Landscape Disturbance and Biodiversity in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems

Human impact on natural landscapes through urbanization and agricultural expansion are becoming more and more dramatic and are the cause of serious environmental problems. This volume examines the effect of landscape disturbance on plant and animal diversity in the five mediterranean-climate regions of the world. It begins with three introductory chapters broadly reviewing the issues of landscape degradation. Further contributions describe regional land use conflicts in each of the five regions. Landscape disturbance and plant diversity, and landscape disturbance and animal diversity are treated in separate chapters. Four contributions deal with demography and ecophysiology in vegetation succession following disturbance. The volume closes with a consideration of the future addressing aspects of environmental politics.

Author: Philip W. Rundel

Publisher: Springer

Publication Date: Oct 20, 1998

Number of Pages: 451 pages

Binding: Hardback or Cased Book

ISBN-10: 354064475X

ISBN-13: 9783540644750