biological diversity and tropical forests in tunisia - PART

EIOLOCICAL DIVERSITY AXD TROPICAL FORESTS I!! TUI!ISIA
FXECUTIVF: SUWABY
T;;r.isia is the snallest of the Maghreb txitiocs with a total surface
area of 16 millioc hectares acd a popr;latior. of 7,259,000. Altho~eh its
small size, low mozctaics (maximam elevatioc 1544 rn compared to 4167 m ic
~orocco) acd decse pop;latioc leave Tscisla with fewer ecdenic species of
fa~ca acd flora thac are fozcd ic the rest of the F!aghreb, the species
diversity is fairly rich acd is distributed throoeh a variety of
ecosystems.
- Flora
There are 2200 species of placts ir Y'zclsia. Of the 87C species of
plarts that are rare, threateced or ecdenic jc Korth AfrSca (IUC!: 198C),
15: 9cc.x ic Txisie, b~t the local cocservatioc stat..is is sckcowc for all
of then. A t tk,e catjocal level there are 307 rare acd 99 very rsre
placts. Of those 405 placts, 335 are distjcct species (cot sshspecies or
forms), which Is :5 5 of the total flora. Tzcjsja's rare flora iccl~de 6
species erdem5c to the co.xtry acd F: species e~denic to T!orth Africa acd
the cortherc Sahare. Icdivid-el species ic ceed of protacti.oc are
disccssed .
Ya~y of the placts are valoable as a gecetic resozrce. Inportact
forage placts (~(~rt.;s commzcis,
Urglcea maritime, Daph~e - tecacisi=d
placts of food val~e Cocservatior- acd
research of the rere placts ecd geretic reso;;rces is dore by the Agrocomy
Insti t-tes (I~AT, IHSAT) , Gecetic Beso-xces Cecter (IXRST), !Jat~re
Protectioc Associatjor (ATPXE) acd the catioczl J:kB cormittee.
- Fauca
TccSsia he= szffered a drastic declice ic facca ic the past cectary.
Abo,t '= sp~cSes of mammals, 400 species of birds, acd more thac 500
species of herpes acd fish cac still be foucd. However, all of the large
mammals are threateced, with the exceptioc of the wild boar Sas scrofa
barbar~s. li0r.k seals (!;ocachus nocachzs) have almost beee extirpated.
Several mammal speci es '(nostlyrware ecdemic to Korth Africa. Rare
acd ecdacgered mammals ic the IUC9 Red Data Book (ic: Greet 1980) i~clsde:
Barbary hyeca
Barbary deer
Dorcas gazelle
Hyaecs hyaeca barbara
Cervss elaphss barbarm
Gazelle dorcas nassaesyla
- G. c-vj eri
C. l~ntocero~