DEV BIO 232 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Fire Regime, Sclerophyll, Shrubland

68 views3 pages

Document Summary

Mediterranean climate ecosystems are characterized by mild, rainy winters and warm, dry summers with an extended drought. The classic mediterranean climate regime is a predictable summer drought, and only at the margins do winter months have mean low temperatures below freezing. The characteristic plant growth forms include evergreen sclerophyll or deciduous woodlands, and evergreen sclerophyll shrublands. The characteristic fire regime: fires are natural events in most mediterranean climate ecosystems; however, there are distinctly different forms of fire regimes with respect to vegetation. Successional processes occur after fires in mediterranean climate shrublands (four slides) There is globally significant biodiversity in the five mtes. Mediterranean climate regions comprise a little over 2: medit. = 58,000 sq. miles: south africa = 27,000 sq. miles. Assuming 300,000 world plant species: california = 4,976 native species, central chile 3,500 species, medit. Basin = 25,000 species: south africa = 8,800 species, sw australia = 5,500 species.