abstract

Andalusia has one of the highest levels of diversity in Europe in terms of biology, geology and landscape. Its natural heritage is not only extremely diverse but also well preserved. Only the vascular flora of Andalusia consists over 4,000 species, many of which are endemic. Nowadays many of these plants are endangered and therefore registered under one or other of the endangered levels in Red Lists and Red Books.
The aim of this research is to make a qualitative analysis of the main ecological characteristics of the endangered flora in Andalusia contained in Red Lists, Red Books and specific legislation for the Andalusian territory. The most significant results of this study indicate that over a third of the Andalusian flora is endangered or has been previously considered as such. A high percentage of these species are endemic plants. RENPA (the Spanish acronym for Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia) plays a fundamental role in the management of the endangered flora in Andalusia since only 6% of the endangered flora is not included in the network. The highest concentration of endangered taxa occurs in the thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean bioclimatic belts. However, there is still some discrepancy between the percentage (of species) within the whole of the flora representing concrete families and biotopes and the percentage of those species in the category of endangered.

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keywords

conservation, endemism, flora, Red List, RENPA