Development of species diversity in some mediterranean plant communities

Houssard, Claudié; Escarr�, J.; Bomane, F.

doi:10.1007/bf00121018

Cited by 60 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…High diversity of species, such as is found in the Mediterranean vegetation, is strongly associated with recent disturbance, either climatic (Mooney 1989;Woodward 1987) or anthropogenic (Houssard, Escarre, and Romane 1980). Where climax plant communities are disturbed, they begin to rebuild a new climax association through stages known as ecological succession.…”

Section: Ecological Implications Of Climatic Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our view, the wild annual plants had never been available in densities comparable to those of the early Holocene, when seasonality reached unprecedented extremes that favored annual over perennial adaptation. The lack of perennial ancestors to wild annual species in Mediterranean lands today may be explained by (a) the migration of perennials out of the Mediterranean region in tandem with the continental climate to which they are adapted or (b) eradication caused by widespread tilling, grazing, firing, and land clearance (Houssard, Escarre, and Romane 1980;Le Houtrou 198 1;Mooney 1989;Pignatti 1979). Gordon Hillman (personal communication, 1989) notes that wild ancestors of domesticates are adapted to fairly undisturbed habitats in the "hilly flanks," but we note that there are virtually no undisturbed habitats in the modern Near East.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Ecology of Seasonal Stress and the Origins of Agriculture in the Near East

McCorriston

Hole

1991

American Anthropologist

188

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The time, place, and reasons for thejrst domestication of cereals and legumes in the Near East can now be securely identzjed using combined evidence from paleoenvironmental studies, models of ecosystem dynamics, and regional archeology. The heartland of domestication was the Jordan Val19 and surrounding region in the Southern Levant. Approximately 10,000 years ago, people began planting crops where the wild ancestral species had proliferated over two millenia. Impetus for domestication camejom the synergistic effects of climatic change, anthropogenic environmental change, technological change, and social innovation. A t the end of the Pleistocene, after a long period of climatic instabilio, a mediterranean climate more strongly seasonal than any today emerged with hyper-arid summers that selected f o r annual species of cereals and legumes. This occurred long after people had invented tools suitable for grinding hard seeds, but the new, lengthy dry season and consequent need to use storedfoods encouraged sedentism among human groups who subsequently depleted their immediate environments of wild resources. These preconditions facilitated the development of agriculture. The scenario developed here is speczjic to the Near East, for such case studies of spec@ factors in independent regions of domestication are essential before we attempt to explain cases all over the world with reference to global causes. ESPITE 50 YEARS OF ARCHEOLOGICAL ATTENTION to the earliest village sites and D traces of domesticated plants and animals in the Near East, doubts remain about whether the origins of agriculture (a) constituted a rapid shift or slow change (Bar-Yosef and Kislev 1989; Moore 1982; Perrot 1968), (b) lie earlier in time than heretofore documented (Braidwood and Braidwood 1986; Garrod 1957;Moore 1982Moore , 1985 Moore , 1989, (c) occurred across the broad arc of the Fertile Crescent (Braidwood and Howe 1960; Flannery 1969; Maisels 1987;Moore 1982 Moore , 1989, or (d) occurred in regions as yet little explored (Hole 1984). Now for the first time, patterns of data in the context of ecological models allow us to place the origins of domestication in a specific geographic region and in a time frame of no more than a few hundred radiocarbon years. The location of plant domestication was the Southern Levant, specifically around the margins of evaporating lakes in the Jordan Valley.' The time of this event was the end of the Natufian cultural period, around 10,000 years ago.Several lines of evidence support these assertions. Most prehistorians agree that there had to be opportunity (that is, sufficient populations of the prerequisite plants), technology to use the plants effectively, a social organization that could cope with "delayed return" economies (Hole 1984), and need before people would alter their habits of acquiring food. Available evidence and theories indicate that these conditions were simultaneously present in the Jordan River basin earlier during the early Holocene, while the absence of any one of these critical ...

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Section: Ecological Implications Of Climatic Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%