0 Introductory Biogeography to Bees of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East Andrew Grace Copyright (2010) AndrewGrace. Bexhill Museum. Sussex. United Kingdom. First Edition published 2010. ISBN 978-0-9537091-9-9 29 September 2010 This book is an introduction to the bee species to be found in the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Palearctic Near East. The Eastern Mediterranean . This is a vast, biologically rich region of the world, comprising mediterranean ecosystems, arid and semi-arid coastal and inland ecotones and landscapes of faunistic and floristic richness set in a geographical and culturally diverse mosaic, Topography is varied, with many mountainous regions but also low lying plains and coastal strips. The Palearctic Middle East has a great biodiversity of bees which is associated with the diverse flora, topographical irregularity and the xeric landscapes. The influence of geographical features on Mediterranean species distribution is profound. 1 Presently the human influences of land useage, through population and economic pressures, are imposing changes on the natural and semi-natural environment which have continued through the historical period from the prehistoric. This Book hopes to sketch the invaluable natural resources of the Regions involved by representing the diversity of bee species there and hopes to be an aid to all of those engaged in nature conservation and sustainable land management in the countries involved. The Eastern Mediterranean in this context is defined as Continental Greece and archipelagoes south and eastward as well as the Mediterranean coasts and islands of Turkey and Mediterranean and Montane ecotones inland. The Island of Cyprus, the extensive mediterranean habitats within Syria. The coastal Levant and areas of mediterranean landscape there and to the Sinai, and from there areas of mediterranean habitat in Egypt and Libya. The Sinai Peninsula, the Mediterranean Sea Coasts of Egypt and also of Libya as far west as Cyrenaica furnish the southern boundaries of this eastern Mediterranean geography. Beyond the eastern Mediterranean, the Palearctic Middle East continues to desert and semi-desert lands of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel and the Palestinian Territories to the central Syrian Desert. Iraq and Iran form the boundaries of this diverse and vast regions of mountain, lush irrigated lowlands, wetland and desert. In addition the desert areas of Egypt can be viewed as belonging to this part of the biogeography. The level of recording of bee species in the region has varied, with some areas being better studied and documented. However, there even now remain large areas where knowledge of bee distribution and abundance is less than it should be for a proper knowledge to guide conservation and land management programmes. The comments made here on the distribution of species are for within the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions covered by this work. Many species have a wider distribution in the Palaearctic and other bioregions, although there are many species where the Region is the centre of their distribution. A significant proportion of species are only found within the Region. This book serves as an introduction to the bee faunal diversity of the following countries;- Greece. Cyprus. Turkey. Syria. Lebanon. Jordan. Palestine. Israel. Iraq. Iran. Egypt. Libya. A brief Biogeography. The evolution of the Angiosperm plants proceeded from the Lower Cretaceous so that by the Middle Cretaceous there were several defined floras. By the late Cretaceous the northern Holarctic flora adjoined a subtropical to tropical flora. At this time our Region was dominated by the Tethys Sea and land areas were islands. The shores of the Tethys determined the migration of plant species and floral communities. During the Tertiary the climate moved from tropical in the Eocene to very cold conditions during the Pleistocene. The tropical and subtropical communities retreated southwards. These changes had great influences on the type and pattern of distribution of the flora. Many plant species died out in 2 northern regions but survived in refugia in the Caspian lowlands and Alborz and Black Sea areas. The Arctic Tertiary flora comprised a xeric element which today can be found as the Iranian and Anatolian forest communities. Other influences included an Indo-Malesian element, an African and a Mesogean. The Mesogean element today encompasses the Mediterranean, Saharo-Arabian and Irano-Turanian floral regions which dominate most of this Region. Much of this flora is xeromorphic and has evolved over a long time span, pre-Tertiary. The significance of this is also that the withdrawal of the Tethys Sea has affected distribution and patterns of subsequent speciation. As the Tethys diminished so a great desert basin appeared, reaching from Syria across Iraq and Iran into Afghanistan. This formed a boundary or barrier between the Holarctic and Palaeotropical Kingdoms which persists to this day. Some members of the Indo-malesian flora