Matorral

{{Short description|Mediterranean climate ecosystem in Southern Europe}} [[image:Matorral Octubre.JPG|300px|right|thumb|Springtime in Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago along the Pan-American Highway]] '''Matorral''' is a Spanish word which, along with the near-synonymous '''''tomillares''''', broadly applies to shrubland, thicket, or bushes.<ref>Velazquez, Mariano (comp.) (1973) "Matorral" ''A New Pronouncing Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages'' (rev. ed.) Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, p. 431</ref> It is used in naming and describing a Mediterranean climate ecosystem in Southern Europe.

==Mediterranean region== ''Matorral'' originally referred to the '''matorral shrublands and woodlands''' in the Mediterranean climate regions of Spain and other Mediterranean Basin countries. These scrub shrublands and woodlands are a plant community and a distinct habitat. Other common general names for this Mediterranean region shrubland habitat ecosystem are '''''maquis''''' and '''''garrigue''''' in France, '''''macchia Mediterranea''''' in Italy, '''''phrygana''''' in Greece, '''''mato''''' Portugal, '''''batha''''' in Israel. The term is now used more broadly to include similar bio-assemblages wherever they occur.

In Portugal, the term ''mato'' or ''matagal'' is used to refer to the scrublands, or heaths, that formed on the Cambrian and Silurian schists in the north and central parts of Portugal.

Mediterranean ''matorral'' shrublands are often part of a mosaic landscape, interspersed with forests, woodlands, grasslands, and scrublands.<ref>Arroyo, J. and Maranon, T. (March 1990) "Community Ecology and Distributional Spectra of Mediterranean Shrublands and Heathlands in Southern Spain" ''Journal of Biogeography'' 17(2): pp. 163-176</ref><ref>Lavorel, Sandra (1999) "Ecological Diversity and Resilience of Mediterranean Vegetation to Disturbance" ''Diversity and Distributions'' 5(1/2): pp. 3-13</ref>

==Americas== The term ''matorral'' followed the Spanish colonization of the Americas and is used to refer to Mediterranean climate woodlands and scrub,<ref name="Chile">Jiménez, Héctor E. and Armesto, Juan J. (December 1992) "Importance of the Soil Seed Bank of Disturbed Sites in Chilean Matorral in Early Secondary Succession" ''Journal of Vegetation Science'' 3(5): pp. 579-586, p. 579</ref> as well as xeric shrublands ecosystems in Mexico,<ref>Camargo-Ricalde, Sara Lucía; Dhillion, Shivcharn S. and Grether, Rosaura (October 2002) "Community Structure of Endemic Mimosa Species and Environmental Heterogeneity in a Semi-Arid Mexican Valley"''Journal of Vegetation Science'' 13(5): pp. 697-704</ref> Chile,<ref name="Chile"/> and elsewhere.

There are Chilean Matorral areas in central Chile, including portions of La Campana National Park.

The Central Mexican matorral, Meseta Central matorral, Tamaulipan matorral, and Tehuacán Valley matorral are xeric shrubland ecoregions of Mexico.

The Portuguese term ''mato'' was imported to colonial eastern South America, where it was used to refer to the great scrublands, savannas, and flooded grasslands region called the Mato Grosso, in present-day western Brazil.

The Spanish term ''chaparral'' is used in southern Oregon and California in the US and northern Baja in Mexico referring to similar scrublands and climate.

== Australia == The Aboriginal term mallee refers both to Australian biogeographic semi-arid areas with consistent winter rainfall and to the many eucalyptus species that inhabit them. These areas are in the Murray Basin, covering parts of the states of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, also in the Eyre Penninsula of South Australia and in Southern Western Australia where they also use the Aboriginal term kwongan.

==Popular usage== The regional Mexican band Los Tigres Del Norte used the term ''matorrales'', the plural form of ''matorral'', in its famous song "Pacas De A Kilo," an example of an infamous ''narcocorridos'', or drug ballads.

==References== {{Reflist|26em}}

==External links== {{Commons category multi|Maquis shrubland|Maquis (vegetation)}}

01 Category:Environment of the Mediterranean Category:Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Category:Deserts and xeric shrublands Category:Ecoregions of Europe Category:Ecoregions of Italy Category:Ecoregions of Spain * * Category:Palearctic ecoregions