California Mediterranean Research Learning Center

Sticky Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantineus)

About the Mediterranean Ecosystem: Mediterranean regions occur in five areas around the globe. They are found on the western coasts of continents roughly between 30° and 40° north and south latitude where the land is influenced by cold offshore ocean currents and experience hot dry summers and cold wet winters. Only 5% of the world's biomes are Mediterranean, and therefore one of the most threatened.

Threats to the Region
The favorable climate of the Mediterranean Biome makes it one of the most desirable places in the world to live. Consequently, these regions suffer from multiple threats, such as deforestation and desertification, resulting from urbanization, agriculture, recreation and other human activities. Invasive species of both plants and animals are drastically altering the ecosystem and its biodiversity in all of the five regions of the world. As a result, the Mediterranean ecosystem (which occurs on three percent of the earth’s total land area), is one of the most highly altered on the planet, having the least amount of undisturbed area of any biome.

Mediterranean ecosystems are limited to five relatively small areas around the planet: the region bordering the Mediterranean Sea, central Chile, the Cape region of South Africa, southwestern and southern Australia, and California south to northern Baja California. These ecosystems largely occur along the western edges of continents between the 30° and 40° parallels in both northern and southern hemispheres. The Mediterranean climate, moderated by cold ocean currents offshore, is characterized by mild, rainy winters and warm, dry summers.

Throughout the world, the Mediterranean biome is characterized by evergreen or drought deciduous shrublands. The chaparral of southern California is echoed in the old world Mediterranen maquis, the Chilean matorral, South African fynbos and the Australian mallee scrub communities. Due to the limited extent and isolation (almost island-like), of each area of Mediterranean biome, there is frequently a high degree of endemism in the flora and fauna.