In wintertime you see the wintflowers.

(The picture below shows Origanum Dictamnus. The rest of the species are being showed in my next posts, since I couldn't put more than one foto on every post.)

Mesobuthus gibbosus (Fam. Buthidae) is a nocturnal thermophilous and xerophilous scorpion, distributed throughout the Southeastern Mediterranean region. Its maximal surface activity and reproductive period have been observed during summer. There are few detailed ecological studies, but none for Greek taxa. In the present study we examined the influence of air and soil temperature, relative humidity and wind speed on the nocturnal surface activity of the species in a phryganic ecosystem (northeastern Crete) during July and August 2001. In total, 157 individuals were captured and released, 103 male, 22 female and 32 immature. The abiotic factors were measured every night, from 21:00 to 05:00 hour, every two hours. The highest activity occurred between 24-26.5°C, with an optimum at 25°C (air temperature), 65-80% air relative humidity at surface, with an optimum at 70%,2.5-4 rn/sec (wind speed at surface) and 26-30°C, with an optimum at 28.3°C (soil temperature in 5 cm depth). Males, females and immatures responded differently to the four abiotic factors. No correlation was found among these factors, but air temperature seems to influence more. The optimal values showed that M.gibbosus, though a xerophilous species, shows preference to very high values of air humidity, whereas the optimal values of air and soil temperature justify the characterization as thermophilous. The above results showed that M.gibbosus activity is similar to that of the desert scorpions. Further studies might show that this scorpion's activity could be used as an ecological index for climatic changes.

Answer

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

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