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By using as a guideline E. Mariolopoulo's (father of modern Greek meteorology and climatology) bioclimatic categories of Greece, we conclude that there are 4 main climate categories for Greece:
1. Semi-arid areas (precipitation levels: 200-500 mm)
2. Semi-humid areas (pr.:500-1000mm)
3. Humid areas (pr.:1000-2000mm)
4. Highly Humid Areas (pr.: >2000mm)

According to Koppen Climate Classification the majority of Greece's land with altitude lower than 1000m is Csa, meaning "Mediterranean climate". Areas with altitude over 1000 m are categorized as Csb, where the average temperature of the hottest month is below 22 Celcius degrees.

According to Thornthwaite Climate Classification there are 29 climate areas in Greece.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Greece/Climate
https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/climate/Greece.htm

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Greece is located in Southern Europe and it's a trancontimental country that consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland. Located at a strategic spot, at the crossroads of Europe,Asia and Africa, Greece is one of the few European countries that is so rich in regards of fauna, flora and habitat diversity.
Due to it's highly indented coastline and numerous islands, Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world (13.676 km). There are approximately 1.200-6.000 islands (depending on the definition), 227 of which are inhabited.

bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece
https://www.britannica.com/place/Greece

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Greece Geology

The geology of Greece is highly structurally complex due to its position between the European and African tectonic plates. Some of the oldest rocks in Greece are from the Paleozoic and are usually metamorphosed with no fossils. The Rhodope Massif spans the northern mainland, divided into amphibolite schist and gneiss, with comparatively recent granite intrusions from the Oligocene and Miocene. West of the Strymonas River is the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, covering the Chalkidiki Peninsula with thick marble and gneiss, with granite intrusions.

Natural resource geology

·         Asbestos: Occurs in joints in Western Macedonia and in the serpentinized edge of the Vourinos Massif

·         Antimony: Stibnite is found in Thrace and Macedonia, as well as in Devonian argillite veins on Chios island

·         Barite: Common in hydrothermal deposits and widely exported from the island of Mykonos for oil drilling. Also found on Kos and Polyvos with total reserves of several million tons.

·         Bauxite: Greece has over 1000 deposits particularly in the east-central part of the country, typically between limestone formations.

·         Bentonite: Several million tons of calcium-type bentonite is found on Kimolos and Milos and is often converted for higher swelling capacity by treating with sodium carbonate. Greece is the second largest bentonite producer after the United States.

·         Chromite: Hosted in peridotite, ophiolites and dunte. Near Vourinos is a deposit with 1.5 million tons of ore and an ancient mine in Thessalia extracted 500,000 tons by the 1990s.

·         Copper: The Chalkidiki Peninsula has 15 million tons of copper. Pyrite is common near East Peloponesus and disseminated copper sulfides are common in veins in Western Macedonia.

·         Iron: Greece has 200 small "soft" iron deposits and iron-nickel laterite 130 kilometers north of Athens with 200 million tons of ore

Hydrocarbon
Onshore oil exploration began in 1938 and moved offshore in 1970. The Prinos Anticline offshore was found to contain oil under Miocene rocks.

Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology

Editors: Moores, E.M., Fairbridge, Rhodes W. (Eds.)

More specifically regarding Greek islands.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256975462_Geology_of_the_Greek_Islands

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 Grey wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park 

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 Grey wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park 

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From the 3 options below, the most likely is #3: "The wolves were brought in because the increased elk population was overgrazing the deciduous, woody species such as aspen and cottonwood."
When the wolves were reintroduced in the park they triggered a still unfolding cascade effect among animals and plants. Back in 1930s, when the last wolves were killed off, the Yelllowstone elk even though it still had many predators like black grizzly bears and cougars, the lack of wolves took a huge predatory amount of pressure off the elk and as a result elk populations grew exponentially. During winter times the elks remained in the park and   browsed heavily on young willow, aspen and cottonwood plants. The animal that suffered most were the beavers, who need willows to survive in winter. The reintroduction of wolves brought back the predatory pressure upon elks, their populations declined and as a result, beavers were able to feed upon willow once again, increase their population and spread, build new dams and ponds,   even out the seasonal pulses of runoff; store water for recharging the water table; and provide cold, shaded water for fish, while the now robust willow stands provide habitat for songbirds.
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem

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αρχείο λήψης

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example #1
Circaetus gallicus– Natrix natrix

The short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicusis) also known as the short-toed snake eagle, is a medium sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It’s found throughout the Mediterrenean basin, into Russia and the Middle East and parts of Asia.

This eagle is found in open cultivated plains, and stony deciduous scrub areas and foothills and semi-dessert areas. It forages in open habitats.

