Riskiness

Threats

1. Systematical fires: The fire is a natural perturbation in the Mediterranean ecosystems, and this way the Mediterranean mount, on having co-evolved with the fire, has a great capacity of recovery after the fires. Nevertheless, the repeated fires succession in short time periods favours the creation of monospecific areas of replacement scrubs, such as the rock-roses. These formations contain much less species‘diversity than the mature Mediterranean mount.
2. Urban expansion: the growth of the urbanized area in the Iberian Peninsula increases in a significantly higher rhythm than the population growth. This way, the growth of the villages, residential areas, industrial complexes, etc. reduce and fragment in a continued way the surface of Mediterranean mount left in the Iberia.
3. Substitutive forest management: a large amount of the surface occupied by the Mediterranean forest in the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-20th century has been transformed into cultivated arboreal areas like pines and eucalyptus. The plantation’s management is frequently associated to the systematic elimination of the bushy layer, which punishes directly the fauna that depends on the scrubland.
4. Overgrazing and excessive browsing: Although a moderate load of domestic or wild herbivores clarifies the bush, increases the ecotones and favours the diversity, excessive stocking or wild herbivores density goes so far as to provoke the finished destruction of the bushy stratum, at the same time that prevents the natural regeneration of the arboreal species. In the long term, the overgrazing depletes the soil and reduces significantly the species’ diversity.
5. Change in agricultural applications: The agricultures intensification generated in the twentieth century has replaced the mosaics of small crops in its mimicry colours camouflaged in the Mediterranean forest by large deforested areas of cultivation. Likewise, the dry land cultivation has been substituted in large extensions by irrigated land cultivations with large annexed structures. In certain areas, like the Doñana area, big surface of Mediterranean mount has been replaced and it keeps on replacing for under plastic cultivations.