Human impact on natural landscapes through urbanization and agricultural expansion becomes more and more dramatic and causes serious environmental problems. This volume examines the effect of landscape disturbance on plant and animal diversity in the five mediterranean-climate regions of the world. It begins with three introductory chapters broadly reviewing the issues of landscape degradation. Further contributions describe regional land use conflicts in each of the five regions. Landscape disturbance and plant diversity and landscape disturbance and animal diversity are treated in separate chapters. Four contributions deal with demography and ecophysiology in vegetation succession following disturbance. The volume closes with a consideration of the future addressing aspects of environmental politics.

1 Landscape Disturbance in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems: An Overview

2 From Biodiversity to Ecodiversity - Holistic Conservation of the Biological and Cultural Diversity of Mediterranean Landscapes
3 Ecological Indicators of Landscape Degradation
4 Land Use Conflicts in the Western Cape Region of South Africa
5 Impacts of Land Use on Biodiversity in Southwestern Australia
6 Land Use Conflicts in California
7 Abandoned Lands and Land Use Conflicts in Southern France
8 Land Use Changes and Conflicts in the Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems of Western Crete
9 Land Use Changes and Conflicts in Central Chile
10 Local Endemism and Plant Conservation in the Cape Floristic Region
11 Managing Biodiversity on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa: A Hotspot Under Pressure
12 Biodiversity and Conservation Biology of Coastal Transition Zones from Mediterranean to Desert Ecosystems: An Intercontinental Comparison
13 Distribution and Ecology of Geophytes in Chile. Conservation Threats to Geophytes in Mediterranean-Type Regions
14 Coupling Demography, Physiology and Evolution in Chaparral Shrubs
15 Physiological Ecology of Mediterranean Seeds: Links with Ex Situ Conservation of Plants
16 Aspects of Demography in Post-Fire Mediterranean Plant Communities of Greece
17 Ecophysiological Processes and Demographic Patterns in the Structuring of California Chaparral
18 Insect Population Changes and Conservation in the Disturbed Landscapes of Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems
19 Loss of Vertebrate Diversity Following European Settlement of Australian Mediterranean Regions
20 Bird Diversity in a Changing Landscape (Tuscany, Italy)
21 Patterns of Mammalian Biodiversity, Urbanization, and Land Use in Southern California
22 Biodiversity in Fluctuating Dry-LandEnvironments: Basic and Applied Aspects
23 Politics and Environment in Mediterranean-Climate Regions
Species Index.