Wildlife of Syria

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The wildlife of Syria is the flora and fauna of Syria, a country at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Besides its coastline, the country has a coastal plain, mountain ranges in the west, a semi-arid steppe area in the centre occupying most of the country, and a desert area in the east. Each of these zones has its own characteristic animals and plants.

Geography

Topographical map of Syria

Syria is located in the

steppe or Badia in the centre of the country. This is divided by the Euphrates river, on which a dam was built in 1973 creating a reservoir, Lake Assad, which is the largest lake in Syria. In the east and south of the country is the Syrian Desert and in the far south is the Jabal al-Druze Mountain Range.[1]

The coastal mountains and the coast have a Mediterranean climate. Here the winter is mild and wet, with up to 1,000 mm (40 in) of annual precipitation, and the summer, from May to October, hot and dry. Further inland, the rainfall levels decrease rapidly, being 250 to 500 mm (10 to 20 in) on the steppes and less than 130 mm (5 in) in the desert. There is also a much greater variation between maximum and minimum temperature inland, with frosts sometimes occurring at night and temperatures rising as high as 45 °C (113 °F) by day in summer.[2]

Flora

Tartous

Around 3,100 species of flowering plant have been recorded in Syria as well as about 112 gymnosperms.[3] The country can be considered to be at a crossroads between various vegetation zones and the flora shows influences from three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. The ice ages pushed Palearctic species further south, and when the climate ameliorated, some species clung on in mountainous regions of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. The prevailing westerly winds bring greater precipitation near the coast and the vegetation on the western side of the coastal mountain ranges differs from that on the eastern side, which differs again from inland mountain ranges and once again from the drought-resistant plants that grow on the eastern plateau.[4]

The terebinth, a tree of semi-arid plains

In the west of the country, mild wet winters and hot dry summers provide ideal conditions for the

terebinth, strawberry tree and wild olive.[5]

Plants found in the semi-arid and arid regions include bulbous plants such as

terebinth tree (Pistacia palaestina) grows in semi-arid areas and is a traditional source of turpentine,[7] and the shrub Caroxylon vermiculatum, which regenerates with as little as 70 mm (2.8 in) of rainfall, provides good fodder for livestock.[8]

Fauna

Main articles: List of birds of Syria and List of mammals of Syria

Syria has a diverse fauna with 125 species of mammal, 394 of bird, 127 of reptile, 16 of amphibian and 157 of freshwater fishes recorded in the country.

jirds, voles, rats, mice and spiny mice.[9][10]

Ten species of whale have been recorded off the coast as well as the endangered Mediterranean monk seal. Four species of turtle are sometimes seen, the most common being the loggerhead sea turtle, and about 295 species of marine fish have been recorded in Syria.[3]

Of the nearly four hundred species of bird recorded in the country, many are migrants, particularly visiting the coastal mountain range, the Euphrates valley and seasonal salt lakes that form in arid regions. Sabkhat al-Jabbul is a nature reserve at one of these salt lakes and is visited by migrating greater flamingoes. Endangered breeding birds include a few pairs of northern bald ibis in the north of the country, the lesser kestrel and the great bustard. Rare visiting species include the corn crake, Dalmatian pelican, white-headed duck and eastern imperial eagle.[8]

References

  1. ISBN 0-540-05831-9
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-61530-329-8
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-933992-24-2
    .
  4. ISBN 978-5-87410-965-3
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-3-88618-105-6
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-4832-7227-6
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-8225-2396-3
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84162-314-6
    .
  9. ^ Masseti, M. (2009). "Carnivores of Syria" In: E. Neubert, Z. Amr , S. Taiti, B. Gümüs (eds.) Animal Biodiversity in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008. ZooKeys. 31: 229–252.
  10. ISBN 978-0-89672-364-1
    .


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wildlife_of_Syria&oldid=1170550893"