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The striped hyena is the largest living omnivorous scavenger in SW Asia. It generally lives in semi-arid desert steppe regions, often denning in small caves, rock shelters, and burrows close to human settlements. Bone fragments of wild and domestic animals and desiccated scats are frequently found in the hyena dens. In this study, eight striped hyena desiccated scats were subjected to pollen analysis. All scats were rich in pollen and the exine was well-preserved with no visible sign of corrosion. Pollen spectra revealed interesting information on the regional and local vegetation, as well as the foraging behavior and diet of the animal. They reflected an array of different landscapes ranging from natural/semi-natural xerophytic desert steppes, agricultural fields, and grazing pastures. Some scats contained certain pollen taxa very rarely observed in wetland sediments, indicating the high potential of hyena "copropalynology"in providing detailed information on the past floristic composition of the landscape. When comparing with archeobotanical data from the area, the hyena scat assemblages show that the general physiognomy of the landscape has remained almost unchanged since the 6th millennium B.C., with only minor changes in the composition or density of the woody components of the desert steppe. As most of the Holocene fossil coprolites in archeological and paleontological sites of SW Asia would have been left by striped hyena, the study of the modern analogs of such accumulations in extant hyena dens is helpful to correctly interpret the fossil faunal assemblages to reconstruct the paleolandscapes, land-use change, and animal paleoethology.

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The Saharo–Sindian regional zone encompasses the flat and arid areas of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, southern Iran and the deserts of Pakistan and west India. There are some scattered mountains situated within this area, like Hoggar in Sahara, Saint Catherine in Sinai and Genu and Homag in southern Iran. These highlands serve as interglacial refugia for cold adapted plant species. In the present study, phytogeographical patterns and relationships of the flora of Genu and Homag mountains are described and discussed in relation to the phytogeography of the flora of low‐lying Hormoz Island. According to a chorological assesment of the flora, Genu and Homag mountains belong to the Irano–Turanian region with 59% of the species restricted to this area. In contrast, the surrounding lowland plains are part of the Saharo–Sindian area with a rather high proportion of widespread species (17%) and Somalia–Masai‐linking elements (20%). It is noteworthy that several Turanian enclaves also occur in the lowland zone. Furthermore, the distributional patterns imply that the mountainous Irano–Turkestanian region is an integrated area which is supposedly distinct from the Turanian lowland areas in the north and from the Saharo–Sindian lowland areas in the south. On the other hand, the expansive floras of Turanian and Saharo–Sindian regions are linked to each other. Endemic species in lowland areas in south Iran are mostly either frost sensitive vicariants of cold adapted Turanian species or of Saharo–Sindian origin, while the highland endemics in the area trace their origins to the Irano–Turkestanian region.