The Mediterranean region has been shaped by human activity and maintained by traditional practices of land use for centuries. This has affected the distribution of plants and the landscape, which can be considered as part of the European cultural landscape. This book details the rapid changes that have taken place in the vegetation of the Mediterranean in the last half-century, a period in which major socio-economic development greatly affected the cultural and physical landscape.Content: Chapter 1 Large?Scale Post?Glacial Distribution of Vegetation Structures in the Mediterranean Region (pages 1-12): Professor Emeritus Pierre QuezelChapter 2 Forest History in the Mediterranean Region (pages 13-20): Gaetano Di Pasquale, Paolo Di Martino and Stefano MazzoleniChapter 3 Forest Cover Changes in the Maghreb Countries with Special Reference to Morocco (pages 21-31): Mohamed RejdaliChapter 4 Long?Term Observation of Mediterranean Ecosystems with Satellite Remote Sensing (pages 33-43): Joachim Hill, Patrick Hostert and Achim RoderChapter 5 Landscape Dynamics in a Semi?Arid Mediterranean Catchment (SE Spain) (pages 45-56): Andreu Bonet, Juan Bellot and Juan PenaChapter 6 Recent Landscape Evolution in Dehesa Woodlands of Western Spain (pages 57-72): P. Regato?Pajares, S. Jimenez?Caballero, M. Castejon and R. Elena?RosselloChapter 7 Landscape Dynamics in South?Eastern Sicily in the Last 150 Years: The Case of the Iblei Mountains (pages 73-80): Gaetano Di Pasquale, Giuseppe Garfi and Antonello MigliozziChapter 8 Land?use Changes and Landscape Dynamics in Western Crete (pages 81-93): Vasilios P. Papanastasis, Ioannis Ispikoudis, Margarita Arianoutsou, Petros Kakouros and Angelos KazaklisChapter 9 Man-Landscape Relationships in Mediterranean Areas: A Study of Landscape Changes in the Mount Carmel (pages 95-104): Maxim Shoshany, Naftaly Goldshlager, Pua Kutiel and Daniel GrossmanChapter 10 The Impact of Changes in Land Use on Ecological Patterns in Provence (Mediterranean France) (pages 105-120): Thierry Tatoni, Frederic Medail, Philippe Roche and Marcel BarberoChapter 11 Vegetation Dynamics and Land Use in Epirus (pages 121-141): Sander van der LeeuwChapter 12 Recent Changes of Coastal and Sub?Mountain Vegetation Landscape in Campania and Molise Regions in Southern Italy (pages 143-155): Stefano Mazzoleni, Paolo Di Martino, Sandro Strumia, Maurizio Buonanno and Maria BellelliChapter 13 Consequences of Rural Abandonment in a Northern Apennines Landscape (Tuscany, Italy) (pages 157-165): Giuliana TortaChapter 14 Changes in the Forested Agricultural Landscape of the Pisan Hills (Tuscany, Italy) (pages 167-178): Andrea Bertacchi and Antonino OnnisChapter 15 Historical Vegetation Dynamics: Archive and Pollen Evidence for Ancient Grassland and Plantation in Nineteenth?century Liguria (NW Italy) (pages 179-187): Diego Moreno, Carlo Montanari, Maria Angela Guido and Giuseppina PoggiChapter 16 Rural Changes and Landscape in Serra da Malcata, Central East of Portugal (pages 189-200): J. Luis Coelho?Silva, Francisco Castro Rego, Sofia Castelbranco Silveira, C. Paula Cardoso Goncalves and Carlos Alberto MachadoChapter 17 Landscape Dynamics in the Area of Serra Da Arrabida and the Sado River Estuary (pages 201-209): Paulo Godinho Ferreira, Mario Almeida, Alexandra Fernandes, Paola Codipietro and Francisco Castro RegoChapter 18 Changes in Landscape Structure of the Natural Park of Alvao (Portugal) (pages 211-216): Isabel Timoteo, Joao Bento, Francisco Castro Rego and Adelaide FernandesChapter 19 Land Abandonment and the Spreading of the Forest in the Eastern French Pyrenees in the Nineteenth to Twentieth Centuries (pages 217-236): Jean Paul Metailie and Martin PaegelowChapter 20 The Natural Dynamics of Abandoned Chestnut Stands in Southern Switzerland (pages 237-247): Marco Conedera, Pietro Stanga, Bernhard Oester and Peter BachmannChapter 21 Forest Cover Progression, Land?use and Socio?Economic Changes on the Edge of the Mediterranean (pages 249-256): Lidija Globevnik, Mitja Kaligaric and Andrej SovincChapter 22 Climate Change, Land?use Change and the "Desertification" of Mediterranean Europe (pages 257-279): Mark Mulligan, Sophia M. Burke and M. Concepcion RamosChapter 23 Conclusion: Reversing the Consensus on Mediterranean Desertification (pages 281-285): Stefano Mazzoleni, Gaetano Di Pasquale and Mark Mulligan