The Biology of Alpine Habitats

The Biology of Alpine Habitats PDF Author: Laszlo Nagy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191546577
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This book is unique in providing a global overview of alpine (high mountain) habitats that occur above the natural (cold-limited) tree line, describing the factors that have shaped them over both ecological and evolutionary timescales. The broad geographic coverage helps synthesise common features whilst revealing differences in the world's major alpine systems from the Arctic to the Tropics. The words "barren" and "wasteland" have often been applied to describe landscapes beyond the treeline. However, a closer look reveals a large diversity of habitats, assemblages and individual taxa, largely connected to topographic diversity within individual alpine regions. The book considers habitat-forming factors (landforms, energy and climate, hydrology, soils, and vegetation) individually, as well as their composite impacts on habitat characteristics. Evolution and population processes are examined in the context of the responsiveness / resilience of alpine habitats to global change. Finally, a critical assessment of the potential impacts of climate change, atmospheric pollutants and land use is made and related to the management and conservation options available for these unique habitats.

The Biology of Alpine Habitats

The Biology of Alpine Habitats PDF Author: Laszlo Nagy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191546577
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book

Book Description
This book is unique in providing a global overview of alpine (high mountain) habitats that occur above the natural (cold-limited) tree line, describing the factors that have shaped them over both ecological and evolutionary timescales. The broad geographic coverage helps synthesise common features whilst revealing differences in the world's major alpine systems from the Arctic to the Tropics. The words "barren" and "wasteland" have often been applied to describe landscapes beyond the treeline. However, a closer look reveals a large diversity of habitats, assemblages and individual taxa, largely connected to topographic diversity within individual alpine regions. The book considers habitat-forming factors (landforms, energy and climate, hydrology, soils, and vegetation) individually, as well as their composite impacts on habitat characteristics. Evolution and population processes are examined in the context of the responsiveness / resilience of alpine habitats to global change. Finally, a critical assessment of the potential impacts of climate change, atmospheric pollutants and land use is made and related to the management and conservation options available for these unique habitats.

The Biology of Alpine Habitats

The Biology of Alpine Habitats PDF Author: Laszlo Nagy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
This book is unique in providing a global overview of alpine (high mountain) habitats that occur above the natural (cold-limited) tree line, describing the factors that have shaped them over both ecological and evolutionary timescales. The broad geographi.

The Biology of Alpine Habitats

The Biology of Alpine Habitats PDF Author: Laszlo Nagy
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0198567030
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
Environment, ecology, biota function.

Alpine Plant Life

Alpine Plant Life PDF Author: Christian Körner
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030595382
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
This book is a completely revised, substantially extended treatment of the physical and biological factors that drive life in high mountains. The book covers the characteristics of alpine plant life, alpine climate and soils, life under snow, stress tolerance, treeline ecology, plant water, carbon, and nutrient relations, plant growth and productivity, developmental processes, and two largely novel chapters on alpine plant reproduction and global change biology. The book explains why the topography driven exposure of plants to dramatic micro-climatic gradients over very short distances causes alpine biodiversity to be particularly robust against climatic change. Geographically, this book draws on examples from all parts of the world, including the tropics. This book is complemented with novel evidence and insight that emerged over the last 17 years of alpine plant research. The number of figures – mostly in color – nearly doubled, with many photographs providing a vivid impression of alpine plant life worldwide. Christian Körner was born in 1949 in Austria, received his academic education at the University of Innsbruck, and was full professor of Botany at the University of Basel from 1989 to 2014. As emeritus Professor he is continuing alpine plant research in the Swiss Alps.

