HOT-SPOTS ANALYSIS FOR CONSERVATION OF PLANT BIODIVERSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

Due to the increase of human impact on the world scale, there is an ur gent need to identify the sectors of the greatest biodiversity that ar e also the most endangered. Examination of the plant biodiversity of t he five regions with a mediterranean climate (SW Australia, the Cape r egion of South Africa, California, mediterranean Chile, and the Medite rranean basin) clearly demonstrates their key role in the world contex t. The delimitation and definition of 10 red alert areas or ''hot-spot s'' situated in the Mediterranean basin and in Macaronesia are explain ed in detail. The 10 sectors identified are: the Canary Islands and Ma deira, the High and Middle Atlas mountains, the Baetic-Rifan complex, the Maritime and Ligurian Alps, the Tyrrhenian Islands, Southern and C entral Greece, Crete, Anatolia and Cyprus, the Syria-Lebanon-Israel ar ea and, lastly, the Cyrenaic Mediterranean. There are two main centers of biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin: one in the west that incl udes the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, and one in the East that inclu des Turkey and Greece. This analysis demonstrates the uniqueness and f ragility of the island habitats.