survived in the Black and Caspian Sea areas during the southerly withdrawal. As the Tethys retreated further the Mesogean Irano-Turanian flora was exposed to new arid and often saline land in the Near and Middle east. This colonisation was followed by a process of speciation in the new lands. Akhani (2007) in a detailed analysis of biodiversity in some of the Boraginaceae notes that orogenic activity in the Oligocene creating the Alborz and Zagros Mountains at a time when the Tethys still separated Asia from Africa and Arabia and created conditions for speciation in many plant families and many Irano-Turanian endemics evolved at this period. Most of these endemics are xerophytes evolved in conditions of increasing aridity. The theory then is that Central Asia, including Iran, is the geographic source of the xeric flora of Eurasia and the Mediterranean. The beginning of the Quaternary and the Ice Ages. By the end of the Tertiary the main geographic aspects of the Region are as they can be found today. The processes of uplift and orogeny and changes to the levels of seas continued to interact with periods of colder, wetter or drier, warmer climate. During the early Pleistocene evidence of human habitation of the Near East is present. The diet of early Man encouraged a selective pressure on edible plants. The extent to which plant communities and natural vegetation climaxes have been influenced by Man’s early history are still being researched and is of course a huge subject, involving the development of medicines and crafts as well as farming. Agriculture developed in Mesopotamia by 10,000 BP. New plant communities were forced into being by the exploitation and management of edible varieties and species and the clearing of land for farming on a huge scale. Edible plants became distributed along with Man’s increased population and distribution. Plants able to live in the farmed environments were able to spread. The plants themselves fed Man and with animal domestication and grazing the spread of new ecological habitats and processes replaced some of the earlier environments. Islands of the Eastern Mediterranean. The present-day appearance of the eastern Mediterranean is the outcome of tumultuous processes throughout vast periods of time. A brief outline alone here must suffice ofsomething of what has been discovered about the more ancient history. 3 The palaeohistorical scene involves processes of Tectonic drift and the creation of two seas between two great masses of land. The seas were the Palaeotethys and the Neotethys and the great archaic Continents were Gondwanaland and Laurasia. The demise of these ancient seas has left a geographical heritage that influences the distribution of surface geology today. The two great islands of Cyprus and Crete are rather like Continents themselves, and yet also the numerous smaller islands of the Ionian, Aegean and Cyclades, some of which are large enough to exhibit a diversity of landscape equal to the continental landmasses themselves. The Mediterranean islands have been created out of flooded basins and have retained in isolation Balkan and sometimes Asiatic forms. Indeed, in much of the Aegean and the Continental Greek Peloponessos there is a strong Asiatic element in the flora. Cyprus and Crete are quite different in their biological heritages and Crete once belonged to the outer arc of Aegean Mountains whereas Cyprus is more strongly connected to Syria. Both islands have a magnificent flora and bee fauna. A good introduction to these islands is found in Vogiatzakis, I. N., Pungetti, G. & Mannion, A. M. (2008). An excellent example of a larger Aegean island is Lesbos. This island is close to the Continent of Turkey but has a distinctive character ecologically with representatives of Balkan and Asian connectivity. Lesbos along with Chios and Samos are leading examples of the Eastern Aegean group whereas further south lie the Dodecanese group of Kalymnos, Kos, Tilos and Rhodes. Lesbos has no sedimentary rock and is formed from complex powerful stresses created by the westward movement of the Anatolian Plate and northward move of the African Plate, the processes of subduction and profound seismic and volcanic activity which has allowed of lower stratas and magma. Lesbos is like Continental Greece a strongly indented coastline of limestone or metamorphic rock meeting the sea. Erosion only proceeds at any pace where sands silts or marls are exposed to sea action. On Lesbos half of the coast consists of Tertiary bedrock lava and metamorphic rocks (at a ratio of 3:1) The remaining half of the coastline is of beach and marsh. Beach materials include beach rock and gravel and sand in only 17 %. Mud and salt flats and pans are also widespread. Often beach rock is formed during periods of uplift. Here we see a strange feature of the coasts of the Mediterranean, the interplay between local landform movements and periods of rising and falling sea levels (induced by differing means and at differing rates of change) which have influenced geology locally in addition to tectonic and other processes.