Climate Change, Ecology and Systematics

by Edited by Trevor R. Hodkinson , Michael B. Jones , Stephen Waldren , John A. N. Parnell

• ISBN13: 9780521766098
• ISBN10: 0521766095
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-06
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Climate change has shaped life in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Understanding the interactions between climate and biodiversity is a complex challenge to science. With contributions from 60 key researchers, this book examines the ongoing impact of climate change on the ecology and diversity of life on earth. It discusses the latest research within the fields of ecology and systematics, highlighting the increasing integration of their approaches and methods. Topics covered include the influence of climate change on evolutionary and ecological processes such as adaptation, migration, speciation and extinction, and the role of these processes in determining the diversity and biogeographic distribution of species and their populations. This book ultimately illustrates the necessity for global conservation actions to mitigate the effects of climate change in a world that is already undergoing a biodiversity crisis of unprecedented scale.

Author Biography

Trevor R. Hodkinson is Senior Lecturer in Botany at the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. He is Head of the Botany Molecular Laboratory and Assistant Curator of the Herbarium. He specializes in the research fields of molecular systematics, genetic resources and taxonomy. Michael B. Jones holds the Chair of Botany in the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. He is a plant ecophysiologist and his research focuses on the study of climate-plant interactions, particularly on the effects of climate on photosynthesis, growth and primary productivity. Stephen Waldren is Senior Lecturer in Botany and Curator of the Trinity College Dublin Botanic Garden. His research interests are in the areas of conservation biology and phylogeography. John A. N. Parnell, currently Head of the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin, is Professor of Systematic Botany and Curator of the Herbarium. His research interests are predominantly in the fields of planttaxonomy and systematics, working mainly on the floras of Ireland and Thailand.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Introduction
Integrating ecology and systematics in climate change research	p. 3
Climate modelling and deep-time climate change	p. 44
The perils of addressing long-term challenges in a short-term world: making descriptive taxonomy predictive	p. 67
Adaptation, speciation and extinction
Global climate and extinction: evidence from the fossil record	p. 99
Long-term fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 concentration influence plant speciation rates	p. 122
Wood anatomy and climate change	p. 141
Savanna biome evolution, climate change and the ecological expansion of C4 grasses	p. 156
Climate warming results in phenotypic and evolutionary changes in spring events: a mini-review	p. 176
Terrestrial green algae: systematics, biogeography and expected responses to climate change	p. 201
Biogeography, migration and ecological niche modelling
Biodiversity informatics for climate change studies	p. 231
Climate envelope models in systematics and evolutionary research: theory and practice	p. 243
Biogeography of Cyclamen: an application of phyloclimatic modelling	p. 265
Cenozoic climate changes and the demise of Tethyan laurel forests: lessons for the future from an integrative reconstruction of the past	p. 280
The impact of climate change on the origin and future of East African rainforest trees	p. 304
Hybridisation, introgression and climate change: a case study of the tree genus Fraxinus (Oleaceae)	p. 320
Conservation
Assessing the effectiveness of a protected area network in the face of climatic change	p. 345
Documenting plant species in a changing climate: a case study from Arabia	p. 365
A critical appraisal of the meaning and diagnosability of cryptic evolutionary diversity, and its implications for conservation in the face of climate change	p. 380
Climate change and Cyperaceae	p. 439
An interdisciplinary review of climate change trends and uncertainties: lichen biodiversity, arctic-alpine ecosystems and habitat loss	p. 457
Climate change and oceanic mountain vegetation: a case study of the montane heath and associated plant communities in western Irish mountains	p. 490
Index	p. 516
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