| Summary: | The historical Hevsel Gardens in Diyarbakır, Turkey, was registered as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in 2015. The biodiversity of the habitats was revealed by compiling the inventory obtained from the field studies in the Hevsel Gardens, and its surroundings, including the Tigris River between 2002-2021, and from the literature containing studies conducted in the region. The results indicate that there are 607 species of flora including phytoplankton-phytobenthos and plants and 635 species of animals consisting of invertebrates (352 species), fish (27 species), amphibians (3 species), reptiles (15 species), birds (215 species) and mammals (23 species). The records revealed the following species under different threatened categories of IUCN at a global scale and The Red Book of Turkish Plants for endemic Plants: Vicia esdraelonensis (VU) and Trifolium aintabense (NT) from plants; Leguminaia wheatleyi (NT), Unio mancus (NT) from Mollusca; Oedipoda aurea (NT) from Insecta; Arabibarbus grypus (VU), Carasobarbus kosswigi (VU), Luciobarbus esocinus (VU) from Fish; Testudo graeca (VU) and Rafetus euphraticus (EN) from reptiles; Oxyura leucocephala (EN), Falco cherrug (EN), Aythya ferina (VU), Streptopelia turtur (VU), Otis tarda (VU), Falco vespertinus (VU), Pelecanus crispus (NT), Aythya nyroca (NT), Vanellus vanellus (NT), Limosa limosa (NT), and Numenius arquata (NT) from birds; Vormela peregusna (VU) and Lutra lutra (NT) from mammals. The factors threatening the area have been revealed and discussed in the paper. For the sustainable conservation of rich biodiversity, it is recommended that this region of the Tigris River and Hevsel Gardens should be protected within the scope of “Qualified Nature Protection Areas”. © Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2022. We would like to thank Archaeologist Nevin Soyukaya, the coordinator of <https://diyarbakirhafizasi.org/>, who encouraged us to construct this study to contribute to the protection of Hevsel gardens. We are most grateful to Prof Anilava Kaviraj ...
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