Chilean Matorral


The Chilean Matorral is a terrestrial ecoregion of central Chile, located on the west coast of South America. It is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, and is thus part of the Neotropical realm.
The matorral ecoregion is characterized by a temperate Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers, and lies between the arid Atacama Desert and the humid Valdivian temperate forests. The ecoregion is home to diverse plant communities, including matorral or tall shrubland, forests and woodlands, savannas, and low shrubland and scrub.
The ecoregion is one of the world's five Mediterranean climate regions, which are all located in the middle latitudes on the west coast of continents. The Mediterranean Basin, the California [chaparral and woodlands] ecoregion of California and Baja California, the Cape Province of South Africa, and Southwest Australia are the other Mediterranean-climate regions.

Setting

The Matorral occupies central Chile between 32° and 37° south latitude. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Chilean Coastal Range lies parallel to the coast. The Chilean Central Valley lies between the Coastal range and the Andes Mountains, which bound the matorral ecoregion on the east. To the north is the extremely dry Atacama desert, which separates the matorral from the tropical forests of northern South America. A semi-desert region known as El Norte Chico lies between 28° and 32° south latitude, and is the transition zone between the Atacama desert and the Matorral. To the south lies the cooler and wetter Valdivian temperate forests ecoregion, which includes transitional deciduous forests, including the Maulino forest of the Chilean Coast Range, along with most of South America's temperate rain forests.

Flora

The Chilean Matorral ecoregion is home to several plant communities. Semi-desert scrub is common in the north, in the transition to the arid Atacama. Matorral, woodland, forest, and savanna occur further south
The ecoregion has many endemic plant species, with affinities to the South American tropics, the Antarctic flora, and the Andes. About 95% of the plant species are endemic to Chile, including Gomortega keule, Pitavia punctata, Nothofagus alessandrii, and the Chilean wine palm, Jubaea chilensis.

Fauna

Simonetti estimated that Mediterranean Chile had 200 native bird species, 37 mammals, 38 reptiles, and 12 amphibians, with 7 endemic birds, 7 endemic mammals, 31 endemic reptiles, and 6 endemic amphibians.
Endemic and near-endemic birds include the Chilean tinamou, moustached turca, white-throated tapaculo, Ochre-flanked tapaculo, crag earthcreeper, dusky-tailed canastero, and Chilean mockingbird. The ecoregion corresponds to the Central Chile Endemic Bird Area.
Native mammals include the common degu, Bridges's degu, pichi or dwarf armadillo, and southern river otter. The guanaco has been extirpated from the ecoregion. Native mammal predators include the puma, Andean mountain cat, culpeo or andean wolf, and South American gray fox.
Endemic reptiles include several species of tree iguana, including the black-spotted tree iguana, braided tree iguana, brown tree iguana, Hellmich's tree iguana, Liolaemus nigromaculatus, Kuhlman's tree iguana, Schroeder's tree iguana, shining tree iguana, Chilean tree iguana, Liolaemus atacamensis, Liolaemus pseudolemniscatus, Liolaemus reichei, and Liolaemus silvai. Other endemic reptiles include Alvaro's anole, the spotted false monitor, Yanez's lava lizard, Pristidactylus valeriae, and Chilean marked gecko.
Native amphibians include the Atacama toad in the northern portion of the ecoregion, and the banded wood frog, Chile four-eyed frog, helmeted water toad, and Alsodes nodosus.

Conservation and threats

The matorral ecoregion contains the majority of Chile's population and its largest cities. The Central valley is Chile's main agricultural region, and the region is also subject to extensive grazing, logging, and urbanization. Grasses and other herbaceous plants introduced from the Mediterranean Basin have covered extensive areas of the ecoregion, displacing native plants. Much of the ecoregion's original forest and woodland has been degraded into matorral or scrub, and much matorral degraded into espinal or sparse scrub. Other threats include human-caused fires and overgrazing by introduced rabbits, hares, and goats.
Of Chile's ecoregions, the matorral is the least protected by national parks and preserves. Only 1.3% of the ecoregion is protected. Protected areas include: