- Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub is a temperate
biome , characterized by hot, dry summers and mild and rainy winters. Nearly all of the rainfall occurs in the winter and spring rainy season.Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub eco-regions occur in the world's five
Mediterranean climate zones, on the west coast of continents in the mid-latitudes: theMediterranean Basin ,California , CentralChile ,Southwest Australia , and theWestern Cape Province ofSouth Africa .These regions are home to a tremendous diversity of habitats and species. Vegetation types can range from
forest s towoodland s,savanna s,shrubland s, andgrassland s; "mosaic" landscapes are common, where differing vegetation types are interleaved with one another in complex patterns created by variations in soil, topography, exposure to wind and sun, and fire history. Much of the woody vegetation in Mediterranean-climate regions issclerophyll , which means 'hard-leaved' in Greek. Sclerophyll vegetation generally has small, dark leaves covered with awaxy outer layer to retain moisture in the dry summer months.Major plant communities in this biome include:
*Forest : Mediterranean forests are generally composed of broadleaf evergreen trees, such as the oak and mixed sclerophyll forests of California and the Mediterranean region, the "Eucalyptus " forests of Southwest Australia, and the "Nothofagus " forests of central Chile. Forests are often found inriparian areas, where they receive more summer water.Conifer ous forests also occur.
*Woodland : Oak woodlands are characteristic of the Mediterranean Basin and in California, along withpine woodlands and, in California,walnut woodlands.
*Savanna andgrassland : TheCalifornia Central Valley grasslands are the largest Mediterranean grassland eco-region, although these grasslands have mostly been converted to agriculture.
*Shrubland : Shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen sclerophyllshrubs and small trees, calledchaparral (California),matorral (Chile and southernSpain ), maquis (France and elsewhere around the Mediterranean),macchia (Italy),fynbos (South Africa), orkwongan (Southwest Australia). In some places shrublands are the mature vegetation type, and in other places the result of degradation of former forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing, or disturbance by major fires.
*Scrubland : Scrublands are most common near the seacoast, and are often adapted to wind and salt air off the ocean. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean are known as "garrigue " in France, "gariga" inItaly , "phrygana" inGreece , "tomillares" in Spain, and "batha" inIsrael .Northern coastal scrub andcoastal sage scrub , also known as soft chaparral, occur near the California coast;strandveld in theWestern Cape of South Africa; coastal matorral in the central Chile, and sand-heath and kwongan in Southwest Australia.Fire, both natural and human-caused, has played a large role in shaping the ecology of Mediterranean eco-regions. The hot, dry summers make much of the region prone to fires, and lightning-caused fires occur with some frequency. Many of the plants are
pyrophyte s, or fire-loving, adapted or even depending on fire for reproduction, recycling of nutrients, and the removal of dead or senescent vegetation. In both the Australian and Californian Mediterranean-climate eco-regions, native peoples used fire extensively to clear brush and trees, making way for the grasses and herbaceous vegetation that supported game animals and useful plants. The plant communities in these areas adapted to the frequent human-caused fires, and pyrophyte species grew more common and more fire-loving, while plants that were poorly adapted to fire retreated. After European colonization of these regions, fires were suppressed, which has caused someunintended consequence s in these ecoregions; fuel builds up, so that when fires do come they are much more devastating, and some species dependent on fire for their reproduction are now threatened. The European shrublands have also been shaped by anthropogenic fire, historically associated withtransromance herding of sheep and goatees.Mediterranean eco-regions are semi-arid, and often have poor soils, so they are vulnerable to degradation by human activities such as logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species. These regions are also some of the most endangered on the planet, and many eco-regions have suffered tremendous degradation and habitat loss through logging, overgrazing, conversion to agriculture, urbanization, and introduction of exotic species. The eco-regions around the Mediterranean basin have been particularly affected by degradation due to human activity, suffering extensive loss of forests and soil erosion, and many native plants and animals have become extinct or endangered.
External links
* [http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/mediterranean_forests_scrub.cfm Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands and Scrub - A Global 200 Ecoregion from WWF]
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