Flora and fauna of Israel

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Israel physical map

Israel's flora and fauna are very diverse and are influenced by Israel's location between desert areas and Mediterranean forests.

flora

There are 2630 plant species from Israel (as of 1992). Given the size of the country, this is a high figure. 286 species are protected by law, especially attractive species that are threatened by direct foraging. In 2003, 370 species were considered threatened and were put on a red list . 34 plant species have died out in the country since 1965. The Israeli flora is fairly well researched. The Analytical Flora by Avinoam Danin and Flora Palaestina are helpful for the determination. At least 155 species are considered endemics that do not occur anywhere else. This relatively low value is due to the small size of the country in connection with the high similarity to the neighboring countries.

The vegetation and flora of the country is determined by a climatic gradient in connection with the height profile. The densely populated coastal plain in the north of the country adjoins the Mediterranean coast, which is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with relatively abundant winter rain (around 400 to 800 mm of precipitation , almost exclusively from December to February) and is home to typical Mediterranean flora. It takes up about a third of the country's area. Areas closer to nature are characterized by bushland ( Phrygana , locally called batha) or rocky heaths. These are the most biodiverse areas in the country. The highest peaks in the northeast, the Hermon and the Golan Heights, receive the highest rainfall, they are characterized by a Mediterranean mountain climate (oromediterranean) and despite the small extent have their own flora, in the summit area with thorn cushion vegetation. To the south and east of the plain, on the western slopes of the hill country, there is a moderately arid zone with steppe vegetation , which in the south, in the northern Negev, turns into a shrub steppe. The eastern slopes of the hill country are drier and bear dry steppe vegetation. The southern Negev and the southern Jordan Rift with the Dead Sea are even drier and are characterized by real desert vegetation. Here, widespread species of the Sahara and the Arabian deserts mix with the east-widespread Iranian-turanic species that occur eastward over the Syrian deserts and Iran. Embedded rock massifs are rich in species and also harbor endemic species, in Sinai all 28 endemic species are tied to rocky sites. Soil damp spots form oases with their own flora, which are characterized by species with a focus on northern Africa (Sahelian or Sudanese, floral elements).

The country's woody vegetation is dominated by cultivated species or forest tree species such as Aleppo pine ( Pinus halepensis ) and red eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ). Of the cultivated species, the olive tree ( Olea europaea ) and almond tree ( Prunus dulcis ) (and probably also the real date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera )) are indigenous to the country and could have been domesticated here. Due to the dense settlement since prehistoric times, the influence of grazing cattle (especially goats) and the often devastating fires in summer, the natural vegetation has melted into relics in many places.

Rarely, as in the protected area at Har Meron , are there remains of natural forests or maquis . In the more humid areas in the north, they consist of the eastern Retail of Kermes oak ( Quercus calliprinos ), Quercus boissieri (syn. Quercus infectoria subsp. Veneris , a type of oak or subspecies in the Quercus infectoria -Aggregat) and eastern strawberry tree ( Arbutus andrachne ) , in other regions also common laurel ( Laurus nobilis ). In warmer regions, Quercus ithaburensis or the Atlantic pistachio ( Pistacia atlantica ) sometimes forms loosened, park-like trees. In drier regions receiving still enough winter rains are carob tree ( Ceratonia siliqua ) and mastic ( Pistacia lentiscus ), sometimes accompanied by wild olive trees, the typical species, with real forests no longer exist. In the drier desert and steppe regions, trees are restricted to oases. The steppes or dwarf shrub heaths can be very species-rich, including attractive species such as the endemic Iris haynei on the Gilboa .

fauna

Mesopotamian fallow deer in the Chai Bar Karmel wildlife park
The hoopoe , national bird of Israel 2008

Due to its location between desert areas and Mediterranean forests, Israel has a very rich fauna.

