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    Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Rundel, P.
    Arroyo, M.
    Cowling, R.
    Keeley, J.
    Lamont, Byron
    Vargas, P.
    Date
    2016
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    Rundel, P. and Arroyo, M. and Cowling, R. and Keeley, J. and Lamont, B. and Vargas, P. 2016. Mediterranean Biomes: Evolution of Their Vegetation, Floras, and Climate. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 47: pp. 383-407.
    Source Title
    Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
    DOI
    10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-121415-032330
    ISSN
    1543-592X
    Faculty
    Faculty of Science and Engineering
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51126
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    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.

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