Mountain Biodiversity

Mountain Biodiversity PDF Author: Ch. Korner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000698297
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Originally published in 2002, Mountain Biodiversity deals with the biological richness, function and change of mountain environments. The book was birthed from the first global conference on mountain biodiversity and was a contribution to the International Year of Mountains in 2002. The book examines biological diversity as essential for the integrity of mountain ecosystems and argues that this dependency is likely to increase as environmental climates and social conditions change. This book seeks to examine the biological riches of all major mountain ranges, from around the world and using existing knowledge on mountain biodiversity, examines a broad range of research in diversity, including that of plants, animals, human and bacterial diversity. The book also examines climate change and mountain biodiversity as well as land use and conservation.

Alpine Biodiversity in Europe

Alpine Biodiversity in Europe PDF Author: Laszlo Nagy
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642189679
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, spawned a multitude of pro grammes aimed at assessing, managing and conserving the earth's biological diversity. One important issue addressed at the conference was the mountain environment. A specific feature of high mountains is the so-called alpine zone, i. e. the treeless regions at the uppermost reaches. Though covering only a very small proportion of the land surface, the alpine zone contains a rela tively large number of plants, animals, fungi and microbes which are specifi cally adapted to cold environments. This zone contributes fundamentally to the planet's biodiversity and provides many resources for mountain dwelling as well as lowland people. However, rapid and largely man-made changes are affecting mountain ecosystems, such as soil erosion, losses of habitat and genetic diversity, and climate change, all of which have to be addressed. As stated in the European Community Biodiversity Strategy, "the global scale of biodiversity reduction or losses and the interdependence of different species and ecosystems across national borders demands concerted international action". Managing biodiversity in a rational and sustainable way needs basic knowledge on its qualitative and quantitative aspects at local, regional and global scales. This is particularly true for mountains, which are distributed throughout the world and are indeed hot spots of biodiversity in absolute terms as well as relative to the surrounding lowlands.

Structure and Function of an Alpine Ecosystem

Structure and Function of an Alpine Ecosystem PDF Author: William D. Bowman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195344294
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book will provide a complete overview of an alpine ecosystem, based on the long-term research conducted at the Niwot Ridge LTER. There is, at present, no general book on alpine ecology. The alpine ecosystem features conditions near the limits of biological existence, and is a useful laboratory for asking more general ecological questions, because it offers large environmental change over relatively short distances. Factors such as macroclimate, microclimate, soil conditions, biota, and various biological factors change on differing scales, allowing insight into the relative contributions of the different factors on ecological outcomes.

The Biology of Disturbed Habitats

The Biology of Disturbed Habitats PDF Author: Lawrence R. Walker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199575290
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Providing a global summary of the biology of disturbance ecology, this text offers both the conceptual underpinnings and practical advice required to comprehend and address the unprecedented environmental challenges facing humans. It examines both natural and anthropogenic disturbances in aquatic and terrestrial habitats.

The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats

The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats PDF Author: David C. Culver
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192552767
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
The second edition of this widely cited textbook continues to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to cave and subterranean biology, describing this fascinating habitat and its biodiversity. It covers a range of biological processes including ecosystem function, evolution and adaptation, community ecology, biogeography, and conservation. The authors draw on a global range of examples and case studies from both caves and non-cave subterranean habitats. One of the barriers to the study of subterranean biology has been the extraordinarily large number of specialized terms used by researchers; the authors explain these terms clearly and minimize the number that they use. This new edition retains the same 10 chapter structure of the original, but the content has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout to reflect the huge increase in publications concerning subterranean biology over the last decade.

Tropical Alpine Environments

Tropical Alpine Environments PDF Author: Philip W. Rundel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521054119
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Tropical alpine environments (at altitudes above the closed canopy forest and below the limit of plant life) present an unusual set of complex stresses for plant species. Unlike temperate alpine environments, where there are distinct seasons of favorable and unfavorable conditions for growth, tropical alpine habitats present summer conditions every day and winter conditions every night. As a consequence, tropical alpine plant species have evolved unique forms for coping with such a hostile environment. Using examples from all over the tropics, this fascinating account reviews the unique form and functional relationships of tropical alpine plants, examining both their physiological ecology and population biology.