Mammals

However, numerous animals are threatened with extinction and the Syrian brown bear ( Ursus arctos syriacus ), the Asiatic cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus venaticus ), the Syrian half ass ( Equus hemionus hemippus ) and the Arabian goiter gazelle ( Gazella subguttorosa ) died from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century marica ) in Israel. The Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ) and the Caucasian red deer ( Cervus elaphus maral ) died out in Israel in the early Middle Ages and the hippopotamus in the Iron Age. A few specimens of the rare Arabian leopard ( Panthera pardus nimr ) can still be found in the Judean Desert and the Negev . Among the large animals, for example, the Nubian ibex was able to keep up .

There are 33 species of bats that are now protected.

Arabian oryx and Persian half-ass ( Equus hemionus onager ), which are bred in the wildlife park of Chai Bar Jotvata , were reintroduced in the desert areas of the Avara and Negev . In the north there is a similar wildlife park with Chai Bar Karmel , in which the species of the Mediterranean climatic zones such as Armenian wild sheep ( Ovis orientalis gmelini ) and Mesopotamian fallow deer ( Dama dama mesopotamica ) are bred, the latter are also called Persian fallow deer and are also released again in northern Israel, the roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus coxi ) was also reintroduced .

The Syrian striped hyena ( hyaena syriaca ), the Arabian Wolf ( Canis lupus arabs ), the two sub-species of mountain gazelle , Palestine Mountain Gazelle ( Gazella gazella gazella ) and Acacia Gazelle ( Gazella gazella acaciae ), the Dorcas gazelle ( Gazella dorcas ) and wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) are other mammals living in Israel.

Birds

538 bird species have been observed in Israel so far. Many species are registered here as migratory birds outside of the breeding season, for which Israel, due to its geographical location, is of particular importance. 227 species are given as current or former breeding birds. One of them, the Arabian ostrich ( Struthio camelus syriacus ), is a globally extinct subspecies, the rest are locally extinct. 16 of the breeding bird species are neozoic , invasive species, usually from the tropics, including 7 parrots of the Shepherd's Maina and the brilliant crow . Of the remaining population, 84 showed a negative and 67 a positive population trend, the occurrences of the remaining were more or less unchanged. 13 species, mainly birds of prey ( falcon-like ), but also the griffon vulture , are threatened by illegal poisoning (mostly through the use of pesticides) and hunting in the population.

The bearded vulture ( Gypaetus barbatus ), the lappet vulture ( Aegypius tracheliotus ) and the wave-breasted fish owl ( Ketupa zeylonensis ) are extinct .

Since April 2001 attempts have been made to establish the North African ostrich ( Struthio camelus camelus ), a closely related subspecies, for the extinct Arabian ostrich, but this has so far failed.

The hoopoe , or duchifat in Hebrew, has been the national bird of Israel since 2008 .

Amphibians and reptiles

An Asian Fire Salamander ( Salamandra infraimmaculata ), photographed in the Carmel Mountains of northern Israel.

Seven species of amphibians are native to Israel. More or less constant species have been introduced by humans, including the tree frog Hyla japonica , which was mistakenly celebrated as a new species when it was discovered here. The Israeli disc beak ( Latonia nigriventer ), a living fossil that lives in the hula swamps and was only rediscovered in 2011 , is the only endemic species. The Asia Minor fire salamander ( Salamandra infraimmaculata ) lives in small populations only on the Hermon. Only green toads ( Bufotes variabilis ) and sea frogs ( Pelophylax bedriagae ) are more common.

There are 102 species and subspecies of reptiles in Israel. These include a number of endemic species that only live here or, as Levant endemics, rarely cross into neighboring countries. Many of them live in the mountains of the north, but in 2001 a new tortoise species, Testudo werneri , was discovered in the south (it also lives on the Sinai Peninsula). Many other species, including the grass snake , have their limit of distribution here.

Of the 46 species of snakes, 10 are poisonous for humans, with which there are numerous accidents every year. The most common of these is the Palestine aviper ( Daboia palaestinae ), the rarest the Lebanese mountain otter ( Montivipera bornmuelleri ). In Israel there are five gekkos, six agamas, a chameleon (the Mediterranean common chameleon is quite common in the country), nine skinks and 11 real lizards.

