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What I understand from the comparison of the different regions is that almost all countries are facing the same environmental problems and that they are trying to save the environment. Εach country has its own ecological identities and that is why the reason should be specially handled. Μore than ever, more and more people are being sensitized to nature protection.

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Many changes are expected in Greece due to climate change, with direct and indirect effects. Many areas are at risk from rising sea levels, which is estimated to be between 0.2 and 2 meters. There is a reduction in rainfall between 5% and 9%, a rise in temperature by 3 to 4.5 ° C, an increase in the intensity solar radiation, as well as increasing the intensity of the meltemi.

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Mustela vison
Lithobates-catesbeianus
Trachemys scripta
Lepomis gibbosus
Solanum elaeagnifolium
Siganus luridus
Rhynchophorus ferrugineus
Psittacula krameri
Caulerpa racemosa
Lagocephalus sceleratus
Ailanthus altissima

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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in Greece

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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in Greece

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Chelmos Mountain Grasshopper
Allium iatrouinum
Tymphrestos Greek Bush-cricket

Pelophylax cretensis

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1. The poaching of songbirds is a chronic problem in the eastern Aegean. However, it happens throughout the whole of Greece, especially in areas where there is a strong migration of songbirds. According to a report conducted by Birdlife International in 2015, there is an estimated 25 million songbirds illegally killed or trapped using lime sticks in the Mediterranean. Blackcaps are the most targeted species for illegal poaching in the Mediterranean, accounting for 45% of all illegally poached songbirds. In Greece, the death toll of illegally killed songbirds exceeds 704,000 per year, whilst Greece is also the third primary country in the illegal hunting of Goldfinches.

2. Endangered animals such as chameleons and other reptiles often fall victims to poachers.

3. Illegal hunting of many mammals such as deer, wild boar.

4. Illegal and excessive collection of plants for medical use or decoration.

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Potential consequences to the local plant and animal populations

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Potential consequences to the local plant and animal populations

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Habitat loss is probably the greatest threat to the variety of life on this planet today.
It is identified as a main threat to 85% of all species described in the IUCN's Red List.
Increasing food production is a major agent for the conversion of natural habitat into agricultural land. Forest loss and degradation is mostly caused by the expansion of agricultural land, intensive harvesting of timber, wood for fuel and other forest products, as well as overgrazing.The net loss in global forest area during the 1990s was about 94 million ha (equivalent to 2.4% of total forests). It is estimated that in the 1990s, almost 70% of deforested areas were converted to agricultural land.
Around half of the world's original forests have disappeared, and they are still being removed at a rate 10x higher than any possible level of regrowth. As tropical forests contain at least half the Earth's species, the clearance of some 17 million hectares each year is a dramatic loss. Human impact on terrestrial and marine natural resources results in marine and coastal degradation. Population growth, urbanization, industrialization and tourism are all factors.
In 1994, it was estimated that 37% of the global population lived within 60 km of the coast. Poverty, consumption and land-use patterns contribute to the degradation of marine habitats and to the destruction of the species that rely on them to survive.

Habitat loss
Habitat is lost and degraded when natural or anthropogenic activities damage and destroy habitat to such an extent that it is no longer capable of supporting the species and ecological communities that naturally occur there. It often results in the extinction of species and, as a result, the loss of biodiversity.

Habitat fragmentation
By fragmenting habitats, areas may not be completely destroyed but it still causes environmental chaos.  Fragmentation can separate animals from one another and from their food sources. This happens both in water and on land. Beneath the water, structures such as dams tend to isolate species from one another, making it more difficult for them to mate and find food. For the many animals that depend on migration to preserve their species, fragmenting habitats takes away this advantage.

Habitat degradation
This form of destruction occurs by pollution that causes habitats to be destroyed because it changes the quality of air, water, and land while becoming a breeding ground for toxins. Degradation of the environment allows species that are not part of an ecosystem to invade the area. Known as invasive species, they naturally contribute to the downfall of other animals and plants. As this happens, species that were once native to a region begin to die from these negative environmental changes.

Consequences

Animals are very intelligent beings, but without their natural homes, they are unable to protect themselves and care for their young.

For animals, this process happens so suddenly that there is no time to adapt to such drastic changes.

