311 © 2012 Triveni Enterprises J. Environ. Biol. Vikas Nagar, Lucknow, INDIA 33, 311-323 (2012)
[email protected] ISSN: 0254-8704 Full paper available on: www.jeb.co.in CODEN: JEBIDP Biodiversity and land degradation in the lower Euphrates subregion of Turkey Author Details Munir Ozturk Botany Department, Science Faculty, Ege University, Bornova-Izmir, 35100 Turkey (Corresponding author ) e-mail:
[email protected] Umit Kebapci Biology Department, Science and Arts Faculty, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, 15100 Turkey Salih Gucel Institute of Environmental Sciences, Near East University, Nicosia, 33010 Northern Cyprus Esat Cetin E Science Education Department, Education Faculty, Sakarya University, Hendek-Adapazari, 54187 Turkey Ernaz Altundag Biology Department, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Duzce University, Duzce,y 81620 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 numberp of endemics in the study area is Publication Data 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 Paper received: species peculiarly showing marginal distribution, this area forms their northernmost distributional limits. 20 October 2010 Avifauna along the Euphrates valley is quite rich with 207o species. Globally threatened species, Geronticus eremita (Waldrapp), has been observed locally in the area. Many macromammal species once common Revised received: have gone extinct. Out of 18 lizard species, 3 lizards are known only from the study area .