| Περιγραφή Τόπου |
The island of Samos lies in the east central part of the Aegean sea very close to Asia minor, from which its eastern end is separated by a strait, at the narrowest only 1200 m wide. The climate is typical Mediterranean with mean annual rainfall exceeding 500 mm. The marine part covers 29% of the site and the terrestrial part includes the area of Alyki is a big sandy beach, located in the South-eastern part of the island, 0.2 km W of Psili Ammos village. It is a shallow lagoon, which occupies the area of the old salt-pits where works stopped in 1970. The coastal shingle and sandy zone is rather narrow and does not allow the development of well-formed ammophilous plant associations. The vegetation of the beach is generally poor in plants which develop mostly as isolated individuals. At certain points of the coast, where organic substances accumulate and the beach consists almost exclusively of shingle, the presence of ammonitrophilous species is evident, as: Anthemis tomentosa, Salsola kali, Medicago marina, Limonium virgatum, L. sinuatum etc. Centaurea spinosa frequently participates in this vegetation unit. At the area of the lagoon (a flat area along the coast flooded by water during winter) halophilous formations result. The dominant species in this area are: Limonium sinuatum, L. vulgare, Juncus heldreichianus, Juncus acutus, Phragmites austalis, Sarcopoterium spinosum and species of the genus Tamarix. During the last decades the area of Alyki has developed to an importand wetland. It must be mentioned that the typical plant species of habitat type 9320 are in the form of shrubs. |
