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.
Preface Part I: Introduction 1. Mountain Biodiversity, its Causes and Function: An Overview Part II: How Much Mountain Biodiversity is there and Why? 2. Intraspecific Genetic Diversity in Alpine Plants 3. Causes and Consequence of Alpine Vascular Plant Diversity in the Rocky Mountains 4. Biodiversity of the Vascular Timberline Flora in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada 5. Plant Species Richness and Endemism of Upper Montane Forests and Timberline Habitats in the Bolivian Andes 6. Biotope Patterns, Phytodiversity and Forestline in the Andes, based on GIS and Remote Sensing Data 7. Multi-Scale Patterns in Plant Species in Richness of European High Mountain Vegetation 8. Environmental Determinants of Vascular Plant Species Richness in the Swiss Alpine Zone 9. Plant Diversity and Endemism in High Mountains of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Siberia 10. Cold Spots in the Highest Mountains of the World – Diversity Patterns and Gradients in the Flora of the Karakorum 11. Patterns of Plant Species Diversity in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai, China 12. Factors Influencing the Spatial Restriction of Vascular Plant Species in the Alpine Archipelagos of Australia 13. Biodiversity of the Subalpine Forest-Grassland Ecotone of the Andringitra Massif, Madagascar 14. Diversity in Primary Succession: The Chronosequence of a Glacier Foreland 15. Status and Trends in Diversity of Alpine Vertebrates in the Northwestern United States 16. Biodiversity of Human Populations in Mountain Environments Part III: Climate Changes and Mountain Biodiversity 17. Potential Effects of Climate Change on Alpine and Nival Plants in the Alps 18. Variations in Community Structure and Growth Rates of High-Andean Plants with Climactic Fluctuations 19. A Scenario for Mammal and Bird Diversity in the Snowy Mountains of Australia in Relation to Climate Change 20. Modelling and Monitoring Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change in Three North American Mountain Ranges 21. Scenarios of Plant Diversity in South African Mountain Ranges in Relation to Climate Change 22. Biodiversity in Mountain Medicinal Plants and Possible Impacts of Climatic Change Part IV: Mountain Biodiversity, Land Use and Conservation 23. Land Use and Biodiversity in Upland Pastures in Ethopia 24. Balancing Conservation of Biodiversity and Economic Profit in the High Venezuelan Andes: Is Fallow Agriculture an Alternative? 25. Conserving Mountain Biodiversity in Protected Areas 26. How Effective is Protected Area Management in Mountains? 27. National Action Plans for Mountain Biodiversity Conservation and Research Part V: Synthesis 28. A Global Assessment of Mountain Biodiversity: Synthesis
