Abstract
The vegetation distribution on the Adrratic coast from Rijeka to Dubrovnik and on the five islands, Krk, Cres, Losinj, Rab and Pag, was studied in relation to the climatic conditions, especially to the local wind, bora. The climax vegetation in this region is the Mediterranean evergreen hard wood forests and deciduous broad leaved forests. The vegetation shows the Mediterranean type on the Adriatic slopes of the Velebit Mts., but, in contrast, the continental type on the inland-facing slopes. The deterioration of vegetation is the most serious on the slopes up to 500 m above the sea level on the coastal region. It looks like a land almost without vegetation. The evergreen oak forests re-main in restricted areas on the Rab island and their degradation types, maquis and garrigue, were found along the coast and on the islands south of Zadar. The poor-vegetation landscape prevails on the windward slopes, but, on the contrary, the forests or the ever-green vegetations on the lee side slopes on the islands.
The degree of density of the vegetation was studied for determining quantitatively the effect of the winds in this region. The rough density is found in the coastal and island regions from the north of Senj to the north of Zadar. This region coincides perfectly with the strong bora regions, which was revealed through an intensive investi-gation on the wind-shaped trees. The effect of wind, however, might be in a following way : (i) the original vegetation was destroyed first by human activity, (ii) the strong bora winds hindered the vegetation from restoration, and (iii) overgrazing of goat and sheep and felling of trees for fire-wood intensified the effect of hinderance by the winds.
