Format: ORAL

Maria Panitsa1, Christini Fournaraki2, Katerina Koutsovoulou3, Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis1, Michalis Choreftakis2, Costas A. Thanos3

1 University of Patras, Patras, Greece 2 CIHEAM - Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh), Chania, Greece 3 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

The Aegean Archipelago is comprised of 123 inhabited islands (Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes etc.) and more than 8,000 uninhabited ones. t is divided into 5 floristic regions, with the East Aegean and Crete-Karpathos (KK) ones hosting the richest total floras while KK, Kiklades and West Aegean are richest in endemics. In total, 740 endemic taxa grow in the Aegean of which 62% are regional and 42.4% are Single Island endemics. The first round of conservation status assessments (by HBS in collaboration with IUCN) will conclude by the end of 2023 and a rough estimate of 50% of the endemics seem to be categorised as threatened (CR, EN, VU), most of them facing high extinction risk, uplifting the in situ and ex situ conservation of these plants to an urgent national target. It is noteworthy that ten out of the TOP50 critically endangered Mediterranean plant taxa, and 44% of the plant taxa of Annexes II, IV V of the Directive 92/43/EEC are found in the Aegean. The Aegean Archipelago also hosts 38% of the Greek NATURA2000 sites, governed by 7 Management Units of Protected Areas; currently, in situ conservation measures for protected or endangered plants are taken mainly within these protected areas. In addition, Plant Micro-Reserves have been established for 7 taxa and one habitat type in Crete while 5 new ones are about to be established in Rhodes, Karpathos and Kastellorizo. Ex situ conservation actions include numerous taxa stored in Seed Banks along with compiling germination protocols and developing plans for in situ population reinforcements. This work, apart from presenting the progress made during the last decades in knowledge building and conservation initiatives, aims to reveal and prioritise the gaps of plant conservation in the Aegean Archipelago.