What’s a "Mediterranean" habitat, anyway?

• Only five places on Earth have "Mediterranean" habitats: the Mediterranean Sea Basin, southern Australia, coastal California and northern Baja California, the central coast of Chile and the western cape of South Africa.
• All of these places have similar climates and vegetation — hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters, and arid grasslands, shrub lands and woodlands.
• With its abundant sun, rich soils for agricultural products, and high quality of life, Mediterranean regions have become the most cherished places worldwide to settle, develop, and to live — causing a degree and pace of destruction not seen in any other major habitat type on earth.

OK, but why are they so important ecologically?

• Mediterranean habitats harbor a full 20 percent of all known vascular plant species (those with roots, stems and leaves) — yet they take up just 2.2 percent of the Earth’s land mass.
• Mediterranean habitat in California — fully 50 percent of the state — supports 4,300 plant species, 35 percent of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Why should we be worried about Mediterranean regions?

• Every global conservation analysis considers Mediterranean ecosystems to be of highest priority for protection — yet only 5 percent are protected. More than 41 percent of Mediterranean habitats has been converted for farmland and urban development.
• The proportion of habitat being destroyed in Mediterranean regions is greater than that of tropical rainforests. For every acre of rainforest saved, two have been lost to conversion or development. For every acre of Mediterranean habitat saved, eight acres have been lost.
• 93 percent of Mediterranean forests, woodland and scrub are suffering from significantly altered fire dymanics, according to a 2007 global fire assessment sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.
• Population and tourism pressures on these habitats are large and growing. For instance, California’s population is expected to grow by 30 percent from 2000 to 2015, reaching a total of 42 million. And 260 million tourists visit the Mediterranean Basin annually — a number that’s expected to climb to 350 million by 2020.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Douglas Steakley (coastal oak, California); © iStockPhoto.com (King Protea flower, Australia).