Professional Documents
Culture Documents
06 Mediterranean
06 Mediterranean
06 Mediterranean
Distribution
Climate
Soils
Vegetation types
Ecophysiology
Fire ecology
The “Ruined Landscape” hypothesis
Mediterranean landscape I
Mediterranean landscape II
Mediterranean and mediterraneoid
ecosystems
H H
H H H
Mediterranean climates
H
January
H
H
H
H
Mediterranean Basin precipitation
Feb.
July
mm/day
beech -
oak forest
sub-Mediterranean
1500
(=humid)
deciduous oak
- pine forest
800
evergreen oak - pine Mediterranean
woodland (=subhumid)
400
semiarid grassland - Mediterranean
macchia (=semiarid)
0
Montane pine forest,
central Corsica
Evergreen oak forest,
Mt Athos, N. Greece
2
3
1 1. Adenostoma
fasciculatum
2. Heteromeles
arbutifolia
3. Ceanothus verrucosus
4. Quercus dumosa
5. Cneroridium dumosum
5 Dumos = ‘a bramble’
4
Chaparral/maquis plants
Common features:
• microphylly (=small leaves)
• sclerophylly (= hard “leathery”
leaves with waxy surfaces)
• aromatic foliage (herbs and
spices)
• woody stems
• deep root systems
Plant seasonality
rainfall drought
Water acquisition
Water conservation strategies
1 upper
Sclerophyll 2
3
leaf anatomy A
lower
C
A Ceanothus gloriosus [CA]
B Banksia marginata [Aus.]
A Nerium oleander [Med.]
Plants of the coastal sage (CA)
Sclerophyllous
woodland with broad- Sclerophyllous Sclerophyllous
leaved deciduous shrubland: shrubland:
trees along streams. small trees <8 m small shrubs
Trees <30 m high; often dense <1 m high
Increasing disturbance?
Vegetation - climate
relations, California
Community- environment
interactions in shrublands
Thick litter buildup in
mature chaparral
Wildfire in the chapparral
Burnt chaparral
Post-fire
soil erosion
e.g. sediment
yield after
1989 Mt.
Carmel [CA]
forest fire
Fire and slope stability in southern
California chaparral: links to the
ENSO cycle
El Niño La Niña La Niña normal
(winter) (winter) (summer) (winter)
s
flow
d
mu
yer and
la s
ic de
h ob sli
r op
d
hy
e.g. 1997-8 1998-9 1999* 1999-2000
shrubs
perennial
‘fire annuals’
Oak
woods
maquis
semi-phrygana semi-desert
phrygana
Based on Pantis, J.D. and Mardiris, T.A. 1992. Israel J. Bot., 41, 233-242 [Fig. 2]
maquis-phrygana mosaic (Crete)
Grazing intensity
Data: Pantis, J.D. and Mardiris, T.A. 1992. Israel J. Bot., 41, 233-242 [Table 3]
Grazing and fire effects on
Mediterranean vegetation - palatability
Palatability
according to
local shepherds
Data: Pantis, J.D. and Mardiris, T.A. 1992. Israel J. Bot., 41, 233-242 [Table 3]
Deforestation in the Middle East and
Mediterranean world: the legacy of Gilgamesh
Jerf-el-Ahmar
archaeological site
N. Syria;
~11,600 years old
Deforestation in the
9970±100
Ghab valley, NW Syria
12890±160
pi
n es
cedar
deciduous
oaks
evergreen oaks
olive
73/74, 127-
Quat. Inter.
Clearance at Sögöt,
S.Turkey
Clearance of oak
woodlands for
pasture,
subsistence
agriculture and
arboriculture
above: subsistence
farming (Andalucia)
left: Olives (Jaen)
Critias 111B
North South
Holocene valley fills
in Greece