**2. Diagnosis**

Typical scrub formations of the pre-desert climate are characterized by the presence of thorny, intricate species with leaves of small size and that are often deciduous. These types of vegetation are controlled by climatological factors such as the absence of frost, the water deficit during the dry season (high temperatures and absence of precipitation), mild annual average temperatures, and high solar radiation throughout the year [8]. The cases with greater development correspond to communities characterized by several strata of shrubs, bushes, and herbaceous species, dominated by shrubs up to 3 m high, thorny and impenetrable, which are often aggregated forming islands of vegetation (**Figure 1**). Taxa of tropical-subtropical origin or relicts of past climatic conditions, such as *Z. lotus*, *G. senegalensis*, *P. laevigata* subsp. *angustifolia*, etc., dominate them.

They develop below 300 m elevation, in semiarid and frost-free environments, on various types of substrates, although with preference for limestone, occupying depressions, riverbeds, and sporadic water flow zones, where the roots of these large shrubs could get water [9, 10].

**13**

*Intensive Habitat Loss in South Spain: Arborescent Scrubs with* Ziziphus *(5220\*)*

These plant communities are very interesting for the surrounding fauna and flora, since they can create in their interior a microenvironment that contrasts with the dry and torrid conditions of the external environment, providing refuge and food to reptiles, rodents, and birds, among other groups, as well as favorable nursing processes for a number of plant species [11]. This nursing effect could be due the protection that larger plants provide against browsing of livestock or the favorable microclimatic and edaphic conditions that they promote, as it has been documented to happen in other plant communities of arid and semiarid ecosystems [11–13].

This habitat is distributed through the Mediterranean Basin. In the European context, it has been inventoried in 55 Natura 2000 sites from three countries, where there are populations of species that characterize it [2]. In Cyprus, it covers an area larger than 113 ha distributed in 11 natural areas, and worthy of note is the presence of this habitat in Italy [14], which appears very locally (1.56 ha) and exclusively in three areas of Sicily, and in some surrounding smaller islands. On the contrary, in Spain, the habitat is more widely distributed and occupies more than 12,900 ha (**Table 1**). It presents in Andalucia, mainly to the south and east of the province of Almeria [15], and in more or less specific zones of the coast of the provinces of Granada and Malaga [4]. In addition, this habitat occupies the southern part of the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community, in locations clearly exposed to

**Site code Country Natura 2000 site Cover [ha]** CY2000002 Cyprus Alykos Potamos—Agios Sozomenos 2.78 CY2000003 Cyprus Periochi Mitserou—Agrokipias 4.65 CY2000006 Cyprus Dasos Pafou 0.36 CY2000008 Cyprus Koilada Kedron—Kampos 91.29 CY2000010 Cyprus Koilada Potamou Maroullenas 0.36 CY2000011 Cyprus Potamos Peristeronas 0.19 CY3000002 Cyprus Spa Kavo Gkreko 0.01 CY3000005 Cyprus Kavo Gkreko 9.38 CY4000013 Cyprus Faros Kato Pafou 0.43 CY6000003 Cyprus Periochi Lympion—Agias Annas 2.58 CY6000006 Cyprus Ethniko Dasiko Parko Rizoelias 1.29 ES0000045 Spain Sierra Alhamilla 111.00 ES0000046 Spain Cabo de Gata-Níjar 4024.27 ES0000047 Spain Desierto de Tabernas 429.00 ES0000048 Spain Punta Entinas-Sabinar 2.62 ES0000199 Spain Sierra de la Fausilla 46.54 ES0000200 Spain Isla Grosa 0.15 ES0000260 Spain Mar Menor 12.44 ES0000261 Spain Almenara-Moreras-Cabo Cope 525.31

ES0000262 Spain Sierras del Gigante-Pericay, Lomas del Buitre-

Río Luchena y Sierra de la Torrecilla

5.82

marine influence and other inland territories (**Figure 2**) [16].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85286*

**3. Distribution**

*Intensive Habitat Loss in South Spain: Arborescent Scrubs with* Ziziphus *(5220\*) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85286*

These plant communities are very interesting for the surrounding fauna and flora, since they can create in their interior a microenvironment that contrasts with the dry and torrid conditions of the external environment, providing refuge and food to reptiles, rodents, and birds, among other groups, as well as favorable nursing processes for a number of plant species [11]. This nursing effect could be due the protection that larger plants provide against browsing of livestock or the favorable microclimatic and edaphic conditions that they promote, as it has been documented to happen in other plant communities of arid and semiarid ecosystems [11–13].
