Global ecosystem typology

Alternative site for the Global ecosystem typology with additional information for ecosystem profiles and indicative maps.

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T3.2 Seasonally dry temperate heath and shrublands

Biome: T3. Shrublands and shrubby woodlands biome

Contributors:
(texts)

These temperate ecosystems are dominated by sclerophyll shrubs with small or ericoid leaves. A low sparse tree canopy may or may not be present. Low-moderate productivity is limited by summer droughts and low nutrient availability. and sandy or loamy soils, with many diverse plant specialisations to low nutrient, and regular fires, accelerated by slow decomposition rates. Foodwebs vary from complex to simple, but most lack large herbivores and predators. Vertebrate herbivores have specialisations to exploit low nutrient vegetation and avoid recurring fires, which are influential on plant and animal life histories. Specific plant-invertebrate relationships (e.g. as larval hosts and pollinators) are common (moths and butterflies larval hosts, wasp pollinators).

Key Features

Sclerophyll evergreen shrublands of humid and subhumid mid-latitudes with a canopy-fire regime.

Overview of distribution

Temperate regions adjacent to cold ocean currents with summer dry season.

Profile versions

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

  • Lamont BB, Keith DA (2017) Heathlands and associated shrublands Australian vegetation (Ed. DA Keith), pp 339-368. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-107-11843-0

  • Keeley JE, Bond WJ, Bradstock RA, Pausas, JG, Rundel PW (2012) Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems: ecology, evolution and management Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of T3.2 Seasonally dry temperate heath and shrublands. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

T3.2.IM.orig_v1.0

Datasets

  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

T3.2.web.orig_v1.0

Terrestrial ecoregions containing major or minor occurrences of this ecosystem functional group were identified by consulting available ecoregion descriptions (Dinerstein et al. 2017), global and regional reviews, national and regional ecosystem maps, locations of relevant examples, and proofed by expert reviewers. Consequently they are coarse-scale indicative representations of distribution, except where they occupy small ecoregions. Ecoregions were mapped at 30 arc second spatial resolution. Open image full size.

Datasets

  • Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

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