Two species of sea turtles, the loggerhead turtle and the green turtle, nest on the Israeli coastline . The north-eastern Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus niloticus ) was exterminated in Israel in historical times, around 1900, through hunting. The last occurrences were the Kabara swamps and the Taninim river valley .

fishes

Israel is currently home to around 691 species of fish, 636 of which live in the adjacent seas (Mediterranean and Red Sea).

32 native (indigenous) fish species are or were widespread in Israeli inland waters, one of them the eel ( Anguilla anguilla ) as a migratory fish developing in the sea. Of the standing waters, the Dead Sea is not home to any fish. The former Hula Lake and the surrounding marshland were drained, the water diverted for anthropogenic use. In the pond-like waters that still exist here today, only two of the original 22 species were able to survive, the three endemic species Mirogrex hulensis , Nun galilaeus and Tristramella simonis intermedia have been eradicated. The Sea of ​​Galilee , the largest natural lake in the Middle East and the most important drinking water reservoir in the country, has been preserved as a habitat to this day , but has been altered by fluctuations in the water level due to the water pipeline into the coastal plain and the damming of the Jordan. The flowing waters are divided by the watershed of the central hill country into about ten rivers that drain west to the Mediterranean Sea and mostly smaller streams that drain east to the Jordan (or the lakes of the Jordan Rift Valley). Most of the water from almost all rivers that drain to the west is taken as drinking or industrial water, the remaining are very heavily polluted, so that the few surviving fish are limited to the small tributaries in the mountains. The only remaining perennial, and only moderately polluted, river is the Taninim .

Biogeographically, about a third of the fish species ( African predatory catfish and eight cichlids ) come from Africa, the rest are of Eurasian origin, six of which are restricted to the Middle East. The carp fish Acanthobrama telavivensis in the rivers to the Mediterranean and Acanthobrama lissneri and Mirogrex terraesanctae in the Jordan system are restricted to these. The loach Nemacheilus dori and the cichlid Astatotilapia flaviijosephi only live in the Jordan system; Tristramella simonis simonis the most common indigenous species of the Sea of ​​Galilee, also lives in other waters of Syria and the Levant. Compared to the indigenous 32, 41 introduced fish species have already been found in Israeli waters, 12 of which are expected to have a negative impact on native biodiversity. Most of the species were and are being introduced commercially in ponds or for recreational fishing in the Sea of ​​Galilee. The introduced mosquito fish Gambusia affinis is said to have exterminated the native Garra ghoerensis in tributaries to the Dead Sea by predation .

Resettlement Projects

In the desert areas of the Avara Depression and the Negev, the Arabian oryx , the African ostrich and the Persian half-ass ( Equus hemionus onager ) bred in the wildlife park of Chai Bar Jotvata were reintroduced. In the north of Israel there is a similar wildlife park with Chai Bar Karmel , in which the species of the Mediterranean climatic zones such as the Armenian wild sheep ( Ovis orientalis gmelini ), the Mesopotamian or Persian fallow deer ( Dama dama mesopotamica ), the griffon vulture and the roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus) coxi ) were bred and reintroduced.

Species protection

In Israel there are numerous protected areas in which there are 63 (as of 2008) developed for tourism facilities, which are designated by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) as Israeli national parks and nature reserves managed and maintained.

Environmental damage

  • In 1915, a plague of locusts led to a regional famine in what was then Palestine.
  • In November 2016, unusually strong forest fires caused considerable damage. A total of 66,000 people had to be evacuated because of the 630 sources of fire, more than 500 apartments were destroyed and around 3,000 hectares of forest were burned. There were particularly large fires in Haifa and Zikhron Yaakov. 35 Palestinians are suspected of having caused at least part of the fires and were arrested on suspicion of arson.
  • On March 30, 2018, Palestinians began to fly kites and balloons with incendiary devices, which sparked fires in Israeli territory. On June 2, 2018, a fire kite triggered a major fire in the Carmia nature park, in Chof Ashkelon , which destroyed at least a third of the protected area. Authorities speak of the worst fire since the Palestinians used the fire dragons. The terrorist attacks destroyed 7500 hectares of arable land and forests and 2700 hectares of nature reserve by August 13, 2018. On the occasion of a photo exhibition at the UN headquarters from August 2 to 10, 2018 , the Israeli ambassador Danny Danon said: Destructive fire terrorism not only threatens the lives of Israeli citizens, it is also destroying an entire ecosystem in the south and causing irreversible environmental damage. … Hamas’s cruelty and cynicism has turned toys into deadly weapons and knows no bounds.

