The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the northeast by Syria, the east by Jordan and the West Bank, and to the southwest by Egypt. To the west of Israel is the Mediterranean Sea, which makes up the majority of Israel's 273 km (170 mi) coastline, and the Gaza Strip. Israel has a small coastline on the Red Sea in the south.
Muğla Province is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its area is 12,654 km2, and its population is 1,048,185 (2022). Its seat is Muğla, about 20 km (12 mi) inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, are on the coast in Muğla.
Lake Maracaibo is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or semi-enclosed bay connected to the Gulf of Venezuela. With a surface area of 13,512 km2 (5,217 sq mi), if counted as a lake it would be the largest in South America, ahead of Lake Titicaca, as well as one of the oldest lakes on Earth, having formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains.
Köyceğiz is a municipality and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,329 km2, and its population is 39,242 (2022).
June Haimoff (MBE) was an English environmentalist who lived in Dalyan in the Turkish province of Muğla. In the period from 1984 to 1988 she and fellow-environmentalists such as David Bellamy, Lily Venizelos, Günther Peter, Nergis Yazgan and Keith Corbett launched a successful campaign to preserve İztuzu Beach as a habitat for the endangered loggerhead turtle. This beach is one of the main nesting places of the species in Turkey and the Mediterranean.
Kaunos was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few kilometres west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey.
Dalyan is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Ortaca, Muğla Province, Turkey. Its population is 5,829 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde). It is located between Marmaris and Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey.
Liquidambar orientalis, commonly known as oriental sweetgum or Turkish sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus Liquidambar, native to the eastern Mediterranean region, that occurs as pure stands mainly in the floodplains of southwestern Turkey and on the Greek island of Rhodes.
İztuzu Beach is a 4.5 km long beach near Dalyan, in the Ortaca district of the Province of Muğla in southwestern Turkey. The beach is a narrow spit of land, which forms a natural barrier between the fresh water delta of the Dalyan river and the Mediterranean. It is one of the main breeding grounds for loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean and is therefore often referred to as Turtle Beach. The loggerhead turtle is on the IUCN Red list of endangered animals. For this reason the beach has had a protected status since 1988 and is part of the Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area.
Akyatan Lagoon is a 14700-hectare wetland ecosystem that is designated as Wetland of International Importance by Ramsar Convention. A major stopover for migrating birds, Akyatan is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. It is the single largest green turtle rookery at the Mediterranean, holding 43% of the Mediterranean nesting population.
The Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area is a protected natural reserve in the Turkish province of Muğla. In June 1988 it was determined and declared the first protected area of its kind of Turkey. In 1990 the original SPA area was extended westwards. Up to now, there are fourteen natural reserves with this status, of which Pamukkale is probably the best-known. All these areas are under the supervision of the ÖÇKK, the Turkish Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas.
The Özel Çevre Koruma Kurumu, is the Turkish authority for protecting Special Protection Areas. It was established in 1988 by a decree of the Turkish Cabinet and initially placed under direct supervision of the prime minister. In English it may be referred to as EPASA, short for Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas.
Sultaniye is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Köyceğiz, Muğla Province, Turkey. Its population is 265 (2022). It is on Lake Köyceğiz, and popular among spa bathers and tourists. Its bath ruin was restored in the 1990s, to be turned into a major tourist attraction.
The Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests is an ecoregion in the lands around the Aegean Sea. The ecoregion covers most of mainland Greece, the Greek Aegean Islands, the western coast of Turkey, the southern Vardar river valley in North Macedonia, the southern Struma river valley at the extreme south-western corner of Bulgaria.
Marmaris National Park, established on 30 January 1996, is a national park in southwestern coast of Turkey. The national park is located in Marmaris district of Muğla Province.
Knipowitschia byblisia, the Byblis goby, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Gobiidae which is endemic to Lake Köycegiz in western Anatolia near the Aegean Sea. The lake is protected and the species is abundant within the lake so the IUCN have classified K. byblis as Least Concern. The specific name references the mythological figure Byblis, who was the twin sister of Caunos, the legendary founder of the ancient city Kaunos, the ruins of which are situated on the southwest Anatolian coast; near to Lake Köycegiz.
Knipowitschia caunosi, the Caunos goby or Köycegiz dwarf goby, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Gobiidae which is endemic to Lake Köycegiz in western Anatolia near the Aegean Sea. The lake is protected and the species is abundant within the lake so the IUCN have classified K. caunosi as Least Concern. The specific name references the mythological figure Caunos, who was the twin sister of Byblis, in legend his sister fell in love with him and he fled to avoid committing incest, founding the ancient city Kaunos in Caria, the ruins of which are situated on the southwest Anatolian coast; near to Lake Köycegiz.
Korission Lagoon is a coastal lagoon located in the southern part of the Greek island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea. It is located near the village of Agios Mattheos and is separated from the sea by Chalikouna Beach. It has a surface area of 427 ha and it drains into the sea through a channel which bisects Chalikouna Beach. The lagoon was created by the sand dunes that cut the lake's basin off from the sea between 140,000 and 250,000 years ago.
The wildlife of Greece includes the diverse flora, fauna, and funga of Greece, a country in southern Europe. The country is mostly mountainous with a very long, convoluted coastline, consisting of peninsulas and many islands. The climate ranges from Mediterranean through temperate to alpine, and the habitats include mountains, hills, forests, rivers, lakes, coasts and cultivated land.
Lily Venizelos is a Greek conservationist.
