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B/OGEOGRAPHIA — vol. XVIII — 1995 (Pubblicato il 31 ottobre 1996) Le piccole Isole Circumsarde e il loro significato Biogeografico Vertebrate extinction in Mediterranean islets: an example from Cyprus E. HADJISTERKOTIS” and B. MASALAM‘ qqOfi’zqcer of tlae Game zzml Fauna Service, Mzfiirtry of Interior; Nzrorzkz, Cyprus. ”°qI7zrz‘z'tzIte of General P/Jyrziology mm’ Biological C/Jemzirtry, Faculty of Bz'0logz'czzl Sciences, U72z'verrz'z‘y of Sczsrarz; Szzsrarz; Italy Key words: Vertebrate, extintion, mediterranean islets, Cyprus. SUMMARY Cyprus is the third island in the Mediterranean \vith an area of 9.251 Kmz. Is a 15 million year old island of oceanic origin which has never been connected to the mainland. In this study we attempt to tally all the extinctions that took place on the island of Cyprus and compare the emerging pattern with that of other islands. All the endemic animals recorded from the Pleistocene Fauna, the Pygmy hippopotamus P/Ja/zoz.trz'0s /7zz'IIzIl‘m', the Pygmy elephant Elzzp/Mr cypria/ax, the Cyprus genet Gezzetta /7/er/rtoizler, and the Ancient Cypriot shrew Crociclzzm rzzzzueole/zr [mu/c_vpI'1‘a, are extinct. These animals represent 60% of the endemic mammalian species aver recorded in Cyprus and 20% of the endemic subspecies. From the Archaeological Fauna nine taxa of animals were reported, which (with the exception of the Cyprus mouflon Oz;/: gmelz'm' op/Jz'0Iz) are not present today. From the avifauna two species and seven subspecies (12% of the total number of breeding taxa) were noted as endemic. Two of the latter, the Dipper C/‘uclz/r rinclz/5 oly/up/qcur is extinct and the Raven Coruzzr camx cjvprizzr is in danger of extinction. This pattern of extinction of indigenous spe— cies was also observed on other islands and is a consequence of small isolated island populations. INTRODUCTION A characteristic of modern extinctions of birds and mammals is that they are concentrated on islands (Diamond, 1984). For birds, 171 species and sub- species have become extinct since 1600, and over 90 percent of these extinc- tions have occurred on islands. For mammals out of 115 documented historic extinctions, 36 percent of these have occurred on islands. This pattern is in part due to the nature of island populations. They are small and isolated; thus they cannot recover from local extirpation following environmental perturba- tions or long—term climatic changes by immigration from other areas (MacArthur and \Wilson, 1967; Leigh, 1981). A growing body of evidence for birds and mammals indicates that over the last few thousand years, the most important agent of direct change in the envi- ronments is human disturbance and alteration of habitats (Diamond, 1984). Most extinct species in recorded history are attributed to some aspects of human interference, such as: habitat destruction; human hunting; effects of introduced taxa particularly predators, and trophic cascades (i.e., secondary extinctions caused by previous extinctions; Diamond and Case, 1986). Usually the period immediately following the initial settlement of islands is correlated 691 |