Pellet analysis of the species in in the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli National Park in northeastern Greece showed that  the  most numerous prey items were snakes, constituting 84% of the diet. More specifically Natrix natrix consisted of 88.9% of the adult’s diet. The short-toed eagle can be regarded as a specialist predator in snakes.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230753497_Feeding_habits_and_provisioning_rate_of_breeding_short-toed_eagles_Circaetus_gallicus_in_northeastern_Greece

example #2
Elaphe quatuorlineata-Microtus levis

The four lined snake (E. quatuorlineata)  also known as Bulgarian ratsnake,  is a member of the family Colubridae. It can reach 150 cm in length and in some cases 206 cm. It can hunt both on the ground and trees and they’re also well adapt swimmers. It hunts mainly rodents such as Microtus levis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-lined_snake
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13454/115114533

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Toxocara canis

Also known as dog roundworm, it is a worldwide distributed helminth parasite of dogs and other canids, with zoonotic potential for humans.

It’s able to invade an extraordinaly wide range of hosts, from invertebrates and poultry through to mice and man; for all but the definitive species (canid) these represent intermediate hosts which can, through predation, allow the parasite to reach its final definitive host species. The larvae can enter a long term developmental arrest, allowing to remain inside an intermediate host and only reach adulthood when inside a canid species. It has a very high longetivity, in monkeys (lab) it remained in their tissues for 9 years in the larvae stage and was able to infect mice afterwards.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3611597/

Cuscuta europaea

Also known as European dodder, it’s an obligate parasite with negligible chrlorophyll and leaves reduced to minute scales on a glabrous stem. The stems are yellowish, orange or red. It occurs over a considerable range of soils and climate and it has been recorded as occurring on a wide range of hosts too, with little apparent host specificity, though. Urtica dioica is noted as a particularly favoured host.

Cuscuta species are propagated mainly by seed, though individual plants may spread vegetatively over many separate host plants. Once contact is established with the host phloem, Cuscuta becomes a powerful sink for metabolites, causing a severe drain on host resources and often completely preventing normal fruit development. The damage it causes can be as severe as total crop loss.

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/17113

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Ecological niche of 2 characteristic animals

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Ecological niche of 2 characteristic animals

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Ursus arctos

In Greece there are an estimated 450 bears living in independent populations, one living in the Pindos mountains and the other in the Rhodope mountains. In recent years there has been consistent evidence of the presence of bears in the mountain axis of Vora-Olympos and Central Greece, even down to the mountainous Nafpaktia, an area where there have been no sightings in the last 70 years. Brown bears can be found in a wide variety of habitats including coastlines, forests and even semi- dessert areas. During the autumn season in Greece they can travel more than 180 km in search of food.

They seem to have no altitudinal preferences.  In most of their range, brown bears generally seems to prefer semi-open country, with a scattering of vegetation that can allow them a resting spot during the day.
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41688/121229971
http://www.arcturos.gr/en/animals/bear/

Podarcis milensis

Also known as the Milos wall lizard, it has a body length no more than 6.5 cm and the tail is twice as long.  The male has a characteristic appearance with white, blue, light green or yellow spots on the side of their head and belly.

This species is endemic to the Aegean islands of Greece, where it is restricted to the Milos archipelago (Milos, Kimolos, Polyaigos and Antimilos), the Ananes archipelago, Falkonera island and Velopoula island. It ranges from sea level up to 685m. It can be found on wetlands (inland),shrubland, artificial/terrestrial and rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks).

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/17797/7482413#habitat-ecology

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2 organisms that share the same food (niche partitioning) and the way they manage it

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2 organisms that share the same food (niche partitioning) and the way they manage it

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Athene noctua and Vipera ammodytes are both animals that can be found on the same areas and share the same food. More specifically, A. noctua is found in a variety of semi-open habitats, ranging from parkland, orchards and cultivated fields with hedges to rocky, semi-desert regions and steppes, and V .ammodytes can be found in Shrubland, Artificial/Terrestrial, Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks) and Forests. Even though those two species share somehow common habitats and their main prey is mice (Mus musculus) there are some differences in their biology that allows them to share this common food source. A. noctua is a nocturnal predator and V. ammodytes a diurnal, even though when the weather is hot enough, they do show some activity at night. Furthermore, V. ammodytes goes into brumation during winter time, so there’s one less predator for the owl to compete against. Finally, mice maintain high populations throughout the whole year, so there isn’t really a lack of prey for any of the predators mentioned above.

