Alberto L. Teixido - PhD - Around the world

Greece (Jun 2025)

From top to the bottom: coastal dune vegetation dominated by a mixed Turban juniper (Juniperus turbinata) and Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) shrubland, with common myrtle (Myrtus communis), Cretan maple (Acer sempervirens), pink rock-rose (Cistus creticus, middle photo) and thorny legumes (Calicotome villosa and Genista acanthoclada) in Navarino Bay in SW Peloponnese. Mixed oak forests (Quercus cerris, Q. coccifera, Q. pubescens) with Cornelain cherry (Cornus mas), manna ash (Fraxinus ornus) and Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) in Meteora, a rock formation in Thessaly, NW Greece.

Pindus mountain mixed forests and Vikos Gorge with beech (Fagus sylvatica), oaks (Quercus cerris, Q. frainetto, Q. pubescens, Q. trojana), mapples (Acer campestre, A. monspessulanum), horbeams (Carpinus betulus, C. orientalis, Ostrya carpinifolia) and the Balkan endemic buckthorn Frangula rupestris, with isolated Bulgarian fir (Abies x borisii-regis, photo), Crimean pine (Pinus nigra subsp. pallasiana) and foetid juniper (Juniperus foetidissima). Below, different valleys on Mt Olympus (2917 masl). Lower valleys with holm oak (Quercus ilex), bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), Greek strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachne) and European yew (Taxus baccata). Higher valleys with mixed decidous forests interspersed with Greek fir (Abies cephalonica) and Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii).

Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania - Romania (Jun 2024)

Mixed forests with European silver fir (Abies alba), European spruce (Picea abies), European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and mapples (Acer pseudoplatanus) in Apuseni mountains, Apuseni National Park, between 1200 and 1700 masl. Flowerheads of the yellow thistle (Cirsium erisithales).

From top to the bottom: native mixed forests across the Transfăgărășan, which has earned its reputation as “the most beautiful road in the world". A female of brown bear (Ursus arctos) with its cub. Bâlea falls and Bâlea lake (2100 masl). Poenari Castle (13th century), which was a home of Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Dracula) during the mid-15th century.

Mt Etna Volcano, Sicily - Italy (Jun 2023)

Mixed forests with ancient beeches (Fagus sylvatica) and other decidious trees as the chestnut (Castanea sativa), European aspen (Populus tremula), and endemic species of mapples (Acer obtusatum subsp. atnense) and oaks (Quercus congesta and Q. dalechampii) on lava flows in mounts Pomiciaro and Zoccolaro, between 1400 and 1750 masl, wherein the southernmost beech forests in the world occur.

Mixed relict forest with two endemic trees, the Mount Etna birch (Betula aetnensis) and the Calabrian black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. calabrica) on the black lava flows in the ascent to Monti Sartorius (1777 masl). Humid mixed forests with a diversity of deciduous and evergreen oaks (Quercus cerris, Q. congesta, Q. dalechampii, Q. ilex) together with mapples (Acer campestre, A. obtusatum subsp. atnense, A. pseudoplatanus), hazels (Corylus avellana), chestnuts (Castanea sativa) and European hop-hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia), that occur at lower altitudes.

Andes and Patagonia - Argentina (Jul-Aug 2018).

From the top to the bottom: Arrayán (Luma apiculata) forest, hummingbird-pollinated flowers of quintral (Tristerix corymbosus), a marsupial-dispersed endemic shrub, Andino-Patagonian mixed forests of ciprés (Australocedrus chilensis) and coigüe (Nothofagus dombeyi), and mixed forest of coigüe and lenga (Nothofagus pumilio, deciduous).

Valdivian temperate rainforest in P.N. Nahuel Huapi dominated by coigüe (Nothofagus dombeyi), alerce or lahuán (Fitzroya cupressoides) and mañío hembra (Saxegothaea conspicua). Below, the Perito Moreno Glacier and the sorrounding Andino-Patagonian mixed forests of guindo (Nothofagus betuloides, evergreen) and ñire (N. antarctica, deciduous).

Pantanal - Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul - Jan 2017).

Tuiuiú (Jabiru mycteria), jacaré (Caiman yacare) hatchlings, camalote (Eichhornia crassipes) flowers and camalote with vitória-régia (Victoria amazonica).

Iguaçu/Iguazú National Park - Brazil and Argentina (Aug 2016).

Left: Argentinian and Brazilian falls. Right: mixed rain forests with Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia) and the tree fern Dicksonia sellowiana (Paraná, Brasil).

Sweden (Aug-Dec 2011).

From top left to bottom right: in the Arctic Circle, a Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest and on a frozen lake in Jokkmokk; Empetrum nigrum, Betula nana and a mixed taiga with Betula alba and Picea abies in Sarek National Park.

Australia and New Zealand (Jul-Aug 2011).

Eastern red kangaroos (Macropus giganteus ), koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), temperate rain forests with giant mountain ashes (Eucalyptus regnans) and the arborescent Dicksonia antarctica, and the Twelve Apostles (Great Ocean Road, Melbourne).

The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains National Park and shrublands and mixed temperate forest with several eucalypts species with Angophora costata, Livistona australis, Banksia integrifolia, Acacia longifolia.

Black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus), tropical rainforest and mangroove in Daintree National Park (Port Douglas). Below, after snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), lotus flower (Nelumbo nucifera), savanna ecosystems and Jim Jim falls during the dry season (Kakadu National Park, Darwin).

From top to bottom: Tane Mahuta ("Lord of the Forest" in Māori), an individual of kauri (Agathis australis), considered one of the most ancient trees on the Earth (Waipoua National Park, New Zealand). Mixed forests with the silver fern (Cyathea dealbata) and mixed podacarp forest with tree ferns (Whirinaki Conservation Park, New Zealand).

Southern beech (Nothofagus spp) forest, diverse and colourful landscapes and valleys of Nothofagus, Libocedrus and Phyllocladus with the two active volcanic mountains, Ngauruhoe ("Mount Doom" in the "Lord of the Rings" movies) and Ruapehu, with snow-capped peaks during the winter (Tongariro National Park, New Zealand).

Alps - France and Switzerland (Aug 2010).

Glaciers and mixed forests of Betula alba and Picea abies on Mont Blanc (4,810 m) slopes, European larch (Larix decidua) in Col des Montets and glacier retreat in Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m; Chamonix, France).

Slopes with dwarf mountainpine (Pinus mugo), patches of Swiss pine (Pinus cembra), sunset on the north face of Eiger (3,970 m; Grindewald, Switzerland) and the Matterhorn/Cervino (4,478 m; Zermatt, Switzerland).

Morocco (Jul 2008 - Photos: Helios Sainz Ollero).

Cedar native to the Atlas mountains, Cedrus atlantica, in the Rif; Juniperus thurifera in Col de Zad; Fraxinus dimorfa in Aguelmane of Sidi Ali; Juniperus phoenicea and J. oxycedrus in Tizi n' Talrhemt.

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) in Ziz Gorges; the dunes of Erg Chebbi in the Sahara desert; Astragalus bombo in Erg Chebbi; flowering of Euphorbia resinifera in Oued el Abid gorges.