Tropical Mountain Forest
Patterns and Processes in a Biodiversity Hotspot
S. Robbert Gradstein
Jurgen Homeier
9781931968799
220 pages
University of Akron Press
Overview
Tropical mountain forests are very rich in species and are generally considered as hotspots of biodiversity. They are also of great ecological importance as sources of water and other ecosystem services for millions of people living in the tropics. However, these valuable forest ecosystems are now increasingly being fragmented, reduced, and disturbed by human interventions. This book originated from a lecture series on the tropical mountain forest organized by the Göttingen Centre of Biodiversity and Ecology and held at the University of Göttingen, Germany, during the summer term of 2007. The volume presents a synthesis of current ecological research in Germany on the tropical mountain forest, from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Author Bio
S. Robbert Gradstein is the former director of the Department of Systematic Botany at Goettingen University, Germany. He serves as editor-in-chief of Taxon. Jurgen Homeier is a senior lecturer at Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, Goettingen University, Germany. Among his research areas are ecology of tropical forests, tree species composition and diversity, tree regeneration and forest dynamics, factors influencing species composition and productivity of tropical forest ecosystems, and plant databases. Dirk Gansert is a senior lecturer at Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, Goettingen University, Germany.
