The climate of the Mediterranean Basin is dominated by cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers, and rainfall ranges from as little as 100 millimeters to as much as 3,000 millimeters. Although much of the hotspot was once covered in evergreen oak forests, deciduous and conifer forests, eight thousand years of human settlement and habitat modification have distinctly altered the characteristic vegetation. Today, the most widespread vegetation type is hard-leafed or sclerophyllus shrublands called maquis or matorral, which include representatives from the plant genera Juniperus, Myrtus, Olea, Phillyrea, Pistacia, and Quercus. This vegetation is similar in appearance to the chaparral vegetation of California and the matorral of Chile. Some important components of Mediterranean vegetation (species of the genera Arbutus, Calluna, Ceratonia, Chamaerops, and Larus) are relicts from the ancient forests that dominated the Basin two million years ago.
Flora and fauna . · New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. · About 80% of the New Zealand flora occurs only in New Zealand. · Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was forested. The two main types of forest are those dominated by podocarps including the giant kauri, and in cooler climates the southern beech. · The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grasslands of tussock and other grasses, usually in sub-alpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and forests. · Unique birds capable of flight include the Haast´s eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the large kaka and kea parrots. · Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks, geckos and tuatara. · There are four endemic species of primitive frogs. · There are no snakes and there is only one venomous spider, the katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal regions. · However, there are many endemic species of
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