Environmental regionalization and endemic plant distribution in the Maghreb

Clustering methods based on environmental variables are useful in the planning of conservation strategies for species and ecosystems. However, there is a lack of work on the regionalization of the vast space of North Africa and the distribution of plant species. The current lists of endemic plants are focused mostly on an occurrence at the country level and not on regions with different conditions. The aim of this work was to lay out an environmental scheme for northwest Africa and to collect data about the occurrence of endemic plants in this area. Clustering with 12 of 33 tested environmental rasters was performed to divide the Maghreb into environmental clusters. Then, a list of 1618 endemic plant taxa (1243 species and 375 subspecies) was prepared and their distribution in estimated environmental clusters was examined. Eleven clusters with different conditions were estimated. The main drivers of regionalization were temperature amplitude, precipitation seasonality, and precipitation of the warmest quarter. According to the occurrence of endemic plants, northwest Africa may be divided into three zones: Atlas, Mediterranean (two environmental clusters), and southern zone (eight environmental clusters). The presented results provide a good basis for understanding the spatial patterns of the Maghreb, including its environment and species diversity. A designed list of endemic plant species together with environmental data may facilitate the planning of future research in north Africa and arranging methods of biodiversity protection.

African monsoons, Part 2: Synoptic-scale wave disturbances in the intertropical convergence zone over north Africa

In this part, the paper discusses several aspects of the origin, structure, development and movement of wave disturbances over the North African tropical zone during the northern summer. Analyzing the cases often actual wave disturbances which later in their life cycles developed into hurricanes over the Atlantic, it finds that though the horizontal and vertical shear of the mean zonal wind associated with the mid-tropospheric easterly jet over Africa satisfies the condition of dynamical instability under certain restrictive boundary conditions, it is the influence of a large-amplitude baroclinic wave in mid-latitude westerlies upon a stationary wave in the mountainous region of the east-central north Africa that appears to trigger the birth of a wave disturbance in the intertropical convergence zone over the Nile valley of Sudan between the Marra and the Ethiopian mountains. Physical processes likely to be important in the formation, development and movement of the disturbances are pointed out.

Lectotypification of names related to Teucrium montanum L. (Lamiaceae) reported for the Balkan peninsula

Teucrium montanum is a species widely distributed in Europe, occurring also in North Africa and Asia Minor. Because of its wide distribution and high morphological variability, many taxa related to T. montanum have been described. In this paper we discuss and lectotypify the following six names of taxa described or reported for the Balkan Peninsula: T. helianthemoides, T. montanum var. hirsutum, T. montanum var. modestum, T. montanum var. parnassicum, T. pannonicum, and T. skorpilii.