As wildlife is displaced, it changes their entire way of living. Many species use their homes as a place to find solace from predators. Also, young animals need to be cared for in various ways in the wild. They have to be protected from predators that can attack them while they are defenseless, and they must learn to hunt and gather their own food.

Many plants can no longer grow because the composition and soil quality is instantly changed, taking away the nutrients and the space that plants need to grow.

With large amounts of land used for industrial farming, runoff is another issue that contributes to the pollution that leads to habitat degradation.

Underwater systems are disrupted because we are siphoning water and changing the way it flows in order to meet the human needs for drinking water and irrigation for crops.

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

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

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Hawks and owls share the metro area as their dinner table, but crucial differences in diet and hunting technique let them coexist.
In a bird-eat-bird world, what's for dinner is a big deal. Eight species of hawks and owls are major predators in and around the Twin Cities. While their prey choices overlap in many cases, they manage that competition by being just different enough.

Taking the examples of three species of owls here: barred, great horned and Eastern screech-owl, the latter two year-round. Cooper’s, red-shouldered, broad-winged and red-tailed are our common hawks, with red-tails around all year. We also have osprey.

If you were to invite them all for dinner, serving their usual diet, the menu should include birds from the size of fledglings to herons, rabbits, rodents, muskrats, squirrels, skunks, opossums, chipmunks, bats, house cats, snakes, frogs, toads, crayfish and various insects. And fish for the osprey.

Physical differences dictate food choices. Or perhaps it’s the other way round. These birds are built to hunt by day — perching, soaring, swooping, diving, hovering — or by flying silently through the night.

Cooper’s hawks are slim with narrow wings for fast flight, their long tails acting as rudders. They swoop into the yard, often low, always fast, scattering our feeder birds. Prey most often are robins, jays, starlings and flickers, all commonly ground feeders.

Red-tails and red-shouldered hawks hunt from perches or in flight. The difference? Red-tailed hawks are birds of open areas, red-shouldered are woodland hunters.

Broad-winged hawks also are woodland hunters, perching below the tree canopy, choosing amphibians as food more often than their hawk brothers.

Screech-owls, being small, often feed on bird nestlings and fledglings. They also take small mammals and insects.

Great horned owls eat the full menu, particularly mammals. They mostly have opossum, skunk and house cats to themselves.

Great horned owls also eat barred owls, which simplifies the competition angle for the latter: Find your own place to hunt small mammals, birds and amphibians or be hunted yourself.

Osprey eat fish. The pair I watch each year often choose koi. (How hard can it be to catch big, brightly colored fish in a cement pond? How expensive for the provider?)

Eyes are a particularly interesting hawk/owl difference. Owl eyes are proportionately large, allowing activity at night. Owl eyes are so large that the eye socket cannot accommodate muscles that would move the eye up and down, left and right. Owls must turn their heads to look around.

Hawks, relying on sharp vision, have eyes placed more to the sides of the head. Cooper’s hawks, for example, have a sight radius of about 240 degrees. Soaring hawks seek prey with eyes seeing 10 times the detail we see.

To find their niche in a highly competitive world, species that share a hunting territory must adapt in some unique way. Each bird in this case has evolved a different hunting strategy and a particular set of tools. That can be eyes, feet, feathers, prey preferences or hunting techniques.

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Lizards camouflage themselves by choosing rocks that best match the colour of their backs

Resting out in the open on rocks can be a risky business for Aegean wall lizards. Out in these habitats they have nowhere to hide and their backs, which show varying shades of green and brown between individuals, are dangerously exposed to birds hunting in the skies above. A research shows that individual lizards are able to choose their resting spot wisely and select a rock in their natural environment that will make their backs less conspicuous to avian predators.

Woodpecker. Friend of trees, enemy of insects.

A woodpecker consumes insects. By this way, woodpeckers control insect populations in a forest community. A specific example is the pileated woodpecker. It hunts carpenter ants. It chisels them out of trees with its beak. Without animals like the woodpecker, insect populations could grow beyond control.

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Viscum album is a species of mistletoe in the family Santalaceae, commonly known as European mistletoe, common mistletoe or simply as mistletoe. It is native to Europe and western and southern Asia.
Viscum album is a hemiparasite on several species of trees, from which it draws water and nutrients. It is commonly found in the crowns of broad-leaved trees, particularly apple, lime (linden), hawthorn and poplar.

