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Plant Biogeography and Vegetation Patterns of the Mediterranean Islands

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Abstract

With about 11,100 islands and islets of which ca. 250 are regularly inhabited by human, the Mediterranean Sea represents one of the regions of the world with the most islands and archipelagos. These numerous islands represent a significant component of the Mediterranean biodiversity, notably with the presence of range-restricted species and peculiar vegetation types. The aim of this review is to provide a balanced view of this highly diverse phytoecological heritage, but also taking into account the medium sized islands and the smaller ones that have not been highlighted so far. Mediterranean islands constitute both a museum for ancient lineages (paleoendemic taxa) and cradle for recent plant diversification. The complex historical biogeography (paleogeographical events of the Neogene, Messinian salinity crisis, climatic and eustatic changes of the Pleistocene, influence of glacial events) has profoundly influenced the current patterns of plant diversity. These insular landscapes were also precociously impacted by prehistoric man, possibly by Neanderthals. Among the 157 large Mediterranean islands (i.e. with a surface area exceeding 10 km2), 49 have a surface greater than 100 km2. The main patterns and dynamics of vegetation on the largests islands (Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Croatian islands, Greek islands, Crete, Cyprus) are summarized. Then, the specific ecosystem functioning (disturbance, plant-animal interactions) and vegetation structures of the small Mediterranean islands (i.e. a surface area less than 10 km2 or 1000 ha), are highlighted by evoking successively the small rocky islands, the volcanic ones, and the sandy and flat islands. Owing to their uniqueness and fragility, Mediterranean islands urgently need some integrated and ambitious conservation planning, aiming at the long-term preservation of their outstanding biotic and cultural heritage.

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Acknowledgments

I want to especially thank my colleague and friend Dr. Salvatore Pasta (CNR / IBBR, Palermo), a real enthusiast of Mediterranean nissology, for the relevant corrections and additions to a first draft of this manuscript. My colleague Dr. Maria Panitsa (University of Patras), another key nissologist, kindly contributed to supplement the data in Table 1. Thanks also to Dr. Jean-Denis Vigne (CNRS / Muséum national d’histoire naturelle) who corrected and commented the section related to the first colonization of the islands by prehistoric man and to Dr. Jean-Pierre Suc (CNRS) for the unpublished maps of the Fig. 1. I also thank Dr. Christophe Panaïotis (Office de l’environnement de la Corse) and Yohan Petit (Conservatoire botanique national de Corse), Dr. Giuseppe Garfì and Dr. Francesco Longo (CNR / IBBR, Palermo), Pr. Toni Nikolić (University of Zagreb), for the figure and photographs kindly provided, and Dr. Katia Diadema (Conservatoire botanique national méditerranéen) for her help concerning some figures.

I acknowledge the French government (projet Investissements d’avenir) within the Initiative d’excellence A*MIDEX/MEDNET (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02) of Aix Marseille University, the BiodivMex Programm (http://biodivmex.imbe.fr/) of the French initiative MISTRALS (Mediterranean integrated studies at regional and local scales), and the Labex OTMED of Aix Marseille University for their financial supports.

Many data concerning the small islands of Western Mediterranean were obtained during several field missions funded and organized by the NGO PIM Initiative (Small Mediterranean Islands Initiative, www.initiative-pim.org) and I thank this dynamic team for its constant support. I also thank my friends and colleagues who accompanied me on many of these unforgettable island journeys across the Mediterranean!

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    Frédéric Médail

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Médail, F. Plant Biogeography and Vegetation Patterns of the Mediterranean Islands. Bot. Rev. 88, 63–129 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-021-09245-3

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