Biogeography and Ecology of the Pityusic Islands

Book excerpt: A large part of this book is dedicated to the geology of the Pityusic Archipelago, followed by contributions on climate and geography. Funguses, mosses and leeks are the subjects of taxonomical botany, and a further paper deals with the vegetation of the islands. Another large part of this book is concerned with zoology: faunal lists on fleas, bees, wasps, ants, butterflies, beetles, snails, amphibians and reptiles, birds and mammals, the latter with their epi- and endofaunas as well as their subfossil remains are presented in 13 different papers. Three of them deal with the special problems of isolation and evolution of new races on rocks and small islets: tenebrionid beetles, lizards and terrestrial snails. Man, as an important factor in the Pityusic Islands, is dealt with in six contributions: prehistory, which means pre-Phoenician and which is treated for the first time, folk architecture, the 'endemic' dialect of the Catalonian language, exploitation of some natural resources and finally the problems of inbreeding and related matters on Formentera. The book closes with an outlook on the present state of the Pityusic nature and tries to show ways of conserving all important parts of the archipelago, so that 'our' two islands may preserve some of their typical vegetation, plants and animals and, thus, of their character.