The future of plant diversity within a Mediterranean endemism centre: Modelling the synergistic effects of climate and land-use change in Peloponnese, Greece.

Climate- and land-use change stand as primary threats to terrestrial biodiversity. Yet, their synergistic impacts on species distributions remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted the first-ever comprehensive species distribution analysis on an entire regional endemism centre within an eastern Mediterranean country, incorporating dynamic land-use/land-cover change data together with climate change scenarios.

MAES implementation in Greece: Geodiversity.

The present study aims to support the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) implementation in Greece, by synthesizing an indicator that could be used for abiotic attribute assessments and specifically for geodiversity. Such an indicator can be used not only for reporting obligations under EU initiatives but also for identifying "conservation hotspots". Such areas, characterized by rich geodiversity, are important for supporting biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

Taxonomy of (Caryophyllaceae) - overall phylogenetic relationships and assessment of species diversity based on a first comprehensive checklist of the genus.

In this study, we present an overall phylogenetic framework for using four plastid regions (--, -, -) and nuclear ITS and a species-level checklist for the genus developed by using all available databases and the literature. The trees from the plastid dataset depict a clade of that also includes and a few taxa of . New combinations in are provided for these species.

Climate and Land-Cover Change Impacts and Extinction Risk Assessment of Rare and Threatened Endemic Taxa of Chelmos-Vouraikos National Park (Peloponnese, Greece).

Chelmos-Vouraikos National Park is a floristic diversity and endemism hotspot in Greece and one of the main areas where Greek endemic taxa, preliminary assessed as critically endangered and threatened under the IUCN Criteria A and B, are mainly concentrated. The climate and land-cover change impacts on rare and endemic species distributions is more prominent in regional biodiversity hotspots. The main aims of the current study were: (a) to investigate how climate and land-cover change may alter the distribution of four single mountain endemics and three very rare Peloponnesian endemic taxa of the National Park via a species distribution modelling approach, and (b) to estimate the current and future extinction risk of the aforementioned taxa based on the IUCN Criteria A and B, in order to investigate the need for designing an effective plant micro-reserve network and to support decision making on spatial planning efforts and conservation research for a sustainable, integrated management.

A Morphometric and Karyological Study of the Group (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) Reveals a New Species from Greece.

A recent study of the collections in the Balkans indicated that the taxa of the group ( subsp. , subsp. , , ) exhibit noteworthy morphological patterns not evaluated before.

Linking Taxonomic, Phylogenetic and Functional Plant Diversity with Ecosystem Services of Cliffs and Screes in Greece.

Sparsely vegetated habitats of cliffs and screes act as refugia for many regional and local endemic specialized plant taxa most of which have evolved precisely for that type of habitat. The interplay between taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional plant diversity on rock and scree habitats of extreme environmental conditions, enlightens the relations of plant communities and ecosystems and facilitates management planning for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The identification of biodiversity patterns and hotspots (taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional) contributes to the integration of the ecosystem services (ES) approach for the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) implementation in Greece and the creation of thematic maps based on the MAES reporting format.

Extinction Risk Assessment of the Greek Endemic Flora.

Human-induced biodiversity decline has been on the rise for the past 250 years, due to various causes. What is equally troubling, is that we are unaware which plants are threatened and where they occur. Thus, we are far from reaching Aichi Biodiversity Target 2, i.

WOODIV, a database of occurrences, functional traits, and phylogenetic data for all Euro-Mediterranean trees.

Trees play a key role in the structure and function of many ecosystems worldwide. In the Mediterranean Basin, forests cover approximately 22% of the total land area hosting a large number of endemics (46 species). Despite its particularities and vulnerability, the biodiversity of Mediterranean trees is not well known at the taxonomic, spatial, functional, and genetic levels required for conservation applications.

Plant Endemism Centres and Biodiversity Hotspots in Greece.

Biodiversity hotspots (BH) cover a small fraction of the Earth's surface, yet host numerous endemics. Human-induced biodiversity loss has been increasing worldwide, despite attempts to halt the extinction crisis. There is thus an urgent need to efficiently allocate the available conservation funds in an optimised conservation prioritization scheme.

Spatial Phylogenetics, Biogeographical Patterns and Conservation Implications of the Endemic Flora of Crete (Aegean, Greece) under Climate Change Scenarios.

Human-induced biodiversity loss has been accelerating since the industrial revolution. The climate change impacts will severely alter the biodiversity and biogeographical patterns at all scales, leading to biotic homogenization. Due to underfunding, a climate smart, conservation-prioritization scheme is needed to optimize species protection.

