These are areas where woody shrubs predominate rather then trees. In regions with a Mediterranean type of climate i .e., hot dry summers and cool wet winters, shrubs grow close together having typically leathery leaves. Remarkably similar shrublands are found in the coastal mountains of California in USA and in Chile; at the tip of Africa and south western Australia. However, in USA such communities are called chaparral. Fires are of common occurence and plants and animals have developed adaptations to these special habitat features.