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Μελέτη βιοποικιλότητας Αψάλου Μακεδονίας
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Three species of tortoise (Testudinidae) occur in Greece (Testudo hermanni, T. graeca and the endemic T. marginata), all of which have been listed as rare or vulnerable. This paper describes the current situation of 75 populations that were last observed in the 1970s and 1980s and described in 1989. Twenty-nine populations had declined in density and/or status (significantly more than had improved), 10 of which were functionally extinct. A particularly notable loss was a dense population of T. marginata at Gytheion in the Peloponnese due to a widespread fire. Declining populations were significantly associated with identified high threat in 1989 and with close proximity to human settlement. There were no significant effects of tortoise species, area of site, characteristics of surrounding areas or original density on these changes. Declines were less associated with agriculture than predicted in 1989, reflecting changing economic conditions in Greece in the 1990s. Continuing threats to tortoise habitats make their long-term future appear bleak outside of protected areas. The risk of extinction from stochastic variation in small populations was also assessed, using the VORTEX program. This risk was much lower than that from habitat loss; 60–96% of populations of 100 tortoises would survive for 1000 years, depending on adult body size, compared to only 0–0.02% of habitats. The high survival potential of small populations would facilitate conservation of the high intraspecific diversity of tortoises in Greece.
Despite protection of the species under the Berne Convention, and of the site by planning restrictions, Hermann's tortoises have again been killed at Alyki, 10 years after the original catastrophe. The authors describe the situation leading up to the recent habitat destruction, and its effect. There is a final opportunity to save the tortoise population before it is destroyed by holiday developments.
10 species (peloponnesiaca, muralis, melisellensis, graeca, oxycephala, horvathi, bedriagae, vivipara, viridis, agilis) of the genus Lacerta were examined by employing protein electrophoretic data for 16 genloci. Gene frequencies are given and genetic distances calculated according to NEI (1971, 1972). These and former attempts to subdivide the genus Lacerta are discussed. The electrophoretic results provide the possibility of a classification of the examined species into groups at the subgenus level corresponding to those valid before BÖHME (1971) and ARNOLD (1973): genus Lacerta subgenus Lacerta s. str. subgenus Podarcis subgenus Archaeolacerta subgenus Zootoca
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