Patterns and drivers of species richness and turnover of neo-endemic and palaeo-endemic vascular plants in a Mediterranean hotspot: the case of Crete, Greece.

Background: Exploring species richness and turnover patterns and their drivers can provide new insights into underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly, with significant implications for biodiversity conservation. Here, we explored diversity patterns of non-endemic, neo-endemic and palaeo-endemic vascular plants in Crete, Greece, a Mediterranean hotspot of plant richness and endemism. We evaluated the relationship between α-diversity and environmental (bioclimatic variables, topography), and anthropogenic variables by Generalized Additive Models, after accounting for spatial autocorrelation.

Integrating MAES implementation into protected area management under climate change: A fine-scale application in Greece.

Increasing anthropogenic pressures often jeopardize ecosystem integrity and policy-relevant conservation management in protected areas. To harmonize nature conservation with human well-being, EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 suggests Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) as the key concept for environmental planning and management in EU Member States. Applying this procedure is challenging due to its data-demanding and multidisciplinary nature, resulting in the ecoystem services (ES) approach being scarcely used in protected areas management.

Cultural landscapes and attributes of "culturalness" in protected areas: An exploratory assessment in Greece.

Cultural landscapes are poorly inventoried and evaluated in protected natural areas. This study presents a novel procedure to assess cultural landscape features and their cultural values in the major protected areas of Greece. After identifying a set of culturally modified land cover types and habitat types the GIS-based survey of the entire Natura 2000 protected area network in Greece (419 sites) shows that roughly 67% of protected area land cover consists of cultural landscape features.

Functional diversity exhibits a diverse relationship with area, even a decreasing one.

The relationship between species richness and area is one of the few well-established laws in ecology, and one might expect a similar relationship with functional diversity (FD). However, only a few studies investigate the relationship between trait-based FD and area, the Functional Diversity - Area Relationship (FDAR). To examine FDAR, we constructed the species accumulation curve and the corresponding FD curve.

Comparing the two Greek archipelagos plant species diversity and endemism patterns highlight the importance of isolation and precipitation as biodiversity drivers.

Background: Greece has two island archipelagos, the Aegean and the Ionian, which host a rich array of plants and wildlife, particularly endemic and threatened plant species. Despite the long history of island biogeographic studies in the Aegean, similar studies in the Ionian remain limited, with the two island archipelagos rarely being compared.

Results: The Aegean and Ionian archipelagos share many features, especially regarding total plant diversity, but exhibit different patterns of endemism.

Assessing environmental degradation of montane riparian zones in Greece.

A survey of 218 woody vegetation plots at 109 streamside sites was undertaken to describe anthropogenic degradation of riparian zone woodlands in the mountains of mainland Greece. Two assessment indices and specific anthropogenic pressure variables were employed and they showed good correlations at both the site and river segment scales. It was demonstrated through the Spanish Riparian Forest Quality Index (Qualitat de Bosc de Riber: QBR) that most riparian zones were in moderate or good condition, although extremely few sites were of high ecological status.

Ecoregions in the southern balkans: should their boundaries be revised?

Ecoregion delineations have gained increased attention in Europe, especially following the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD), which provides the European Union's first policy-relevant ecoregion map. However, the WFD's ecoregions were created through a minor adaptation of Illies' (Limnofauna Europaea. Gustav Fisher Verlag, Stuttgart, 1967/1978) freshwater zoogeographic regions, and the map's specific boundaries have not been widely evaluated with respect to the WFD's uses or their biogeographic accuracy.

Microhabitat selection by sea turtles in a dynamic thermal marine environment.

1. Reproductive fitness is often compromised at the margins of a species' range due to sub-optimal conditions. 2.

Kallmann's syndrome and schizophrenia.

Objective: Kallmann's Syndrome is a heritable disorder characterized by the association of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and anosmia or hyposmia. A common pathogenesis for KS and schizophrenia had been proposed based on shared pathologies of these two disorders, although no such clinical associations have ever been reported.

Method: We report a 35 year old man with schizophrenia and Kallmann's Syndrome.

Atlantoaxial instability and myelopathy due to an ossiculum terminale persistens.

Background: Many cases of ossiculum terminale in Down's syndrome have been reported. We describe an unusual case of sudden atlantoaxial instability in a previously healthy woman without a history of trauma due to a dystopic ossiculum of the dens that could be classified as an ossiculum terminale persistens or as os odontoideum according to different classification proposals.

Case Report: A 36-year-old woman was admitted with neck pain and Lhermitte's sign.