Documenting, analysing and managing the animal biodiversity in the Middle East – a challenge for the future

It is with great pleasure that I present this special issue of ZooKeys: the Proceedings of the First International Congress on “Documenting, Analysing and Managing Biodiversity in the Middle East”, which was held on October 20th–23rd, 2008 in Aqaba, Jordan. Th is conference was a great success, and the Organising Committee received an overwhelmingly positive response from the participants, with many of them asking about the date of the next congress. Th e variety of subjects addressed in scientifi c talks, poster sessions, workshops and round-table discussions was amazingly broad and refl ected the outstanding wealth of the Middle East in both, biota and habitats. A tremendous need of free communication, exchange of expertise, knowledge, biological specimens, etc. became obvious. Right from the onset, the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress and the Proceedings were conceived as a communication platform. Th e Proceedings presented here mirror the variety of biodiversity-related subjects being studied throughout the Middle East. In the fi eld of zoology, they range from basic invertebrates like marine fl atworms to various groups of vertebrates. All articles published in this volume attest the great amount of work still needed to produce an authoritative documentation of the biodiversity of the area, and it is our serious hope that the Congress and its Proceedings will stimulate and intensify future eff orts at documenting this unique environment and its fl oral and faunal inhabitants. ZooKeys 31: 1–2 (2009)