Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)
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SOCOTRA BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH AND NATURE CONSERVATION
Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) Fabio Attorre1 · Kay Van Damme2 Published online: 18 August 2020 © Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2020
The topical collection ‘Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago’, in short ‘Socotra biodiversity research and nature conservation’ was conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra annual meeting and Socotra conference which took place at the Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy, 26–29 September, 2019. In total, 13 research papers are included in the collection, which covers a selection of the latest scientific progress on the fauna and flora of the terrestrial and aquatic environments of the Socotra Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site (Yemen). Topics include conservation, taxonomy, ecology, biology and biogeography. The focus is mainly on biodiversity conservation and aimed at identifying current challenges, trends and processes that may impact on local ecosystems and livelihoods, based on analysis of data collected over the last decades. With this collection, we wish to emphasise the importance of taking into account science-based conservation approaches in future strategic steps towards safeguarding the ecosystems of Socotra.
This paper belongs to a Topical Collection “Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago” edited by Fabio Attorre and Kay Van Damme, conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra Conference, 26–29 September, 2019, Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. * Kay Van Damme [email protected] Fabio Attorre [email protected] 1
Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza-University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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1 Background For centuries, islands and their biotas have appealed to biologists. Covering only 5% of the Earth’s land surface, these ‘living laboratories of evolution’ account for a high proportion of endemics—about 20% of all known vascular plants and 15% of all amphibians, mammals and birds are found exclusively on islands (Da Fonseca et al. 2006). However, due to several factors that are typical to insular ecosystems such as isolation and small sizes of local populations, overwhelming evidence has shown that species on islands are easily driven to extinction. General factors are well known and include the effects of exotic species, habitat degradation and deliberate destruction (Sax and Gaines 2008; CaujapéCastells et al. 2010; Wood et al. 2017). Therefore, in conservation efforts, approaches for islands must be very different to those in the continent (Whittaker 1998). The rich biodiversity of the Socotra archipelago forms no exception to the brutal mathematical reality of how rapidly extinction occurs on islands. The Socotra Archipelago is situated in the western Indian Ocea
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