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/62255/12584303#habitat-ecology

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22689328/131921924#habitat-ecology

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 A case of habitat destruction and it's effects on a local reptile species

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 A case of habitat destruction and it's effects on a local reptile species

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A case study of the effects of fire and mechanical habitat destruction on a population of the tortoise Testudo hermanni in Nothern Greece since 1980.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320799000993

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Unfortunately in Greece the illegal pet trade has always been taking place, either in secret or out in the open. There are laws protecting Greece’s wild animals, and in the examples below more specifically, there are laws protecting the wild birds, except some specific species meant for hunting (although hunters quite often “miss the mark” and kill some non-game species). The biggest problem is that the illegal pet trade takes place in many places, weekly, and there are few people responsible for tracking the traders down and releasing the wild caught animals. Even worse, those illegal pet trades are still happening because there are some people who still buy wild caught birds as pets, not realizing the damage they’re doing and the kind of trade they’re supporting. The winning combination in the continuation of illegal pet trade is a lack of education (science citizen), the state not hiring enough police officers/wildlife officers to prevent the multiple pet trades and a very relaxed law enforcement system. Even worse, Greece’s strategic position, a crossroad between 3 continents, is used by foreign pet traders as a way to enter Europe with animals (wild caught, or products of them..) from Asia or Africa. There is a case below where a wild caught (Greek) eagle was caught and was meant to be sold in Europe.
https://www.wwf.gr/en/news/1771-illegal-wildlife-trade-action-taken-to-fight-it-in-greece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkdLEuR_t6o&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guKWESc5UZc&feature=youtu.be

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Species of Greece that appear on the IUCN Red List of Threatened species

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Species of Greece that appear on the IUCN Red List of Threatened species

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https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/greece_s_biodiversity_at_risk_fact_sheet_may_2013.pdf
Below there's a linkof the Greek Red Book and I enlist the pages where there are tables with the corresponding status of each species. Pages: 62, 50, 175, 205, 322, 410, 437, 456, 459, 468, 474, 477, 503, 508
http://dipe.ker.sch.gr/kainotomes/To_Kokkino_biblio.pdf

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Fortunately, there has been a lot of research done regarding alien species in Greece, and there are currently many catalogues of specific species and the possible effect they have on the indigenous fauna and flora. Below there are the links to the catalogues of alien species in Greece.
http://www.europe-aliens.org/regionFactsheet.do?regionId=GRC
https://elnais.hcmr.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/BIR_2016_Adamopoulou_Legakis_correctedproof-1.pdf
http://www.biology.upatras.gr/faculty_elections/E.Papastergiadou/%CE%A0%CE%91%CE%A0%CE%91%CE%A3%CE%A4%CE%95%CE%A1%CE%93%CE%99%CE%91%CE%94%CE%9F%CE%A5_PDF_PAPERS_3-6-2013/%CE%94%CE%97%CE%9C%CE%9F%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A3%CE%95%CE%99%CE%A3%20%CE%94%CE%99%CE%95%CE%98%CE%9D%CE%97%20%CE%A0%CE%95%CE%A1%CE%99%CE%9F%CE%94%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%91-%CE%92%CE%99%CE%92%CE%9B%CE%99%CE%91/B.26.pdf
https://elnais.hcmr.gr/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Corsini-Economidis-2007.pdf

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Climate change is undeniably the hottest topic in the scientific communities all over the world. Not only for environmentalists but also physicists, chemists, architects and even big industries (fashion, plastic products manufactures and many more) are working together to come up with solutions, not to reverse the effects of climate change, it may be too late for that, but to save whatever is left. In my opinion, and even though I myself am dreaming of working on projects combating climate change, the biggest problem isn’t that the scientific (and non) community aren’t working hard enough on coming up with solutions, or not doing enough research. The problem is how they translate all this knowledge to the public. If it’s only the scientific community that understands how much plastic impacts the seas yet everyone still uses plastic straws, in the end, we won’t make it. There are plenty of research done in my BioArea regarding climate change, and although it’s an extremely serious subject, I myself notice only a slight change in society’s attitude.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169412010347
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/esp.398
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818109000587
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10113-011-0219-8

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Species from Top to Bottom:
Circaetus gallicus
Natrix natrix
Pelophylax kurtmuelleri
Aedes albopictus
Phragmites australis

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Fauna

The number of animal species in Greece is currently unknown, mainly because there are still plenty undiscovered invertebrates which are hard to find and categorize. There are approximately 1500 taxa (1174 species and 300+ subspecies) of vertebrates and 20.000-30.000 invertebrates. Greece is one of the richest European countries regarding it’s fauna and that’s due to:

·         Geographical position: located between Europe, Asia and Africa in Greece one can find representatives from all those continents

·         Geomorphologic characteristics: many islands and mountains that are great places for endemic species

·         Geological substrate: there is a great variety of maternal rocks and as a result there’s many different types of soil where many different plant species can grow

·         Climate: The quaternary glaciations greatly affected Europe’s fauna, and many animals found refuge in Greece during this period, where they remained

More specifically:

