Customer Reviews

Climate Change and Biodiversity

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For many years habitat destruction due to population pressure, and the overuse or misuse of resources, and the spread of invasive species, have been the principal human-related threats to global biodiversity. Now conservation managers are faced with an even bigger menace to that biodiversity; that of human-induced climate change, a further result of overuse or misuse of the planet's resources, and one that is likely to interact unfavourably, and exacerbate the effects of, the other threats. However, this is more than just a problem for conservationists; it is a monumental challenge to human ingenuity. To the laymen climate change is synonymous with global warming and understandably most people are concerned principally with how a change in local weather is going to impact on their quality of life. Although a general increase in temperature is perhaps the most obvious manifestation of climate change a global shift of the world's weather patterns is a prediction few scientists would deny. Some places will be drier, others wetter, the majority hotter, a few maybe cooler. The changes will be unpredictable, and naturally occurring climatic phenomena like El Niño and La Niña, which have global ramifications as far afield as the north Atlantic causing droughts and storms in different places, could change in their frequency and intensity resulting in dire local consequences in some areas.

This volume considers global climate change in terms of the effects on the world's biodiversity. The specific response of biota to these changes is unknown because we do not have precise data on the direction, magnitude or longevity of climate changes and because we cannot make precise predictions about the future rate of anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions or the consequent ecosystem changes resulting from carbon cycle feedback. Regional ecosystem changes are especially difficult to forecast because they are dependent on changes elsewhere and the world's climate is extremely complex and difficult to model with any real degree of certitude. What we do know, though, is that previous periods of global warming associated with natural climatic oscillations occurred in the presence of an undamaged ecosystem and intact habitat and that this is no longer the case. Basically, there are three responses available for a species, though manner of response depends not only on the ecology and life history traits of the species involved, but on responses by other species in the same ecosystem, especially recent invasive species:
1) Adaptation in situ to changing conditions, dependent on physical and behavioural plasticity and/or pre-existent adaptive genetic material.
2) Range migration, dependent upon species mobility and geographic limitation;
3) Extinction.

The volume is divided into six section, each containing self-contained accessible (at student and learned public level) academic texts. A number of useful case studies designed to represent specific events are intercalated between the chapters. Part 1 provides definitions and puts biodiversity and climate change into context. Part 2 looks at present climate changes and current biotic responses. Part 3 uses information from past natural climatic oscillations and makes broad comparisons to see what, if anything, can be learned from them. Part 4 attempts to understand the future and looks at what computer modelling is available to try and predict trends. Part 5 addresses the issues that require tackling immediately and considers the options open to conservation managers. Part 5 looks at policy responses and urges all stakeholders, whether corporate or government, to act now in the best interests of the planet.

In 1992 one of the editors of this volume, Thomas Lovejoy, together with R L Peters, produced one of the seminal works on the subject: Global warming and Biological Biodiversity. Climate Change and Biodiversity is really an update in the light of much more - and much more alarming - new information. But at least there is more information, and there are options that can be taken if we don't wish to see the planet and all of its inhabitants wasted. This could turn out to be a landmark volume and should be read by a wider audience than to whom it is possibly addressed. There is great scope for an even more accessible résumé.

I originally used parts of the book for a research project, but after reading portions I decided that I must have the book and reread it from cover to cover. It has great concepts and it is well edited for a nice flow. If you like wildlife and climate change interests you this is a must read.