium carpathum
•Nigella carpatha
•Ophrys aegaea
•Ophrys helios
•Origanum vetteri
•Phlomis pichleri
•Ricotia isatoides
•Silene ammophila subsp. carpatha
•Silene insularis
•Teucrium gracile
Pinatzi‘s bellflower (Campanula pinatzii),
endemic to the island of Karpathos
[Karpathos, Spoa, 1984]