Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate
Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) are located today in southwestern Australia, the Cape Region of South Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, California, and central Chile. These MTEs possess the highest levels of plant species richness in the world outside of the wet tropics. These ecosystems include...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Annual Reviews
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51126 |
| _version_ | 1848758621514498048 |
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| author | Rundel, P. Arroyo, M. Cowling, R. Keeley, J. Lamont, Byron Vargas, P. |
| author_facet | Rundel, P. Arroyo, M. Cowling, R. Keeley, J. Lamont, Byron Vargas, P. |
| author_sort | Rundel, P. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) are located today in southwestern Australia, the Cape Region of South Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, California, and central Chile. These MTEs possess the highest levels of plant species richness in the world outside of the wet tropics. These ecosystems include a variety of vegetation structures that range from the iconic mediterranean-type shrublands to deciduous and evergreen woodlands, evergreen forests, and herblands and grasslands. Sclerophyll vegetation similar to today's mediterranean-type shrublands was already present on oligotrophic soils in the wet and humid climate of the Cretaceous, with fire-adapted Paleogene lineages in southwestern Australia and the Cape Region. The novel mediterranean-type climate (MTC) seasonality present since the middle Miocene has allowed colonization of MTEs from a regional species pool with associated diversification. Fire persistence has been a primary driving factor for speciation in four of the five regions. Understanding the regional patterns of plant species diversity among the MTEs involves complex interactions of geologic and climatic histories for each region as well as ecological factors that have promoted diversification in the Neogene and Quaternary. A critical element of species richness for many MTE lineages has been their ability to speciate and persist at fine spatial scales, with low rates of extinction. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:46:54Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-51126 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:46:54Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Annual Reviews |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-511262017-09-13T15:34:51Z Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate Rundel, P. Arroyo, M. Cowling, R. Keeley, J. Lamont, Byron Vargas, P. Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) are located today in southwestern Australia, the Cape Region of South Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, California, and central Chile. These MTEs possess the highest levels of plant species richness in the world outside of the wet tropics. These ecosystems include a variety of vegetation structures that range from the iconic mediterranean-type shrublands to deciduous and evergreen woodlands, evergreen forests, and herblands and grasslands. Sclerophyll vegetation similar to today's mediterranean-type shrublands was already present on oligotrophic soils in the wet and humid climate of the Cretaceous, with fire-adapted Paleogene lineages in southwestern Australia and the Cape Region. The novel mediterranean-type climate (MTC) seasonality present since the middle Miocene has allowed colonization of MTEs from a regional species pool with associated diversification. Fire persistence has been a primary driving factor for speciation in four of the five regions. Understanding the regional patterns of plant species diversity among the MTEs involves complex interactions of geologic and climatic histories for each region as well as ecological factors that have promoted diversification in the Neogene and Quaternary. A critical element of species richness for many MTE lineages has been their ability to speciate and persist at fine spatial scales, with low rates of extinction. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51126 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-121415-032330 Annual Reviews restricted |
| spellingShingle | Rundel, P. Arroyo, M. Cowling, R. Keeley, J. Lamont, Byron Vargas, P. Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title | Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title_full | Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title_fullStr | Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title_short | Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate |
| title_sort | mediterranean biomes: evolution of their vegetation, floras, and climate |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51126 |