This volume comprises invited contributions on aspects of plant-animal interactions in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, which was the subject of the Sixth International Conference on Mediterranean Climate Ecosystems held in Crete, Greece, from September 23 - 27, 1991. The subject of plant-animal interactions is fundamental to the Mediterranean-type ecosystems and their rational management. All five regions of the world with a Mediterranean climate are represented: the Mediterranean basin, California, Chile, South Africa and Australia. The book is divided into six parts, which reflect trends in the research of the members of the International Society of Mediterranean Ecology (ISOMED).

The Mediterranean Basin, California, Chile, the western Cape of South Africa and southern Australia share a Mediterranean climate characterized by cool wet winters and hot dry summers. These five regions have differing patterns of human settlement but similarities in natural vegetation and some faunal assemblages. The similarities are being enhanced by an increasing level of biotic exchange between the regions as time passes since European settlement in each region. This unique documentation of the introduced floras and faunas in these five regions of Mediterranean climate both increases our understanding of the ecology of biological invasions, and points the way to more effective management of the biota of these regions. This book is an initiative of a subcommittee of SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) which realized that the integrity of many natural ecosystems was being threatened by the ingress of invasive species.

Evolutionary progress has long been associated with the extinction of species. So why should we be concerned now, even when the number of species at risk is substantial, such as one tenth of the Australian flora? The reasons for concern are many stranded. Compassion is one strand. Remember the instructions to Noah: 'And you shall bring living creatures of every kind into the ark and keep them alive with you'. Guilt may be another strand, that our hunting, clearing, collecting, pollution, introduction of competitors and other human activities may have endangered species such as the Orange-bellied Parrot. Nostalgia for what was and concern for what might be also play a part; species at risk include some which are of immediate use, such as the whales, and many of potential use, whether drug plants in the forests of the Amazon or a wild relative of the soybean in Victoria. Aesthetic considerations are also involved, particularly where colourful birds or unusual flowers are threatened. We cherish diversity, as culturally desirable, and are delighted when supposedly extinct species such as the notornis and coelacanth - and maybe yet the thylacine - are rediscovered. The Loch Ness monster has already been blessed with a Latin binomial in anticipation! Diversity is also of ecological as well as of cultural value, contributing to the stability of ecosystems, as in the case of insects and birds which fertilize the flowers and disperse the seeds of plants.

The Mediterranean Basin, California, Chile, the western Cape of South Africa and southern Australia share a Mediterranean climate characterized by cool wet winters and hot dry summers. These five regions have differing patterns of human settlement but similarities in natural vegetation and some faunal assemblages. The similarities are being enhanced by an increasing level of biotic exchange between the regions as time passes since European settlement in each region. This unique documentation of the introduced floras and faunas in these five regions of Mediterranean climate both increases our understanding of the ecology of biological invasions, and points the way to more effective management of the biota of these regions. This book is an initiative of a subcommittee of SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) which realized that the integrity of many natural ecosystems was being threatened by the ingress of invasive species.