Recent Dynamics of the Mediterranean Vegetation and Landscape

The Mediterranean region has been shaped by human activity and mantained by traditional practices of land use for centuries. This has affected the distribution of plants and the landscape. Arising from the work undertaken as part of the ModMED research project under the Environment programme of the European Commission, this book details the rapid changes that have taken place in the vegetation of the Mediterranean during the last half-century. Unique in its focus on long term historical data and at the landscape scale, the book brings together analyses of land use and land cover change at sites throughout the Mediterranean in order to better understand the recent dynamics of the vegetation and landscape. Descriptions and explanations of observed changes are given within the context of the dynamic agricultural, ecological and soci-economic context of the countries reviewed. The initial section of the volume provides the background of vegetation state and history in the Miediterranean region while the final contributions discuss the interactions between climate and land use changes in terms of the vegetation effects. Written in a clear, standardized form, it provides both the empirical data and the analysis and interpretation required to develop the conclusions. Case studies focus on the European Mediterranean but are of value to practitioners and academics working in Mediterranean environments throughout the world. Provides an alternative view of desertification data in the Mediterranean, providing observations that contradict the notion of a region undergoing desertification. This book is valuable to postgraduates and researchers of Mediterranean ecology and ecosystems, landscape dynamics and landscape ecology. It should be found in the libraries of Departments of Geography, Ecology, Biology, Environment, Botany, Agriculture and Landscape Planning and will also be of interest to practitioners in national and local government departments of Environment, Land Use Planning and Conservation.