Ecological and floristic diversity in Morocco

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Mohammed Sghir Taleb

Mohammed V-Agdal University, Morocco

: Expert Opin Environ Biol

Abstract

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The floristic richness of the country is related to the biotopes heterogeneity. From the desert to the high mountains and the littoral to the most continental borders, Morocco offers very varied ecological conditions which allowed installation of various stocks species. The formations of the Moroccan vegetable carpet are the forests, the matorrals, the steppes and the grasslands. The forests extend on approximately 5 million hectares and the steppes with Stipa tenacissima which cover nearly 3 million hectares. On the ecological level, these ecosystems are distributed on several types of bioclimates Saharan arid, semi-arid, sub humid, humid climate and High Mountain. Moroccan vascular flora counts about 4 500 species and subspecies distributed among 930 genera and 130 families. Rare, threatened and/or endemic flora represents a significant part: 951 are endemics, 463 rare, 1284 threatened and 36 vulnerable. This presentation will be focused on the Moroccan flora and ecosystems diversity and the assessment of the climate change impacts and human intervention on the degradation and the dysfunction of ecosystems as well as the rarefaction and the disappearance of species.

Biography

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Mohammed Sghir Taleb is Research Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Ecology, Scientific Institute (Mohammed V-Agdal University, Rabat, Morocco). He is author and co-author of several scientific publications in ecology, flora, vegetation and biodiversity conservation. He has worked on projects related to biodiversity and the development of scenarios and indicators for the development of in-situ conservation strategies. He had also participated and presented oral papers in many international scientific conferences, workshops and congresses. He is a member of International Association of Botanical Gardens (IABG) and also Member du CEM/EMP International IUCN program: (1) Ecosystem Red List (2) Dry land Ecosystem (3) Mountain Ecosystem.

Email: talebmsg@yahoo.com