Synopsis
Until relatively recently the valuable tropical montane cloud forests (hereaf ter usually referred to as TMCFs) of the world had scarcely come under the assaults experienced by the downslope montane and lowland forests. TMCFs are not hospitable environments for human occupation, and their remoteness (except in places near Andean high mountain settlements and in the Ethiopian Highlands) and difficult terrain have given them de facto protection. The ad jacent upper montane rain forests have indeed been under assault for timber, fuelwood, and for conversion to grazing and agriculture for many decades, even centuries in the Andes, but true cloud forest has only come under ex ploitation as these lower elevational resources have disappeared. They have also been "nibbled" at from above where there have been alpine grasslands under grazing pressure. Increasingly now, however, these cloud forest eco systems are being fragmented, reduced, and disturbed at an alarming rate. It is now becoming recognized that steps must be taken rapidly to increase our understanding of TMCF and to achieve their conservation, because: their water-capture function is extremely important to society; • their species endemism is high; they serve as refugia for endangered species being marginalized in these environments by increasingly transformed lower elevation ecosystems; they are relatively little studied; yet, their value to science is extremely high; they have low resilience to disturbance; vii viii Preface and many other reasons, which will be discussed subsequently in this publi cation.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description
Presents a uniquely comprehensive overview of our current knowledge on tropical montane cloud forests. 72 chapters by some of the world's leading researchers examine cloud forest occurrence and status, their biological and hydrological value, and their sustainability. An invaluable reference for researchers, students and practitioners in management and conservation.
About the Author
Leendert Adriaan (Sampurno) Bruijnzeel is a Professor of Land Use and Hydrology based at VU University, Amsterdam. He has 35 years of experience with forest hydrological research in the humid tropics, mostly in South-East Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. His main research interests include the water and nutrient dynamics of tropical forests, above all montane cloud forests; his other main research topics include the hydrological impacts of land-cover change (deforestation/reforestation) and erosion and sediment transport processes. Professor Bruijnzeel is the author of two other books and the co-editor of Forests, Water, and People in the Humid Tropics also published by Cambridge University Press (2005) and UNESCO as part of the International Hydrology Series. In 2005 he received the prestigious Busk Medal from the Royal Geographical Society.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
