Mediterranean ecosystemsDistributionClimateSoilsVegetation typesEcophysiologyFire ecologyThe “Ruined Landscape” hypothesis

Mediterranean landscape I

Mediterranean landscape II

Mediterranean and mediterraneoid ecosystems

Only 2% of land area but ~20% of plant species;30° - 35° latitude; west side of continents

Plant communities, El Torcal, Andalucia,

Spain(photos: Ian Hutchinson,

June, 2007)

Medit

err

anean c

limate

s

H

H

HH

H

July

Mean ann. range (°C) 10° 16° 19°

H

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JanuaryM

edit

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Mediterranean soils(terra rossa)

A Thin mull humus forming in eroded remains of Bt horizonBtf Illuvial horizon enriched with clay and iron, has become red-coloured. High clay content renders them relatively impermeable and prone to erosion

C Parent material (commonly calcareous) but in this case composed of Palaeozoic shales

Mediterranean Basin ecosystems

Type Weeks Soil Vegetationof drought

Humid <6 Alfi/Luvisols beech-deciduousoak-pine

Subhumid 6-10 Nitosols evergreen oak- pine

Semiarid 10-25 Non-calcic desert grasslandsbrowns

Arid >25 Aridisols desert

*

Elevation - vegetation relations (e.g. southern Italy)Elev.

(m)

400

1500

Mediterranean(=subhumid)

sub-Mediterranean(=humid)

beech -oak forest

deciduous oak - pine forest

evergreen oak - pinewoodland

800

0

semiarid grassland - macchia

Mediterranean(=semiarid)

Montane pine forest, central Corsica

Evergreen oak forest, Mt Athos, N. Greece

A monastic “temple” for over 1000 years

Water acquisition

The Mediterranean as a “lost Eden”

Mediterranean vegetation: degradation to two endpoints?

Oakwoods

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

Goats at farmhouse near Antequera, Andalucia, Spain. (June 2007; photo: Dave Napthali)

Grazing and fire effects on Mediterranean vegetation

Data: Pantis, J.D. and Mardiris, T.A. 1992. Israel J. Bot., 41, 233-242 [Table 3]

Lowland pastures (Thessaly, Central Greece)

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60

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1 2 3 4 5

Vegetation association

% p

lan

t co

ver

herbaceous

woody

1. Oak woodland (Quercus coccifera)

2. Maquis (Q. coccifera-Thymus capitatus)

3. Phrygana (T. capitatus - Ballota acetabulosa)

4. Phrygana? (T. capitatus - Asphodelus aestivus)

5. Geophyte semi-desert(A. aestivus )

Vegetation association (dominants)

Grazing and fire effects on Mediterranean vegetation -

palatabilityLowland pastures (Thessaly, Central Greece)

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20

40

60

80

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1 2 3 4 5

Vegetation association

% p

lan

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ver

undesirableless desirabledesirable

Data: Pantis, J.D. and Mardiris, T.A. 1992. Israel J. Bot., 41, 233-242 [Table 3]

Palatability according to

local shepherds

Deforestation in the Middle East and Mediterranean world: the legacy of

Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh, dating from about 2700 BC, celebrates the life of the legendary Babylonian king. On the 5th clay tablet, Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu (a former “wild-man”) travel for 7 days to confront the demon Humbaba, the guardian of the great Cedar Forest. After an epic battle, Humbaba is killed. Then:“they attacked the cedars - and while Gilgamesh felled the first of the trees of the forest Enkidu cleared their roots as far as the banks of the Euphrates”.

After having felled the forest the heroes return on a cedar raft and use the tallest of the cedars to build a gate for the city of Uruk.

The legacy of Gilgamesh

Deforestation resulted from:• Wood consumption for fuel (~90% of

total?) to supply domestic hearths, baths and industrial activities; shipbuilding, and military activities. Urban centres, metallurgical refineries and potteries placed a heavy demand on local fuel (charcoal) supply.

Deforestation in Cyprus

Copper ores in Cyprus heavily exploited in Roman times, but mines functioned for about a millenium. Estimated that 5-6 M tons of charcoal (from coppice) used to fuel smelting activities. Heavy SO2

pollution may also have killed trees.

The legacy of GilgameshDeforestation resulted from:• Agricultural clearance - trees uprooted

and burned down. Ashes used for fertilizer.

• Pasturage - herdsmen cut branches to feed cattle and cut down trees to improve pasture for cattle and sheep. Pigs eat tree seeds, goats browse on young trees - combined effect is permanent deforestation

Early anthropogenic deforestation in the eastern

Mediterranean

Jerf-el-Ahmar archaeological site

N. Syria;~11,600 years old

Defo

rest

ati

on in t

he

Ghab v

alle

y, N

W S

yri

a pines

ced

ar

deci

du

ous

oaks

everg

reen

oaks

oliv

e

9970±100

12890±160Quat. Inter.73/74, 127-

Clearance at Sögöt, S.Turkey

Clearance of oak woodlands for

pasture, subsistence

agriculture and arboriculture

above: subsistence farming (Andalucia)left: Olives (Jaen)

Photos: Dave Napthali,June 2007

Initiation of land degradation in the Mediterranean basin

Goudie, A. 1992. Environmental Change. Oxford

The effects of deforestation

“what now remains compared with what then existed is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away, and only the bare framework of the land being left”

Critias 111B

On the landscape of Attica (central Greece), Plato commented:

Holo

cene v

alle

y fi

lls in G

reece

North South

Are these episodes of erosion associated with phases of climate change, or are they exclusively anthropogenic?

Soil erosion and valley filling:

e.g. Ephesus, W. Turkey

"Big fires are a predictable result of rural depopulation, land abandonment, increase of wild vegetation, modern forestry, legislation against fire, and the growth of a fire-fighting industry."

Rackham, O. 2003. Fire in the European Mediterranean. Aridlands Newsletter, No. 54, November/December

Deserted village and invading pines,western Crete (photo: Oliver Rackham, 1989)

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1850 1900 1950 2000

Pop

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y (

/km

^2

)

Rural depopulation, mountains of Aragon, Spain.

(data: Collantes, F., Pinilla, V. 2005. Rural History, 15, 149-166.)