Saharan flora and fauna book wanted
 

...anyone any ideas?

Thanks! Sam.

Hi Sam
Just googled your question and a number of links came up, maybe there is something there? :palm:

Hi Dave,

Lots of online or magazine articles, but no good books (so far) - good idea though!

Cheers, Sam.

book on saharan flora
 

Hi Sam,

The standard reference work on Saharan flora is 'Flore et vegetation du Sahara' by Paul Ozenda. It has two drawbacks - one that it's in french (sorry :biggrin:), the more serious one is that the line drawings are rubbish, unless you are a trained botanist it is damned difficult to use for identification.

There is nothing comparable on the fauna, that tends to be more fragmented based on regional / gerera basis.

For identification, I have found Nadia's Sahara-Nature - Flore et Faune du Sahara extremely helpful. You can also find a pretty large section on the flora / fauna of the eastern sahara on my website with full species lists.

Hi Richard,


Below you'll find several references with distribution data for Saharan fauna and flora. But older references have outdated systematics.
If you need anything in particular (particular region or taxonomic group) let me know, that I may have additional references.

All the best,
José


Charco,J. (1999) El Bosque Mediterráneo en el Norte de África: biodiversidad y lucha contra la desertificación, 370p.. Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, Madrid.
Charco,J. (2001) Guía de los Árboles y Arbustos del Norte de África: Claves de determinación, descripciones, ilustraciones y mapas de distribución, 671p. Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, Madrid.
Dragesco-Joffé,A. (1993) La Vie Sauvage au Sahara, 240p. Delachaux et Niestlé, Lausanne, Switzerdland.
Le Berre,M. (1990) Faune du Sahara 2 - Mammiferes, 360p. LeChevalier - R. Chabaud.
Le Berre,M. (1989) Faune du Sahara. 1. Poissons, Amphibiens et Reptiles Lechevalier, R. Chabaud, Paris.
Lévêque,C. (1990) Relict tropical fish fauna in Central Sahara. Ichthyol.Explor.Freshwaters 1, 39-48.
Quézel,P. (1965) La Végétation du Sahara. Du Tchad à la Mauritanie Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.
Quézel,P. (1978) Analysis of the flora of Mediterranean and Saharan Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 65, 479-534.
Trape,S. (2009) Impact of climate change on the relict tropical fish fauna of Central Sahara: threat for the survival of Adrar mountains fishes, Mauritania. PLoS ONE 4, e4400.
Trape,J.F. & Mané,Y. (2006) Guide des Serpents d'Afrique Occidentale - Savane et Désert, 126p. IRD Éditions, Paris.

There is a new book in preparation, titled "Desert animals in the eastern Sahara", in the Colloquium Africanum series of the Heinrich Barth Institut (University of Cologne), due to be out in a month or two. This will be up to the usual standard of the HBI research publications, a very thorough and in-depth study of all aspects of wildlife in the eastern part of the Sahara (focused on western Egypt & northern Sudan).

:smartass:

Ornamental plants of Libya
A.EL. GADI
M.A. SIDDIQUI

Al Fateh University
The national herbarium
Botany dep. tripoli. 1988


An account of 82 plants of Libya with drawing to esnsure complete accuracy and details .

Budrinna

Field guides
 

If we are talking field guides, books that are somewhat weather-proof, easy to carry around and are meant to quickly identify whatever organisms you may encounter, then I could use a few tips too.

I am mainly interested in birds and have these two books:

Field Guide to the Birds of Western Africa (Helm Field Guides) by Nik Borrow and Ron Demey (Paperback - 4 Oct 2004) Amazon £21.55

and my old
Birds of Britain and Europe with North Africa and the Middle East (Collins Pocket Guide) by Hermann Heinzel, Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter, and John Parslow (Paperback - Dec 1979) used from £0.01

they have done the job so far. They ovelap and cover Sahara as far east as Niger.

I am looking for one book to cover plants and one for mammals.

This one appears to cover mammals as far south as Tropic of Cancer:
Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East by A.J. Mitchell-Jones, Francois Moutou, J. Zima, and Patrick Haffner (Hardcover - 1 Sep 2009)
Buy new: £16.52

But I can't find any good field guides for only Sahara.

This site
Books - SCF - Sahara Conservation Fund
has a book list including some interesting field guides that are only available in French, if at all.
If anyone has any better tips, pls let us know.