biological diversity and tropical forests in tunisia - PART

with gypsous soils icdicated by Lygeum spartum and drier locatiocs
icdicated by esparto grass end juciper. Pastoral species iccliide:
B. Fauna
Artemesia herba alba Hippocrepis scabra
A. cempestris Psoralea bitumicosa
Medicago tunetana Coronilla juccea
Lotus sp. C. minima
A long racge of cliffs below the ridge oc Dj. Bireco provides several
favorable locatiocs with ledges, cevlties and caves for mammal decs or
raptor nests. Mammals inclade hyena, jackal, red fox, wild boar, North
African crested porcupice, Algerian hedgehog, gundi acd bats. Bkrds
inclsde:
C. Icfliiecces
tc Peregrice Black redstart Turtle dove
Ban: owl Black wheatear Ravec
Sarbary partridge Chaff inch
Ic respocse to erosioc problems, some terracing has beec doze on the
steeper slopes. Oce fifth of the forest has been designated as
regeceratior- forest to protect it from exploitatioc acd grazicg, thzs
echancicg the forest cover and reducicg erosioc. Although grazicg is
reduced somewhat in the regeneration forest, it still occnrs there acd
throsghout the forest. Other forest use includes harvesticg rosemary
bracches for distillation and fuelwood collection.
3.4.3.3. Djebel Mrhilla
One of the moxtaics flanking the main 'backboce' of the Tiicisiac
Dorsal is Dj. Mrhilla. It is located oc the south side of the Dorsal, 10
kn corth of Sbeitla acd 45 km northeast of Kasserine. The altitsde is
1378 m at the highest summit acd 1058 m at the second, soiitherr. peak.
Slopes are rocky with many bare rock outcrops.
A. Vegetatioc
The vegetatioc associations are similar to those of Dj. Chambi (~aenot
19651, bst Mrhilla is lower and has only beec protected for 3 years, so it
is more degraded. Aleppo pice grows fairly well at the ssmmit, but the
holm oak in the understory is stucted, deformed and very sparse. Eroded,
thic soils result in many bare areas betweer, the rosemary hshes on the
slopes. Humus acc.~mulatiocs ic the watersheds are icdicated by Pistacia
lectisc~s acd Phillyrea angustifolia. Jsciperss phoecicea acd esparto
grass icdicate the drycess of the slopes, acd the base of the mountaic is
dornir-ated by esparto grass acd thermophiles like rosemary acd Clobularia
alyp~a. A rare, North Africac ecdemic plact recorded for KrhLlla is
Sorb.~s aria.
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