Mediterranean-type climates exist in five regions of the world, namely parts of California, South Africa, Chile, southern Australia and the Mediterranean Basin. These regions share similar climatic conditions and support ecosystems, which have similar structures and dynamics, but each region has a unique history of human habitation and use. Numerous recent accounts provide detailed comparisons of the biology, human use and transformation, and likely impacts of climate and land use changes of the various regions.
The global significance of mediterranean-type ecosystems has received special attention in the last few years because of their remarkable species richness proportional to their small area. This diversity has led to their inclusion by international conservation groups as five of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots, defined on the basis of their high levels of plant endemism and high levels of human disturbance.
