Journals / Turkish Journal of Botany / 2008 / Cilt: 32 - Sayı: 6
Biogeography of South-West Asian Bryophytes – With Special Emphasis on the Tropical Element
- Journal
- Turkish Journal of Botany
- Pages
- 433–446
- DOI
- —
Abstract
The recent bryophyte flora of South-West Asia is heterogeneous and consists of 6 floral elements [(Sub)cosmopolitan taxa, northern taxa, xerotherm-Pangaean taxa, circum-Tethyan taxa, tropical taxa, and endemics of various origins] that are derived from the different Pangaean ancestral floral stocks. Analysis of the flora and vegetation indicates that there is a very strong tropical - and especially palaeotropical and Afromontane - influence in the bryophyte flora of the area. Altogether, more than 95 taxa, or nearly 10% of South-West Asia´s total known bryoflora, are of xero-tropical origin. They concentrate mainly in the escarpment mountains of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra Island, and often are unique relicts of a former wider distributed Tertiary xero-tropical flora that today links South Arabia with East Africa and South-East Asia.
Özet
The recent bryophyte flora of South-West Asia is heterogeneous and consists of 6 floral elements [(Sub)cosmopolitan taxa, northern taxa, xerotherm-Pangaean taxa, circum-Tethyan taxa, tropical taxa, and endemics of various origins] that are derived from the different Pangaean ancestral floral stocks. Analysis of the flora and vegetation indicates that there is a very strong tropical - and especially palaeotropical and Afromontane - influence in the bryophyte flora of the area. Altogether, more than 95 taxa, or nearly 10% of South-West Asia´s total known bryoflora, are of xero-tropical origin. They concentrate mainly in the escarpment mountains of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra Island, and often are unique relicts of a former wider distributed Tertiary xero-tropical flora that today links South Arabia with East Africa and South-East Asia.