Mediterranean Biodiversity

Biodiversity is vitally important for many reasons: it provides many daily human requirements, such as food, drink, clothing and medicines. Higher biodiversity provides greater resistance to the spread of diseases and is a regulatory force for major planetary systems such as water supply and the atmosphere. In the Mediterranean, where water is a scare resource, the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity are vital. The inter-relationships of a multitude of species enhance ecosystem stability and safeguard the services it can provide to humankind. The region’s biodiversity undoubtably has great cultural, aesthetic and leisure value too. Millions of tourists are drawn here every year because of the stunningly rich landscapes and wildlife. A Rocha also holds that biodiversity has intrinsic value because it matters to God who created it all, entrusted it to our care and reveals Himself to the world through all that He has made.

Biodiversity Hotspots are the places that are most immediately important for conservation because of both the richness of species and also the level of threat that they face. The Mediterranean qualifies as one of the 34 global hotspots mainly due to the very high diversity and endemism of the vascular plants in the region: 52% of them are found nowhere else on earth. In comparison to other hotspots, mammals and birds are poorly represented, with few species unique to the Mediterranean. Mammalian fauna predominately originate from Eurasia and Africa whilst avifauna is mainly derived from Eurasian and semi-arid southern regions. However, reptile and amphibian populations have much higher levels of endemism, with 33-34% of species unique to the area.

Group	No. of species	Endemic species	Percent endemism
Plants	22,500	11,700	52.0
Mammals	226	25	11.1
Birds	489	25	5.1
Reptiles	230	77	33.5
Amphibians	79	27	34.2

A significant contribution to this high level of biodiversity is the location of the basin between the two great land masses of Eurasia and Africa. A hospitable warm climate with a long growing season also plays an important role particularly in the rich variety of plants.

For the last four decades IUCN (The World Conservation Union) has been assessing the condition of the world’s wildlife species to highlight which species are under greatest threat of extinction and thereby promote their conservation. During this time over 40,000 species have been assessed, including almost all mammal, bird and amphibian species. Each species is assigned to one of the following categories of conservation concern: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern.

Of the species evaluated 16,119 are now listed as threatened with extinction, including one in three amphibians, a quarter of all coniferous trees, as well as one in eight birds and one in four mammals. Red Lists are being developed for some regions, and in the Mediterranean this work is ongoing. So far amphibians, reptiles, fresh-water fish and cartilaginous fish have been assessed. The study indicates that 13% of reptiles and 25.5% of amphibians are globally threatened, whilst 56% of fresh-water and 42% of cartilaginous fish are also under threat.

Iconic to the basin are a number of species including the famous Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), the Spanish Imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti), the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), and the illusive Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus). The populations of each of these animal species are under serious threat, indeed the Iberian Lynx is the most endangered felid in the world.