干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

A predictive model is being developed to map the distribution of endemic plants in the 'High Desert' of the Lefka Ori, Crete, to assist with the establishment of a conservation strategy for the region. Ordination techniques reveal the varying importance of altitude, percentage of bare rock, pH and soil depth as controls on the distribution of plant assemblages. These and other environmental variables are being digitised from air-photography and maps for the whole of the mountain massif. Geographical information system techniques will be applied to extrapolate spatially the distribution of plant assemblages from the ordination model results, as a first step towards selecting sites of major botanical importance for protection.