Landscape Development in Mountainous Habitats with Similar Climates and Cultural Backgrounds: Central Chile and Andalusia

Abstract

terranean-type of subtropical climate: southwest Australia, most of California, central Chile, the Mediterranean Basin itself, and the Southern Cape region of South Africa. All five areas have the same fairly restrictive characteristics: (1) total annual rainfalls between 275 and 900 mm, with more than 60 percent of it falling during the winter; (2) less than 10 days with frost per year, and frosts do not last for complete days; (3) partly as a consequence of the above conditions, they have a spontaneous vegetation largely consisting of evergreen sclerophyllous shrubs and trees that frequently dominate the landscapes (Aschmann, 1973). Past studies regarding finer degrees of similarity of more or less taxonomically dissimilar biotas of these five areas (Mooney, 1977; Cody and Mooney, 1978; di Castri et al., 1981; Kruger et al., 1983) have suggested that: (1) the Cape region of South Africa and southwest Australia share an additional characteristic that separates them from the other three areas and gives them a special character, namely their extremely leached, nutrient-poor soils; (2) there are important differences between continents in the degree to which landscapes have been modified by man (Aschmann and Bahre, 1973). The Mediterranean Basin is probably the one with the oldest and most severe degree of modification; and California, at least in the southern mountainous areas, is likely to be the least altered; (3) detailed studies carried out in southern California and central Chile have