干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The vegetation cartography is a tool with an enormous potential for the management and conservation of biodiversity. Within the framework of an Andalusian project, we have carried out an accurate cartography (scale 1:10.000) of the flora and vegetation of 300.000 ha of the province of Almeria. Due to the heterogeneity of this large area, the collected data allow us to do a quantitative assessment of the territory and determinate which are the richest patches from different points of view. The results emphasise that the semiarid lowlands and the Murciano-Almerienses territories are as rich and diverse than the Baetic sierras. The seasonal rivers are significant biodiversity reserves as well as the littoral dunes. The endangered flora tends to occur in the peaks of Sierra de Gador, the Eastern coast, the gypsum outcrops and the subsaline marls of the sub-deserts of Almeria. Lately, the holm oaks vegetation series are the most natural ones and those with higher vegetation cover. All these results must be guidelines in the management politics of natural protected areas and future SCIs in order to stop the current biodiversity loss in Almeria.