The Country as a Biological Region
Though a small country comparable in size to Indiana, the biological importance of Jordan, arising from its topographic and climatic diversity and location proximate to three major biomes, is hard to overstate. From the Dead Sea Rift Valley at 300 m below sea level, there is a steep and dramatic ascent to between 1,250 and 1,650 m and then a gradual descent toward Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The climate of the most densely settled parts of Jordan is typically Mediterranean but of the driest type, with precipitation concentrated in winter months while the summers are hot and dry. Much of the Jordan Valley is sub-tropical, but 86% of Jordan is steppe and desert and 14% is Mediterranean shrub and woodland, the majority of which is devoted to agriculture and settlement.
Karak Plateau
Significantly, Jordan is in a transitional zone between three of the world’s major biomes. The Mediterranean biome is European and characterized by such species as European roe and red deer, squirrels, wolves and European foxes and rabbits. The Irono-Turanian biome is Asiatic and characterized by Asiatic species of rodents, Asiatic lions and antelope. The Saharo-Indian biome is essentially African and is characterized by such species as hyena, ostrich and cheetah. The result, in Jordan, is a mixing of species generally separated by continents.
Several characteristics of Jordan’s history and sociopolitical condition profoundly affect its ability to create and care for nature reserves. First, significant archaeological sites are ubiquitous and coincide predictably with biologically important sites. In Jordan, the management of antiquities and wildlife are inseparably linked. Second is Jordan’s long history of human settlement from Paleolithic hunting and gathering societies to modern urbanized societies all of which have altered habitats, generally to the detriment of fauna. Third, Jordan has had to steer a difficult, and sometimes unsuccessful, course through a maze of geopolitical turmoil that has often distracted it from important domestic issues, including conservation.
Wadi Rum in southern Jordan