The Biodiversity of Cyprus Island

The aspects considered in this paper refer to remains of food plants found in the archaeological area of Pyrgos (Early Bronze Age, 2000 B.C.) near Limassol in Cyprus, related to the history of agriculture and cultivated plant processing technologies. For the purposes of an initial comparison of the archaeobotanical data, the authors updated a map of rainfall distribution on Cyprus with rainfall and temperature data for the period from 1973 to 2007, to produce an updated view of possible microclimates on the island. Cyprus was one of the Mediterranean islands whose particular orographic features encouraged the phylogenetic evolution of many species, and today it is especially rich in endemic species. Cyprus located at the southeastern boundary among the Mediterranean region, the Pontic region (the Irano-Turanic element) and the Near East (the Syriac and Nubo-Sindic elements) it doesn't seem to have effectively influenced the most important endemic species, they were probably preserved by the island's microclimates and particular edaphic conditions.