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Ticks are small arachnids, typically 3 to 5 mm long, part of the order Parasitiformes. Along with mites, they constitute the subclass Acari. Ticks are ectoparasites (external parasites), living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. Ticks had evolved by the Cretaceous period, the most common form of fossilisation being immersed in amber. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates.

Almost all ticks belong to one of two major families, the Ixodidae or hard ticks, and the Argasidae or soft ticks. Adults have ovoid or pear-shaped bodies which become engorged with blood when they feed, and eight legs. As well as having a hard shield on their dorsal surfaces, hard ticks have a beak-like structure at the front containing the mouthparts whereas soft ticks have their mouthparts on the underside of the body. Both families locate a potential host by odour or from changes in the environment.
Ticks have four stages to their lifecycle, namely egg, larva, nymph, and adult. Ixodid ticks have three hosts, taking at least a year to complete their lifecycle. Argasid ticks have up to seven nymphal stages (instars), each one requiring a blood meal. Because of their habit of ingesting blood, ticks are vectors of at least twelve diseases that affect humans and other animals.

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Examples of animals with a predator-prey relation.

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Examples of animals with a predator-prey relation.

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Praying mantis and insects
The praying mantis is an interesting andbeneficial insect to have around the garden and farm. It is the only known insect that can turn its head and look over its shoulder. Mantis lie in wait for their food and when close enough, snap it up with a lightning movement of their strong forelegs. Measurements of their reflexes show they react more than 2 times quicker than houseflies. Mantis have enormous appetites, eating various aphids, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects when young. Later they will eat larger insects, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, and other pest insects.

White shark and seals
In the marine biome, the white shark is the apex predator. It usually preys on seals. For seals, the best line of defense is to stay on land. For the white shark, its exceptional hearing skills help to locate the seal. It is not always possible for the seal to stay out of water, lest it can die of hunger. The moment it gets into the water, it is on the white's radar. It all comes down to whoever blinks first.

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Natural areas are designated as protected areas either through their status under
pre-existing national legislation or by their inclusion in international conventions or treaties
that have been ratified, including international or European initiatives. Further, the protected
areas of the Natura 2000 network are designated for the conservation of habitat types and
species of Community interest. Their institutional status is certified by Law 3937/2011.

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1.Residential & commercial development

·         Urban expansion and industrial development

·         Development of coastal tourist infrastructure

·         Development of other types of tourist infrastructure

2. Agriculture & aquaculture

·         Agricultural intensification and expansion

·         Forest plantations

·         Animal husbandry (overgrazing)

·         Aquaculture

3. Energy production & mining

·         Mining

·         Renewable energy (except hydroelectric)

4. Transportation & service corridors

·         Roads

·         Utility & service lines

5. Biological resources use

·         Hunting and the collection of animals

·         Use of poisoned bait to control pests

·         Plant collecting

·         Logging & wood harvesting

·         Fishing

·         Fishing (bycatch)

6. Human intrusion & disturbance

·         Recreational activities

·         Other activities (e.g. military exercises)

7. Natural system modifications

·         Fires

·         Dams (including small hydroelectric units)

·         Land use change: reforestation, agricultural abandonment

·         Land reforms

·         Water removal, wetland drainage

8. Invasive Species

9. Pollution

·         Urban wastewater

·         Industrial waste

·         Agricultural pollution

·         Solid waste

·         Atmospheric pollution

10. Geological events

11. Climate change and severe weather

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There are currently 36 recognized biodiversity hotspots. These are Earth’s most biologically rich—yet threatened—terrestrial regions.

To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot, an area must meet two strict criteria:

Contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on Earth (known as "endemic" species).

Have lost at least 70 percent of its primary native vegetation.

Many of the biodiversity hotspots exceed the two criteria. For example, both the Sundaland Hotspot in Southeast Asia and the Tropical Andes Hotspot in South America have about 15,000 endemic plant species. The loss of vegetation in some hotspots has reached a startling 95 percent.The 36 biodiversity hotspots are home to around 2 billion people, including some of the world's poorest, many of whom rely directly on healthy ecosystems for their livelihood and well-being.
The hotspots provide crucial ecosystem services for human life, such as provision of clean water, pollination and climate regulation.
These remarkable regions also hold some of the highest human population densities on the planet, but the relationship between people and biodiversity is not simply one where more people lead to greater impacts on biodiversity. Much of human-biodiversity impacts lies not in human density but rather in human activity.

