Diversity of Alpine Vertebrates in the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, Spain

Abstract

There are over 250 mountains surpassing 2000 m in 25 ranges of the five main mountain systems of the Iberian Peninsula, the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian, Iberic, Central and Betic Systems. The Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada are the most important for their alpine zone. They are representative of the other three systems and, in addition, they include the two highest mountains of the peninsula (Aneto 3404 m and Mulhacén 3483 m) that are also the highest in Europe outside the Alps and the Caucasus. These mountain systems are contrasting because the Pyrenees in the north of Spain have an alpine zone, similar to those of other European mountains belonging to the euro-Siberian domain, while the Sierra Nevada in the south belongs to the Mediterranean domain, and the zone above the climatic treeline is referred to as cryoroMediterranean (Rivas Martinez et al. 1987). All the remaining mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula may be considered intermediate between these.