Laura Tydecks, Jonathan Jeschke, Christiane Zarfl, Katrin Boehning-gaese, Brigitta Schütt, Vanessa Bremerich, Klement Tockner

The diversity of life sensu lato comprises both biological and cultural diversity, described as “biocultural diversity”. Similar to plant and animal species, cultures and languages are threatened by extinction, too. Since drylands are pivotal systems for nature and people alike, we use oases in the Sahara Desert as model systems for examining patterns and trends of biocultural diversity. We identify both the underlying drivers of diversity and the potential proxies that are fundamental to understand reciprocal linkages between biological and cultural diversity in oases. In the case of oases in Algeria, we test current indices describing and quantifying biocultural diversity, and identify their limitations. Finally, we discuss follow-up research questions to better understand the underlying mechanisms that control the coupling and decoupling of biological and cultural diversity in oases.