This book provides the first synthesis of the field for 20 years, bringing together the latest ecological and evolutionary research on the South African global biodiversity hotspots of the Greater Cape Floristic Region - the iconic fynbos and succulent karoo. It explores the historical and modern physical and biological environment of this region, the circumstances and processes which have fostered its remarkable biodiversity, and the role this diversity has played in the emergence of modern humans. It also discusses the challenges of contemporary management and conservation of the region's biodiversity in the face of accelerating global change.
Features
- Encompasses the Greater Cape Floristic Region including the succulent karoo, the world's richest arid region
- Adopts a truly interdisciplinary approach to conservation, bridging the traditional gap between the social and natural sciences
- Provides alternative (Southern Hemisphere) paradigms for understanding and testing ecological theory
1Vegetation types of the Greater Cape Floristic Region
2Landscapes, rock types and climate of the Greater Cape Floristic Region
3Drivers, ecology and management of fire in fynbos
4Floristic and faunal Cape biochoria: do they exist?
5Cenozoic assembly of the Greater Cape flora
6Speciation and extinction in the Greater Cape Floristic Region
7The shifting landscape of genes since the Pliocene: terrestrial phylogeography in the Greater Cape Floristic Region
8Stone age people in a changing South African Greater Cape Floristic Region
9The assembly and function of Cape plant communities in a changing world
10Biotic interactions
11Plant ecophysiological diversity
12Biological invasions in the Cape Floristic Region: history, current patterns, impacts, and management challenges
13Impacts of climate change in the Greater Cape Floristic Region
14Conserving the Cape Floristic Region
15People, the Cape Floristic Region and Sustainability
16Geography, climate and biodiversity: the history and future of mediterranean-type ecosystems
Graduate level students as well as professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of biodiversity and conservation biology. It will appeal to anyone interested in the origins, maintenance and conservation of diversity anywhere in the world.
