Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland
Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland

Author: Randall W. Myster

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-07-10

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1461437970

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Ecotones are dynamic over-lapping boundary areas where major terrestrial biomes meet. As past studies have shown, and as the chapters in this book will illustrate, their structure, size, and scope have changed considerably over the millennia, expanding and shrinking as climate and/or other driving conditions, also changed. Today, however, many of them are changing at a rate not seen for a long time, perhaps largely due to climate change and other human-induced factors. Indeed ecotones are more sensitive to climate change than the biomes on either side, and thus may serve as critical early indicators of future climate change. As ecotones change, they also redefine the limits of the biomes on either side by altering their distributions of species because, in addition to their own endemic species, any ecotone will also have species from both adjoining biomes. Consequently, they may also be places of high levels of species interaction, serving as active evolutionary laboratories, which generate new species that then migrate back into adjacent biomes. Ecotones Between Forest and Grassland explores how these ecotones have changed in the past, how they are changing today, and how they are likely to change in the future. The book includes chapters from around the world with a special focus on South American and Neotropical ecotones.

Tropical Montane Cloud Forests
Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

Author: Lawrence S. Hamilton

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1461225000

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Until relatively recently the valuable tropical montane cloud forests (hereaf ter usually referred to as TMCFs) of the world had scarcely come under the assaults experienced by the downslope montane and lowland forests. TMCFs are not hospitable environments for human occupation, and their remoteness (except in places near Andean high mountain settlements and in the Ethiopian Highlands) and difficult terrain have given them de facto protection. The ad jacent upper montane rain forests have indeed been under assault for timber, fuelwood, and for conversion to grazing and agriculture for many decades, even centuries in the Andes, but true cloud forest has only come under ex ploitation as these lower elevational resources have disappeared. They have also been "nibbled" at from above where there have been alpine grasslands under grazing pressure. Increasingly now, however, these cloud forest eco systems are being fragmented, reduced, and disturbed at an alarming rate. It is now becoming recognized that steps must be taken rapidly to increase our understanding of TMCF and to achieve their conservation, because: their water-capture function is extremely important to society; • their species endemism is high; they serve as refugia for endangered species being marginalized in these environments by increasingly transformed lower elevation ecosystems; they are relatively little studied; yet, their value to science is extremely high; they have low resilience to disturbance; vii viii Preface and many other reasons, which will be discussed subsequently in this publi cation.

Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Montane Oak Forests
Ecology and Conservation of Neotropical Montane Oak Forests

Author: Maarten Kappelle

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-05-18

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 3540289097

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Covers the range of natural and managed oak forests in the highlands of tropical America. Providing an understanding of ecological patterns and processes that determine the structure and functioning of these forests, this volume aims to serve as a basis for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation.

Ecohydrology of the Andes Páramo Region
Ecohydrology of the Andes Páramo Region

Author: Veronica G. Minaya Maldonado

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-07-14

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 135164730X

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In the Andes mountainous region of South America grasslands known as páramos provide important ecosystem services like sustaining biodiversity, securing carbon sequestration and providing water storage. However, many páramos regions are subject to land use change due to expanding agriculture, intensified grazing and land burning. These are usually caused by socio-economic factors driving local communities to increase their income generation. Trying to achieve a better understanding of the páramos is often restricted to exploring specific details and does not follow an integrated approach or a comprehensive ecosystem analysis. In this research the focus is on better understanding the dominant ecohydrological processes and their interactions. An integrated approach is followed using in-situ measurements, field experiments, laboratory analyses, and numerical modelling. Also, different hydroinformatics tools are used to identify and quantify the ecosystem services provided by the páramos. Moreover, a framework is developed that allows a more realistic quantification and mapping of the main ecosystem services. The approach was carried out for a test site in an Ecological area in North Ecuador. The findings show a clear difference in ecosystem services depending on their altitudinal range and type of vegetation. These results can be used to further develop environmental management and landscape planning strategies, in order to better meet the social goals. This research is aligned with the priorities advocated in the IPCC Report (2007) 'to improve representation of the interactive coupling between ecosystems and the climate system', and with SDG #15: Life on Land 'By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services'.

Colombia Natural Parks
Colombia Natural Parks

Author: Laura Sesana

Publisher: Villegas Asociados

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 519

ISBN-13: 9588156874

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The expansive diversity of Colombia and the beauty of its 51 natural parks are vividly presented in this collection of more than 700 photographs. From the Vía Parque Isla de Salamanca to the Old Providence McBean Lagoon, images of each park's landscape are accompanied by informative text, charts, and maps.

La Cordillera Occidental colombiana, transecto Tatamá
La Cordillera Occidental colombiana, transecto Tatamá

Author: Thomas van der Hammen

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 1002

ISBN-13: 9783443500283

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This volume 6 of the series Studies on Tropical Andean Ecosystems, contains the results of the Colombian Western Cordillera around latitude 5° N. The fieldwork was realized in 1983. The transect consists of two parts, the first between 500 m and 2150 m altitude located slightly South of 5° N, at the latitude of San José del Palmar, and the other slightly North of 5° N, at the latitude of Santuario and the Tatamá massif, between 2150 and 4200 m altitude. The total transect was therefore named: "The Tatamá transect". P.S. In this volume we included some chapters that contain studies of several colleagues in other paramos of the Western Cordillera: Frontino, Farallones de Cali and El Duende. We consider these an important contribution to the knowledge of the area.