Abstract Recently, pastoral ecosystem has been strongly studied by naturalists. However, phytoecological research must focus on species richness and enhance these ecosystems. The main objective of this is to prove that the Moroccan very rich in terms soil biodiversity plant formations. In such areas, some plants maintain physicochemical characteristics soil. field experiment was based Braun-Bla...

Despite being a small geographic extension, Mediterranean Basin is characterized by an exceptional plant biodiversity. Adaptive responses of this biocoenosis are delineated by an unusual temporal dissociation along the year between optimal temperature for growth and water availability. This fact generates the combination of two environmental stress factors: a period of summer drought, variable ...

Phylogenetic relationships within subfamily Arbutoideae (Ericaceae) were estimated using parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses of sequence data from the ITS region and part of the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal DNA. The data support the monophyly of Arctostaphylos, Arctous, and Comarostaphylis, but suggest that Arbutus is not monophyletic, with Mediterranean Basin species more closely r...

Polypore fungi are an important group of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes that have significant roles in biomass recycling in forests and woodland ecosystems. Figures on the polypore diversity in Iran have been partly made available through few checklists, but there have been no comparative studies on the pattern of geographic distribution of the species. The prevalence of the Mediterranean biocl...

The flora of Macaronesia, which encompasses five Atlantic archipelagos (Azores, Canaries, Madeira, Cape Verde, and Salvage), is exceptionally rich and diverse. Spectacular radiation of numerous endemic plant groups has made the Macaronesian islands an outstanding area for studies of evolution and speciation. Despite intensive investigation in the last 15 years, absolute age and rate of diversif...

• Mediterranean-type ecosystems contain 20% of all vascular plant diversity on Earth and have been identified as being particularly threatened by future increases in drought. Of particular concern is the Cape Floral Region of South Africa, a global biodiversity hotspot, yet there are limited experimental data to validate predicted impacts on the flora. In a field rainout experiment, we tested w...

Using mtDNA sequences and 12 microsatellite loci, we compare populations of Testudo graeca from Sardinia and North Africa. The observed pattern of almost no differentiation combined with reduced variation in the Sardinian population is consistent with introduction in prehistoric or historic times from what is now Tunisia and neighbouring Algeria. Furthermore, in the light of the recently publis...