9.9. Grabherr
Keynote Presentations from the 3rd ALTER-Net Summer School, Peyresq 2 - 14 September 2008
Speaker: Georg Grabherr
georg.grabherr -at- univie.ac.atk
Department of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Title of the talk: Biodiversity in mountain regions (pdf: 21MB)
Summary of the talk by Markus Didion: Students´ summary (pdf)
Abstract
Biodiversity in mountain regionsMountains occur in all life zones, from the humid tropics to the polar regions; common to all high mountains (Hochgebirge) are cold, treeless alpine/nival environments.
Mountains are hot spots of biodiversity: Climate zones are arranged vertically, creating steep environmental gradients over short distances. Mountains, the alpine/nival zone in particular, host a high diversity of habitats whose species richness contribute significantly to the high species diversity of high mountain regions.
Mountains are engines of evolution: Speciation, extiction, ecological diversification, distribution processes formed the diversity patterns of mountain regions. Climate change has always been one of the main drivers.
High mountain ecosystems provide many services to local communities but also to regions outside (e.g. as water towers of the world). Biodiversity is the prerequisite for the diversity of ecosystem services. Diverse life strategies among plants and animals determine the related processes.
Recommended background literature on this presentation:
- Chapin FSIII, Körner Ch (1995) Arctic and alpine biodiversity. Ecological Studies 113, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, New York (Chapters 4, 5, 12)
- Nagy L, Grabherr G, Körner Ch, Thompson DBA (2003) Alpine biodiversity in Europe. Ecological Studies 167, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, New York (Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 24)
- Wielgolaski FE (1997) Polar and Alpine tundra. In: Goodall DW (ed) Ecosystems of the world. Vol 3, Elsevier Amsterdam (Chapter 6: The high mountain ecosystems of the Alps, and other mountain chapters)
- Pauli H, Gottfried M, Reiter K, Klettner Ch, Grabherr G (2007) Signals of range expansions and contractions of vascular plants in the high Alps: observations (1994-2004) at the GLORIA*master site Schrankogel, Tyrol, Austria. Global Change Biology 13:147-156, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01282.x.