Conservation in the hotspots promotes sustainable management of these essential natural resources and supports economic growth, which also reduces drivers of violent conflict.In 1988, British ecologist Norman Myers published a seminal paper identifying 10 tropical forest “hotspots.” These regions were characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and serious levels of habitat loss.

Conservation International, one of CEPF's global donor organizations, adopted Myers’ hotspots as its institutional blueprint in 1989. In 1996, the organization made the decision to undertake a reassessment of the hotspots concept, including an examination of whether key areas had been overlooked. Three years later an extensive global review was undertaken, which introduced quantitative thresholds for the designation of biodiversity hotspots and resulted in the designation of 25.
In 2005, an additional analysis brought the total number of biodiversity hotspots to 34, based on the work of nearly 400 specialists.
In 2011, the Forests of East Australia was identified as the 35th hotspot by a team of researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) working with Conservation International.
In February 2016, the North American Coastal Plain was recognized as meeting the criteria and became the Earth's 36th hotspot.

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Biotic characteristics of Greece and why is concidered as hottest hotspot.

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Biotic characteristics of Greece and why is concidered as hottest hotspot.

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Greece is characterised by rich fauna and flora, a high number of fungi species, and a wide
array of ecosystems and landscapes. What is more, a high proportion of the country’s species
are unique worldwide, i.e. there is high endemism.According to the most recent surveys, Greek flora includes 5752 species and 1893 subspecies
of vascular plants, which cumulatively represent 6600 taxa that belong to 1072
genera and 185 families. Greece is also one of the world’s hotspots for endemic plants,
with 1278 endemic species (22.2% of all species present) and 452 endemic subspecies,
which cumulatively represent 1461 taxa (22.1% of all taxa present in Greece).
Regarding Greece’s fauna, until now 23130 animal species have been recorded in the
country’s terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, of which 3956 are characterised as
Greek endemics. Furthermore, 3500 animal species have been recorded in the Greek
marine environment.
Many Greek endemic species have restricted geographic ranges (e.g. single island endemics)
and, thus, are considered vulnerable to disturbance. Because of its high level
of endemism, Greece is the only European country to host a large number of species
considered threatened or extinct in other European regions. Consequently, Greece is of
considerable importance for the conservation of European and Mediterranean flora and
fauna. Out of the Greek native species, 60 mammal species, 48 reptile species, 12 amphibian
species, 62 fish species, 49 invertebrate species, 63 plant species and 85 habitat
types are designated of community interest.

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Greece occupies an area of 132,000 km2 and is inhabited by 10,500,000 people (according to
the 2011 census). The country lies in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and belongs
to the Mediterranean zone of the Palearctic biogeographic region. It contains a variety of climatic
conditions (29 climatic classes according to the Thornwaite classification scheme), a
fact attributable to its geographic location, terrain ruggedness and the presence of the sea.
However, most of Greece has a Mediterranean climate, with mild – wet winters and warm –
dry summers. The terrain is rugged, with two thirds of the territory being mountainous with
a mean altitude of 1500 m elevation above sea level (a.s.l.). In addition, the country has a long
and highly indented coastline (approximately 16300 km) and a large number of islands in both
the Aegean and Ionian Archipelagos.
Greece lies at the intersection of three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa), and is characterised
by high topographic variability (large number of islands, large variation in the landscape
from marine to mountainous over short distances, many rivers, gorges, valleys, peninsulas,
etc.). Greece has complex geological and geomorphological structures (including caves). It
has a wide array of soil orders (entisols, inceptisols, alfisols and vertisols). In addition, during
its long history and until recently, the human interaction with the natural environment has
been minor and sustainable, and has shaped today’s seminatural vegetation structure.
The combination of all these factors has contributed to the country’s high level of biodiversity.

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Reason for the decision to reintroduce grey wolves into the National Park of Yellowstone.

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Reason for the decision to reintroduce grey wolves into the National Park of Yellowstone.

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The wolves were brought in because the increased elk population was overgrazing the deciduous, woody species such as aspen and cottonwood.