·         Fish: 110 species

·         Amphibian: 20 species

·         Reptiles: 59 species/117 subspecies

·         Birds: 442 species

·         Mammals: 116 species

·         Invertebrates: approximately 50.000 species

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Constantin_Doukas/publication/284760575_The_mammals_of_the_Lower_Miocene_of_Aliveri_Island_of_Evia_Greece_Part_5_The_insectivores/links/580c9b3608aeef1bfeeb6487/The-mammals-of-the-Lower-Miocene-of-Aliveri-Island-of-Evia-Greece-Part-5-The-insectivores.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14634980601027855
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4020-2854-0.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giorgos_Catsadorakis/publication/327732869_The_vertebrate_animals_of_Samaria_National_Park_Crete_Greece/links/5ba61436299bf13e6043c284/The-vertebrate-animals-of-Samaria-National-Park-Crete-Greece.pdf

Flora

There are approximately 5.700 indigenous species in Greece. Once again, exact numbers are currently unknown.

·         Pteridophyte: 80 sp.

·         Spermatophytes: Pinophyta 24 sp., Angiosperms +/- 5.600 sp.

https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/gr/gr-nr-05-en.pdf
http://portal.cybertaxonomy.org/flora-greece/content

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Mediterranean Basin Hotspot

It stretches from Cabo Verde in the west to Jordan and Turkey in the east and from Italy in the north to Tunisia in the south. Greece is included. Although humans have been present in the area for thousands of years and the ecosystems reached an equilibrium long ago, this delicate balance is currently in danger.

Main threats:

·         Pressure on water resources

·         Forest fires

·         Pollution

·         Agricultural intensification and land abandonment

·         Infrastructure and residential development

·         Transport infrastructure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV0Wev-lWhw

https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/mediterranean-basin
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.98467.x

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Endemic species

Greece has a high number of endemic species, both animals and plants. As mentioned before, there are many factors that have contributed to this high percentage, such as geological, geomorphological, climate, geographical and substrate constitution. All those factors create an amazing heterogeny in habitats, which in time have even provided refuge during the Quaternary glaciations. Below there are lists and sites of endemic plants and animals.

http://lntreasures.com/greece.html
http://en.protothema.gr/animals-endemic-to-greece/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215609294_Patterns_and_traits_of_the_endemic_plants_of_Greece
http://www.parnitha-np.gr/endemic_species.htm

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Humans have lived in the Mediterranean for thousands of years, as a result, abiotic and biotic factors in the ecosystems had reached some kind of balance. After WW2 there were drastic changes regarding the economy and consequentially in people’s lifestyle. More specifically, huge populations migrated into the cities, agriculture became more intense and advanced tools were being used to increase overall production along with the use of fertilizers, new irrigation technology and tourism. In the last decade or so, forest fires caused by human activity have been extremely damaging, because even though Greek ecosystems are naturally attuned to forest fires, in some areas there are so many and so frequent forest fires, that the ecosystems have no time to properly regenerate.
There are some examples where livestock have proved devastating for islandic ecosystems (Lesbos example, link below). Enviromental degradation is so intense in some areas where it has lead to desertification (Thessaly example).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/%28SICI%291099-145X%28200001/02%2911%3A1%3C63%3A%3AAID-LDR369%3E3.0.CO%3B2-8
http://ir.lib.uth.gr/handle/11615/32030
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549830500203162
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/698_2016_453

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A protected area is a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. (IUCN Definition 2008), Since 1937, Greece has started to identify natural areas of specific ecological importance (forests, wetlands etc.) and place them under special protection. At first, this protection referred solely to halt human activities, and later on, it became more involved into preserving the natural resources of those areas. In Greece natural areas are identified as protected areas either according to existing national legislation, or through international conventions and international or European initiatives. Furthermore the sites of the Natura 2000 network are areas of conservation of natural habitats and species of wild fauna and flora of Community interest. In many cases the same area is listed both in national, European and International level.

http://www.ekby.gr/ekby/en/EKBY_PA_en_.html

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Schisto illegal pet trade- wild caught songbirds

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Schisto illegal pet trade- wild caught songbirds

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καρδερίνα κλουβί

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Gianni's BioArea GR: He has included excellent links for all of his answers and since we shared the same BioArea his padlet was quite helpfull and in order to avoid having overlapping species it actually motivated me to research more about my BioArea.
Nadja's BioArea IT: A neighbouring country Italy is also included in the same hotspot region as mine. I find it interesting that in the article about large predators in the Alps, the same species were once abundant in Greece too and of course, there was a war with man here too. Although I believe, the conservation effort in Italy especially regarding wolves populations is in much better condition that in Greece.
The Ria Formosa by Lucinia Gouveia: once again, a bioarea in the same hotspot region as mine. Have to say, one of the most interesting padlets although I wish there were more information. I was surprised to see that we shared a common mammal (Lutra lutra), a quite clever and sensitive to climate change mammal, whose existence in an ecosystem highlights the importance of protected areas.