A Biogeographical Analysis of the Island of Crete, Greece

Legakis, A.; Kypriotakis, Zacharias

doi:10.2307/2845761

Cited by 35 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…2), suggesting a strong historical component in their delineation. Legakis & Kypriotakis (1994) also report a similar pattern in the distribution of animal species on Crete relating to the palaeogeographical history of the island. Furthermore, although the results are not directly comparable between the two studies, the candidate AoEs of Crete host the hotspots of endemism identified by Sfenthourakis & Legakis (2001), including the high mountain massifs of the island.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

An improved method for the identification of areas of endemism using species co‐occurrences

Giokas

Sfenthourakis

2008

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim To develop a simple method that (1) combines the notions of biotic elements (groups of taxa with ranges significantly more similar to each other than to the ranges of other taxa) and of areas of endemism (AoE, areas of non‐random distributional congruence among taxa), and (2) overcomes the constraints of a previously suggested null model‐based method that cannot deal with disjunctions and is strictly grid‐dependent. Location We used test data sets from southern Africa and Crete. Methods First, we used a null‐model approach to detect pairs of species that have a significant degree of co‐occurrence, in order to determine biotic elements. Subsequently, we used a parsimony analysis of endemicity to delineate candidate AoE, and multivariate analysis to define groups of biotic elements on the basis of species interactions (co‐occurrence, mutual exclusion, neutral) using only the species detected in the previous step. We applied this method to the well known data set for Sciobius in southern Africa, as well as to endemic invertebrates of Crete (Greece), in order to evaluate its performance. Results Our results are very similar to those of previous analyses, and produce meaningful delineation of AoE and biotic elements in both data sets. The method is flexible regarding null models and significance levels, and eliminates noise in the data. Main conclusions We offer a simple method that provides reasonable identification of both biotic elements and AoE, produces good‐fit statistics, reduces uninformative or junk output, and reduces computational time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

An improved method for the identification of areas of endemism using species co‐occurrences

Giokas

Sfenthourakis

2008

Journal of Biogeography

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“…There is a positive correlation between endemic species richness and altitude, the opposite pattern found for alien species (Figures 4A,B), indicating the observed relationship between alien and endemic species richness is possibly linked with altitude. Indeed, almost half (43%) of Cretan endemics are found solely at elevations higher than 1,000 m (Legakis and Kypriotakis, 1994). Endemic species richness is known to increase with altitude (Cañadas et al, 2014), and typically peaks at higher altitudes compared to total species richness (Vetaas and Grytnes, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Hypotheses of Plant Species Invasions on Mediterranean Islands: Inverse Patterns between Alien and Endemic Species

et al. 2017

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Invasive alien species cause major changes to ecosystem functioning and patterns of biodiversity, and the main factors involved in invasion success remain contested. Using the Mediterranean island of Crete, Greece as a case study, we suggest a framework for analyzing spatial data of alien species distributions, based on environmental predictors, aiming to gain an understanding of their spatial patterns and spread. Mediterranean islands are under strong ecological pressure from invading species due to their restricted size and increased human impact. Four hypotheses of invasibility, the "propagule pressure hypothesis" (H1), "biotic resistance hypothesis vs. acceptance hypothesis" (H2), "disturbance-mediated hypothesis" (H3), and "environmental heterogeneity hypothesis" (H4) were tested. Using data from alien, native, and endemic vascular plant species, the propagule pressure, biotic resistance vs. acceptance, disturbance-mediated, and environmental heterogeneity hypotheses were tested with Generalized Additive Modeling (GAM) of 39 models. Based on model selection, the optimal model includes the positive covariates of native species richness, the negative covariates of endemic species richness, and land area. Variance partitioning between the four hypotheses indicated that the biotic resistance vs. acceptance hypothesis explained the vast majority of the total variance. These results show that areas of high species richness have greater invasibility and support the acceptance hypothesis and "rich-get-richer" distribution of alien species. The negative correlation between alien and endemic species appears to be predominantly driven by altitude, with fewer alien and more endemic species at greater altitudes, and habitat richness. The negative relationship between alien and endemic species richness provides potential for understanding patterns of endemic and alien species on islands, contributing to more effective conservation strategies.

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“…A range of analyses at national level (Garcia-Barros et al, 2002) and regional level (Legakis and Kypriotakis, 1994;Troumbis and Dimitrakopoulos, 1998) and European level (Palmer and Smart, 2000) have been based on individual species that are rare or endangered or habitats characterized by high species richness and/or endemism. This approach is usually hindered across the MB by the lack of information, particularly on mountain areas (Dimopoulos et al, 1997;Bergmeier, 2002;Vogiatzakis et al, 2003a).…”

Section: Nature Conservation and Information Availability In The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediterranean ecosystems: problems and tools for conservation

Vogiatzakis

Mannion

Griffiths

2006

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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Mediterranean ecosystems rival tropical ecosystems in terms of plant biodiversity. The Mediterranean Basin (MB) itself hosts 25 000 plant species, half of which are endemic. This rich biodiversity and the complex biogeographical and political issues make conservation a difficult task in the region. Species, habitat, ecosystem and landscape approaches have been used to identify conservation targets at various scales: ie, European, national, regional and local. Conservation decisions require adequate information at the species, community and habitat level. Nevertheless and despite recent improvements/efforts, this information is still incomplete, fragmented and varies from one country to another. This paper reviews the biogeographic data, the problems arising from current conservation efforts and methods for the conservation assessment and prioritization using GIS. GIS has an important role to play for managing spatial and attribute information on the ecosystems of the MB and to facilitate interactions with existing databases. Where limited information is available it can be used for prediction when directly or indirectly linked to externally built models. As well as being a predictive tool today GIS incorporate spatial techniques which can improve the level of information such as fuzzy logic, geostatistics, or provide insight about landscape changes such as 3D visualization. Where there are limited resources it can assist with identifying sites of conservation priority or the resolution of environmental conflicts (scenario building). Although not a panacea, GIS is an invaluable tool for improving the understanding of Mediterranean ecosystems and their dynamics and for practical management in a region that is under increasing pressure from human impact.

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A Biogeographical Analysis of the Island of Crete, Greece

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

An improved method for the identification of areas of endemism using species co‐occurrences

An improved method for the identification of areas of endemism using species co‐occurrences

Evaluating Hypotheses of Plant Species Invasions on Mediterranean Islands: Inverse Patterns between Alien and Endemic Species

Mediterranean ecosystems: problems and tools for conservation

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