See also

literature

  • Elliman, Wendy (September 3, 2001). "Flora and Fauna in Israel", September 11, 2009.
  • Dolev, Amit (2004). Avi Perevolotsky, ed. The Red Book: Vertebrates in Israel. Israel: Israel Nature and Parks Authority . p. 318, ISBN 965-90466-0-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Avinoam Danin (1992): Flora and vegetation of Israel and adjacent areas. Bocconea 3: 18-42. on-line
  2. ↑ A.Shmida, O.Fragman, R.Nathan, Z.Shamir, Y.Sapir (2002): The Red Plants of Israel: a proposal of updated and revised list of plant species protected by the law. Ecologia Mediterranea 28 (1): 55-64.
  3. ↑ Yuval Sapir, Avi Shmida, Ori Fragman (2003): Constructing Red Numbers for setting conservation priorities of endangered plant species: Israeli flora as a test case. Journal for Nature Conservation 11 (2): 91-107. doi: 10.1078 / 1617-1381-00041
  4. ↑ Analytical Flora
  5. ↑ M. Zohary, N. Feinbrun-Dotan (editors): Flora Palaestina 2nd edition 2015
  6. ↑ Avi Shmida (1984): Endemism in the flora of Israel. Botanical Yearbook for Systematics 104 (4): 537-567.
  7. ↑ A. Shmida and JA Aronson (1986): Sudanian element in the flora of Israel. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 73 (1): 1-28.
  8. ^ Zev Naveh, Pua Kutiel, George M. Woodwell Changes in the Mediterranean Vegetation of Israel in Response to Human Habitation and Land Use. In GM Woodwell (editor): The Earth in Transition, Patterns and Processes of Biotic Impoverishment. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-39818-3 .
  9. ↑ Ella Tsahar, Ido Izhaki, Simcha Lev-Yadun, Guy Bar-Oz, Dennis Marinus Hansen: Distribution and extinction of ungulates during the Holocene of the Southern Levant . In: PLoS ONE . tape 04 , no. 04 , 2009, p. e5316 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0005316 ( online at: journals.plos.org ).
  10. ↑ Inbar Perez, Eli Geffen, Ofer Mokady: Critically Endangered Arabian leopards Panthera pardus nimr in Israel: estimating population parameters using molecular scatology . In: Fauna & Flora International (Ed.): Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation . tape 40 , no. 03 , September 4, 2006, p. 295–301 , doi : 10.1017 / S0030605306000846 ( online at: journals.cambridge.org [accessed July 23, 2013]).
  11. ^ Checklist of the Birds of Israel, by Arnon Tsairi. israbirding.com, the Israeli Birding Website.Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  12. ^ Martin Kraft: Israel - an Intercontinental Highway for Migrating Birds. In Dietrich Werner (editor): Biological Resources and Migration. Springer Verlag, 2004. ISBN 978-3-642-05989-6 , pages 229-237.
  13. ↑ Yoram Yom-Tov, Ohad Hatzofe, Eli Geffen (2012): Israel's breeding avifauna: A century of dramatic change. Biological Conservation 147: 13-21. doi: 10.1016 / j.biocon.2012.01.005
  14. ↑ The ostrich is supposed to return to Israel. Deutschlandradio.de from April 10, 2001, accessed on August 3, 2018
  15. ↑ Amit Dolev, Avi Perevolotsky: The Red Book: Vertebrates in Israel . Ed .: Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Israel 2004, ISBN 965-90466-0-X , pp. 318 ( vertebrates ; birds ).
  16. ↑ Satellite from students in space In: Israelnetz.de , April 21, 2017, accessed on September 28, 2018.
