Places to visit
Biodiversity trails
Five destinations to discover Spain's natural wealth
Spain is a country of great biodiversity, with a vast variety of ecosystems and species. Summer offers a good opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of its landscapes and experience the richness of its fauna and flora.
With the financial aid of Enrique Baquero, professor of the School of Sciences and researcher of the Biodiversity and Environment Institute of the University, we have selected some of the richest places in biodiversity of our country. Do you dare to visit them during your vacations?
Within the Mediterranean landscape, Sierra Nevada is considered a global biodiversity hotspot. Its landscape is characterized by high peaks (including the highest in the national territory, the Mulhacén, in the Penibética mountain range), but also small villages with meadows, and perpetual snow in higher altitudes.
It accumulates species arriving from North Africa and also others displaced by glaciations (from the north). Some of them sought their optimum environment in the height of the mountains, with a climate similar to that of their origin and, because of isolation, some evolved into new species. In Sierra Nevada, which represents only a hundredth part of the Mediterranean region of the peninsula, 2100 species of plants have been counted (in the whole Iberian Peninsula there are about 8000), with 66 exclusive endemisms. The term endemism - in biology - indicates that the distribution of a taxon (usually a species) is very limited, and that it is not found naturally in any other part of the world. Among animals, some species can be considered relicts (the snow vole, the butterfly Erebia hispania, or the ant genus Rossomyrmex).
The species that can be observed in Sierra Nevada are the evergreen evergreens, foxgloves, chamomile, Sierra Nevada violet, snow star, Sierra Nevada poppies and aconites. Among the animals, the mountain goat is the most characteristic species of the park, but a multitude of amphibians, reptiles, other mammals and birds are also present. Insects include 80 endemic species.
La Gomera stands out for being the only place near the Iberian Peninsula with rainforest or subtropical cloud forest (laurel forest). It is characterized by its high humidity, without seasonal changes and with a great diversity of species, many of them very fragile against the aggressions of the environment. The trees are evergreen up to 40 m high. It was declared reservation of the Biosphere in 2012 in order to promote measures to protect biodiversity throughout its insular territory and the surrounding sea. But it also has great value for its diversity at the ecosystem level, with landscapes of rocks (rocky elevations that have resisted erosion), deep ravines formed by abundant rainfall, palm groves, and the aforementioned rainforests. In these landscapes a high diversity of plants is measured, and many of them are present only on the island of La Gomera.
The island has 1063 endemic species (plants and animals), more than 50 per 100 square kilometers, some with very few representatives. In Garajonay Park there are 21 species of plants catalogued as threatened.
Invertebrates, especially in the laurel forest, are the most important group -because of their relationship with the vegetation and because they are core topic in the food webs, being food for larger animals such as amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals-. One of the four reptiles endemic to the island, the giant lizard of La Gomera, considered extinct until a few years ago, is one of the most endangered species on the planet (mainly because it is preyed upon by cats outside houses). There are 50 species of birds in total, and three of them are endemic.
Deserts can also be considered biodiversity hotspots. They do not provide high species richness or biomass, but the species present in them are very valuable because of the adaptations that have allowed them to live in a hostile environment.
The Bardenas Reales of Navarra are a area rich in Biodiversity especially at the ecosystemic level (diversity of environments). This is due to its status close to other areas where the environmental conditions are very different from those of a desert: dense forests less than 100 kms away and the Mediterranean landscape that surrounds them. Also due to the peculiarity of its relief, originated by the erosion produced by torrential rains over millions of years.
The most valuable species that can be observed are: an endemic snail(Xeroplexa blancae), described by a researcher of the University of Navarra(Mariano Larraz) in 1985; a great abundance of tarantulas (Lycosa tarantula) and scorpions (Buthus occitanus); some species of amphibians and reptiles that have learned to take advantage of the punctual presence of water, both spatially and temporally; up to 10 species of bats; a minimum of 14 species of large mammals (western European hedgehog, weasel, polecat, marten, badger, fox, wild cat, genet, otter, European mink, rabbit, Iberian hare, wild boar and roe deer); and an important representation of steppe birds (Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Stone-curlew, Stone-curlew, Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Dupont's Lark, several species of terreras, Crested Lark and Wheatear) and birds of prey (including Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Eagle Owl).
The dehesas of this area can be very representative of this landscape, but any other can be a good destination to observe biodiversity. This has the peculiarity of housing Iberian pig breeding farms in a area that comprises 33 municipalities of the Sierra Suroeste, Tentudía and Campiña Sur. It is important to point out that it is a landscape born of human action - since the time of the Reconquest, when the land began to be fenced off to protect it from transhumance; dehesa comes from the term defense - but contrary to what one might think, it is a good example of sustainability and conservation, compatible with a good economic profitability.
The core topic reason why dehesas have a great biodiversity is that they are composed of large specimens of trees of the Quercus genus (oaks or cork oaks), thickets with native species and pastures, which are the ones that allow livestock activity. If they are well managed, and areas with stones, temporary (or permanent) ponds and some crops are maintained, the number of niches increases, which explains the great richness of species. Their function, in addition to direct human use, as a provision of agricultural, livestock and forestry - and also cultural - products, involves considering the important ecosystem services they support, such as water regulation and the provision of biotopes for a large number of species.
The plant species mentioned (in three strata: arboreal, shrub and herbaceous) constitute a great value in plant biodiversity, and serve as framework for the cycles of many species of animals. Without forgetting the enormous quantity of arthropods, especially insects, that they shelter, many emblematic species can be mentioned: the black vulture, the black stork, the Iberian imperial eagle (linked almost exclusively to the existence of the dehesa), the deer or the potential presence of the Iberian lynx. Biodiversity has another dimension in this landscape, as it includes the presence of breeds of livestock species now almost exclusively present in the dehesa: the Iberian pig, the Merino sheep or the Retinto cattle.
Although many points scattered along the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula should be mentioned, there is one that deserves special attention. The Alboran Sea, and specifically the Strait of Gibraltar and the coast of Ceuta, are considered biodiversity hotspots due to the presence of Atlantic and Mediterranean species that coexist, in addition to presenting numerous endemic species. It has been said that this is the area with the greatest marine biodiversity in the whole of Europe and North Africa. Cabo de Gata is also important because it is the real border between the area of cold and warm waters in the area.
The species of interest that the sea harbors in this area are: benthic species such as the whiptail gorgonian, red coral and several species of sponges described as new to science relatively recently (2014); abundant mollusks and fish such as shrimp, squid, octopus, hake, sea bream and mackerel; sea turtles, such as the loggerhead turtle; birds such as the Balearic shearwater, Audouin's gull, Audouin's gull, common tern, great skua, gannet and puffin; finally cetacean mammals such as the bottlenose dolphin, which uses the strait as a natural passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
