Ecological Consequences of Climate Change

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Researchers and managers alike will enjoy and learn from the case studies of this volume, which can be read individually. Some of the book's most intriguing questions and potential insights for consequences of climate change, however, lie at the interfaces of ecology, conservation, and management, which are bound here through the thread of mechanism."
-KATHARINE J. MACH, Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Global Ecology Stanford, California 94305 USA, in Ecology, 94(1), 2013

"... relevant and timely volume that seeks a merger of results from research on mechanisms responsible for effects of climate change with consequences for management ... valuable reading for ecologists and managers interested and concerned about the nearly ubiquitous effects of rapid climate change."
-The Journal of Wildlife Management, 2012

"Contemporary climate change is a crucial management challenge for wildlife scientists, conservation biologists, and ecologists of the 21st century. ... [This book] provides a mechanistic understanding of biotic responses to climate change in order to better inform conservation and management strategies. ... Bringing together many of the world's leading experts on ecological effects of climate change, this unique and timely volume constitutes a valuable resource for practitioners, researchers, and students."
-Northeastern and Southeastern Naturalist, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2012

There is no shortage of books and journal articles focusing on how climate change has affected or will likely affect ecological systems. This edited volume is a well-organized, thorough contribution to this literature, with a geographic focus on the western US and Canada. The book begins with a summary of recent climate changes in western North America, followed by chapters addressing several geographic scales ranging from single-species and multiple-species (mammals, amphibians, and insects) changes to broader ecosystem alterations induced by climate change. These chapters not only summarize and describe the nature of the ecological changes, but also include discussion of the mechanisms behind the changes (a component often lacking in the more common descriptive literature), as well as sections on management and conservation implications of the changes described. The two chapters in the penultimate section of the book focus on how conservation efforts in protected areas might be used as a critical part of climate change response strategies and what tools natural resource managers might implement to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change. The final chapter looks forward and identifies gaps in the field of climate change ecology.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals.
-D. Goldblum,Northern Illinois University, in CHOICE, May 2012