Mediterranean SOS

 

Mediterranean SOS: California
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The classic Mediterranean climate—hot, desertlike summers and cool, wet winters — is what gives Mediterranean habitats their incredible plant diversity. That climate spawns all kinds of adaptations, such as abandoning aboveground life altogether when things get hot, as the California poppy (above) does.

But the scrubby appearance of these landscapes has led people to overlook their natural values: A 2005 study found that the proportion of habitat destroyed in the world’s Mediterranean regions is far greater than in the world’s rainforests.

Go Deeper

Saving Mediterranean Habitats Worldwide

The Conservancy’s Rebecca Shaw, director of conservation science in California, answers questions about what makes mediterranean habitats so special and what we can do to protect them.


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California and Baja California:
North America’s Mediterranean

The California/Baja California region supports more plant species than are found in Canada and the central and northeastern United States combined, which together are 10 times its size. It also harbors more human life than any other Mediterranean region: Although California’s Mediterranean areas cover just 1 percent of the United States, they contain 10 percent of the population.

But do Californians appreciate the more than 4,300 species of native plants that grace their Mediterranean landscapes?

“A lot of people think they’re ugly,” says the Conservancy’s Lisa Van Cleef. But, she insists, that’s only because people don’t realize how amazing the plants are.

In every Mediterranean climate, she says, plants use the same distinct set of strategies to survive: “Silver-colored leaves, tiny leaves, leaves that stand upright instead of lying down gracefully,” she says. “It’s all to keep the sun from drying the plants out. It’s the plant version of crawling under a rock.”

Once people understand more about the Mediterranean climate and the botanical variety it spawns, they begin to appreciate it. “I say things like, ‘It never rains in summer,’ to people and I see this light bulb go on over their heads,” she says. “You can see them begin to have a sense of pride about our rain patterns. We’re here in California, but we’re connected to Italy, Crete, Tunisia—we all share this rare Mediterranean climate.”

California and Baja California | Australia |  Mediterranean Basin | South Africa | Chile
 
Mediterranean Habitats: Lovely, Rare — and Endangered » 

Nature picture credits: Map © XNR Productions; Photo © Ian Shive (Poppies)

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