Month: May 2020

Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity and news from the shady and cool riparian alder forests of Andros confirms that even in well-studied areas biodiversity can still surprise us. In the understory of alder stands at Vourkoti, Dr. Panagiotis Trigas discovered a new-to-science plant species. It is a species of wild onion of the genus Allium, one of the richest genera of flowering plants in the northern hemisphere. Mr. Trigas named the species Allium stamatiadae, in honour of the Andriot botanist Elli Mandaraka-Stamatiadou (Andros 1933 - Athens 2015). He told us: "Elli Mandaraka-Stamatiadou was curator of the herbarium of the Goulandris Natural History Museum from 1965 to 2009. She was the greatest contributor to the Museum's botanical collections and one of the most important collectors in the long history…

  A large part of the island, as well as of its surrounding marine environ­ment, is of particular value for biodiversity, not only at local and nation­al, but also at European level, and is part of the Natura 2000 network. Three Natura 2000 sites have been established for the protection of Andros’ special characteristics and the protected species and habitats it hosts. Among them are: The vast Posidonia sea-grass beds found along its entire coastline in depths from 5 to 40 meters, as well as the rich in biodiversity coral for­mations at greater depths, The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), which is one of the most endangered marine mammal species in Europe, Protected bird species, the most important of which are the Eleono­ra’s falcon (Falco eleonorae), the Mediterranean shag (Phalacrocorax…

The project participated in the contest #EUinmyregion and was among the winners for April 2020. #EUinmyregion is a co-created communication campaign that aims to increase the visibility of EU-funded projects across Europe. In the framework of the campaing a monthly postcard competition is carried out. The project participated in the competition for the month April 2020 and was among the winners. More information about the campaign are available here and the winning photos are presented here.