Circummed pine forest database: An electronic archive for mediterranean and submediterranean pine forest vegetation data
Large thematic databases of vegetation plots are increasingly needed for vegetation studies and biodiversity research. In this paper, we present the CircumMed Pine Forest Database (GIVD ID: EU-00-026), which in November 2018, comprised records from 6317 pine-dominated vegetation plots (relevés) and associated vegetation types from 20 countries of the Mediterranean Basin, Near East and Crimea. These vegetation plots were collected through a detailed literature search for plots not previously included in the European Vegetation Archive (EVA), in order to fill geographic gaps in data coverage. The database comprises Mediterranean (including Oromediterranean) pine-forest vegetation plots from b…
‘Back to the Future’—Oak wood-pasture for wildfire prevention in the Mediterranean
In the summer of 2021, enormous wildfires in the Mediterranean eliminated huge areas of mainly coniferous forest, destroyed adjacent settlements and claimed the lives of many people. The fires indicate effects of climate change and expose consequences of rural demographic changes, deficits in regional and touristic development planning and shortcomings in forest policy. This forum article highlights the dimensions of the problem, calls for a paradigm shift and shows solutions. Land abandonment, woody plant encroachment and non-reflective afforestation are leading to increasing amounts of combustible biomass. To prevent disastrous fires in future, fundamental changes in tree species composit…