As you travel inland, the scrubby vegetation and olive groves gradually give way to wooded hills and fertile valleys with occasional hilltop villages, each with its own character.
On the island of Sardinia the destruction of the carob forests and on the Apulian Plain the decay of olive trees and shore vegetation have produced steppes of tough plants such as the various sorts of feather grass.
After dispersal and establishment, the olives outcompete the native vegetation (such as eucalypts) by preventing regeneration.
A luxuriant lakeshore vegetation includes vines and fig, pomegranate, olive, chestnut, and oleander trees.
There is a narrow fertile plain along the northern coast, where the vegetation is largely evergreen and includes olive, carob, and citrus trees.
It did not have much vegetation except for bushes and wild olives.
The more newly planted, attractive vegetation, like bayberry, small sumac trees and olive shrubbery, may have succumbed to the flames, said Mr. Nieter.
In addition, the establishment of African olive can affect the local fauna by changing the vegetation structure and fruit availability.
The main natural vegetation is macchie, but with cultivation the land supports vegetables, olives, citrus, and grapes.
We record deep environmental change during the third millennium cal BCE, reflected in the substitution of the former mesophytic vegetation by Mediterranean maquis formations dominated by wild olive trees, heathers, mastic and Cistaceae.