  17. ↑ a b c d Yehudah L. Werner (1996): Herpetofaunal survey of Israel (1950–1985) with comments on Sinai and Jordan and on zoogeographical heterogeneity. In Y. Yom-Tov & E. Tchernov (editors): The Zoogeography of Israel. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, 1988. Pages 355-388.
  18. ↑ Sarig Gafny: Amphibians in Israel. in The Red Book: Vertebrates in Israel. Nature and Parks Authority, 2004
  19. ↑ Ibrahim NA Salman, Michael Salsaa, Mazin B. Qumsiyeh (2014): Distribution and Cytogenetics of Amphibians from the Occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank of Jordan). Jordan Journal of Natural History 1: 116-130.
  20. ↑ Rebecca Biton, Eli Geffen, Miguel Vences, Orly Cohen, Salvador Bailon, Rivka Rabinovich, Yoram Malka, Talya Oron, Renaud Boistel, Vlad Brumfeld, Sarig Gafny (2013): The rediscovered Hula painted frog is a living fossil. Nature Communications 4, Article number: 1959 doi: 10.1038 / ncomms2959
  21. ^ Reptile species in Israel (The Reptile Database)
  22. ↑ Ahmad M. Disi & Wolfgang Böhme (1996): Zoogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of Syria, with additional new records. Herpetozoa 9 (1/2): 63-70.
  23. ^ Saleh Al-Quran (2009): The Herpetofauna of the Southern Jordan. American-Eurasian Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences 6 (4): 385-391.
  24. ↑ Jarmo Perälä (2001): A new species of Testudo (Testudines: Testudinidae) from the Middle East, with implications for conservation. Journal of Herpetology 35 (4): 567-582.
  25. ↑ Species of snakes in Israel (The Reptile Database)
  26. ↑ E. Kochva (1998): Venomous snakes of Israel: ecology and snakebite. Public Health Revue: 26 (3): 209-232.
  27. ↑ All fishes reported from Israel (Fishbase)
  28. ↑ List of Marine Fishes reported from Israel (Fishbase)
  29. ↑ a b Menachem Goren, Reuven Ortal (1999): Biogeography, diversity and conservation of the inland water fish communities in Israel. Biological Conservation 89: 1-9.
  30. ^ Noam Y. Werner & Ofer Mokady (2004): Swimming out of Africa: mitochondrial DNA evidence for late Pliocene dispersal of a cichlid from Central Africa to the Levant. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 82: 103-109.
  31. ↑ Kai Borkenhagen & Jörg Freyhof (2009): New records of the Levantine endemic cichlid Tristramella simonis from Syria. Cybium 33 (4): 335-336.
  32. ↑ Uri Roll, Tamar Dayan, Daniel Simberloff, Menachem Goren (2007): Characteristics of the introduced fish fauna of Israel. Biological Invasions 9: 813-824. doi: 10.1007 / s10530-006-9083-8
  33. ↑ Swarm of locusts expected in Israel. In: Israelnetz .de. March 4, 2019, accessed March 17, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Tel Aviv: According to Feuerwalze: Israel between hope and hate . In: THE WORLD . November 27, 2016 ( welt.de [accessed March 22, 2020]).
  35. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Major fires in Israel are under control - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. November 27, 2016, accessed March 22, 2020 .
  36. ↑ One dead and almost 1,000 injured during protests in the Gaza Strip In: Israelnetz.de , April 16, 2018, accessed on August 8, 2018.
  37. ↑ Netanyahu wants to compensate farmers with Palestinian money In: Israelnetz.de , June 4, 2018, accessed on August 11, 2018.
  38. ↑ Yad Vashem In: Israelnetz.de , August 14, 2018, accessed on August 17, 2018.
  39. ↑ fire dragon exhibition at the UN In: Israel Network .com, August 8, 2018 accessed on 10 August 2018th