Vegetation Comparisons between the Mediterranean Climatic Areas of California and Chile

Abstract

The topography, climate, soil, and vegetation of central Chile and coastal California between latitudes of 30 to 40° are remarkably similar. In both of these regions there exists a matched sequence of plant communities progressing along an aridity gradient from moist to dry of first, a broad-leaved evergreen forest, then an evergreen scrub, a semi-arid scrub, and finally a semiarid scrub with succulents. The convergence of plant communities at equal positions on the aridity gradient in California and Chile, as well as the equal latitudinal replacements of community types are discussed in terms of the environmental limitations on the evolution of productive systems. Although the coastal sequences of communities in California and Chile are comparable, the altitudinal community sequences are not. The rich montane forests characteristic of the mountains of California are lacking in the Andes of central Chile.