Abd El-Ghani Monier, Hosni Hasnaa, Shamso Eman, Ellmouni Faten
Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt.
Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum, 63514, Egypt.
Bot Stud. 2024 Jul 16;65(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s40529-024-00428-w.
Endemism is essential in biodiversity, biogeography, and conservation tasks. Based on herbarium specimens kept in some local herbaria, many published literature, and available information, we compiled a comprehensive list and an updated assessment of the Egyptian endemic and near-endemic taxa. The application of quantitative approaches to the distribution patterns, conservation status, and habitat preference of endemic taxa in Egypt was provided. Comparisons of the near-endemic taxa with other neighbouring flora were explained. For each taxon, the distribution patterns, most preferable habitat, biological spectrum, and taxa among 14 phytogeographical regions (Operational Geographical Units; OGUs) of Egypt were determined.
In this study, 19 endemics (out of 70) and 76 near-endemics (out of 181) are newly added taxa. Differentiation indices represented the taxonomic degrees of differentiation among endemic taxa. Two different indices were used to assess endemism: single-region endemic taxa (SRET) and multiple-region endemic taxa (MRET). Most endemic and near-endemic taxa were recorded from the mountainous Sinai (S) and the Mareotis sector of the Mediterranean coastal land (Mm). Generally, the most represented families in endemic and near-endemic areas were Asteraceae, Caryophyllaceae, Lamiaceae, and Fabaceae. More than 60% of the endemic taxa occurred in the sandy plains, wadis (desert valleys), and rocky plains and mountains. Applying hierarchical cluster analysis to the occurrences of 70 endemic taxa in the 14 studied OGUs revealed five main floristic groups (I-V), each characterized by certain OGUs. We provided eight groups of near-endemic taxa that represented their extension in neighbouring countries.
The presented data will help to fill the gap in our knowledge of endemism, provide baseline information to understand biogeographical processes and facilitate further cooperation toward conservation purposes.
特有性在生物多样性、生物地理学和保护工作中至关重要。基于保存在一些当地植物标本馆中的标本、众多已发表的文献以及可得信息，我们编制了一份埃及特有和近特有分类群的综合清单及最新评估。本文给出了对埃及特有分类群的分布模式、保护状况和栖息地偏好应用定量方法的情况。解释了近特有分类群与其他邻近植物区系的比较。对于每个分类群，确定了其在埃及14个植物地理区域（操作地理单元；OGU）中的分布模式、最适宜栖息地、生物谱和分类群。
在本研究中，新增了19个特有种（共70个）和76个近特有种（共181个）。分化指数代表了特有分类群之间的分类分化程度。使用了两种不同的指数来评估特有性：单区域特有分类群（SRET）和多区域特有分类群（MRET）。大多数特有和近特有分类群记录于西奈山区（S）和地中海沿岸陆地的马里乌蒂斯地区（Mm）。一般来说，特有和近特有区域中占比最大的科为菊科、石竹科、唇形科和豆科。超过60%的特有分类群出现在沙质平原、干河（沙漠山谷）以及岩石平原和山脉。对14个研究的OGU中70个特有分类群的出现情况进行层次聚类分析，揭示了五个主要的植物区系组（I - V），每组都有特定的OGU特征。我们给出了八组近特有分类群，展示了它们在邻国的分布范围。
所呈现的数据将有助于填补我们在特有性知识方面的空白，提供理解生物地理过程的基础信息，并促进为保护目的的进一步合作。
