Perspectives of Managing Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems: A Summary and Synthesis1

Research Forester, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Riverside, Calif. the area of nature conservation, Kruger, Naveh, and Tyrrel expressed the need to maintain or increase species diversity. Also in the interest of nature conservation, Kruger discussed the need to control invasive exotics and to limit commercial wildflower harvesting in South Africa. Timber (Shea, these proceedings), fruit (Canas and others, these proceedings), and energy (Naveh, Tyrrel, these proceedings) production and mining (Bolander, Shea, these proceedings) were objectives to be managed in some regions. One of the principal objectives of this symposium was to provide a forum for exchange of information on a multinational scale. The purpose of this session, held on the opening day of the symposium, was to provide the participants with an overview of how Mediterranean-type ecosystems are being managed around the world. Each of the speakers in this session represented a different region; together, they covered the Mediterraneantype ecosystems on five continents. The speakers were asked to relate the following information for the regions they represented: (1) Object of Management, (2) history of Vegetation and Perception, (3) Constraints on Management, and (4) Role of Research.