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History of the Mediterranean Ecosystem in California

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Mediterranean Type Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 7))

Abstract

Similar physical environments, acting on organisms of dissimilar origins in different parts of the world, have produced structurally and functionally similar ecosystems. The fossil record provides a reliable basis for understanding how this occurred because all modern ecosystems are the result of the interaction between evolving lineages and changing environments during long spans of geologic time. Since many woody plants similar to those still living have left a fossil record, it is possible to reconstruct the ecosystems they represent, and to discern the development of the modern descendant vegetation which has survived in modified form.

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Authors
  1. Daniel I. Axelrod
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Francesco di Castri

  2. Section of Ecology, UNESCO, Paris, France

    Francesco di Castri

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

Additional information

This Study is Dedicated to the Memory of Ralph Works Chaney, Paleobotanist and Conservationist

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© 1973 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Axelrod, D.I. (1973). History of the Mediterranean Ecosystem in California. In: di Castri, F., Mooney, H.A. (eds) Mediterranean Type Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 7. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65520-3_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65520-3_15

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