Climate Change and Biodiversity

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Edited by Thomas E. Lovejoy and Lee Hannah

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In the past, climate changes have had dramatic repercussions, including large numbers of extinctions and extensive shifts in species ranges. As human-induced climate change accelerates, scientists and policymakers involved with biodiversity conservation need authoritative information in order to design effective plans and responses. Climate Change and Biodiversity meets this need. Written for the specialist as well as the concerned citizen, this important book presents a comprehensive view of the newest research and thinking on climate change and biological diversity.
Contributors to the volume, all leading researchers in their fields, discuss: what is now known about past climate changes in different areas of the world; recent trends in climate change and projections for the future; ways that particular organisms are responding to climate change; conservation challenges, including social and policy issues; and other critical topics in climate change biology.

Thomas E. Lovejoy is president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. He coedited the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed Global Warming and Biological Diversity, published in 1992. Lee Hannah is senior climate change biologist, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International.

"Global environmental challenges demand unity in science, policy and action. With its focus on climate change and biodiversity, this volume is another important milestone in progress toward that urgent goal."—Alison Richard, University of Cambridge

“This book makes a timely contribution in an important area. It is the only up-to-date, comprehensive, single book that covers the field of biodiversity in the context of climate change.”—Brian Walker, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra

“Climate Change and Biodiversity provides the up-to-the-minute overview of this complex global interaction. It is a book of monumental importance to present and future generations and is a keystone work for science, policy and public understanding alike. Anyone concerned about the future of our planet and humanity needs this book.”—Bruce Babbitt, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior

"This book will be a milestone in the emerging discipline of climate change biology. No issue is more important for the global environment; the impressive line-up of experts here gives it definitive coverage."—Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard University

“Climate Change and Biodiversity provides current, state-of-the-art understanding of global change effects on biodiversity, and it offers insights into moving the discipline forward, scientifically. I foresee that this book will become the benchmark for much future work in this important area.”—Oswald Schmitz, Yale University

"Tom Lovejoy and Lee Hannah provide an informative and scientifically-based presentation of climate change and effects on biodiversity. The authors of the 24 chapters present authoritative information from which effective plans and responses to climate change can be designed. Recommended reading for those who need to understand tthe effects of climate change on ecosystems."—Rita R. Colwell, University of Maryland

"Most discussions of climate change concentrate on how it will affect humans, with sea levels rising, increasing incidence of extreme events, and so on. By contrast, this important book focuses on the likely impacts of climate change on biological diversity. Beginning with lessons learned from the fossil record about the consequences of past changes in climate, the book goes on to survey the climate-related changes in the distribution and abundance of plants and animals that are already documented, and looks ahead to the acceleration in extinction rates expected under various assumptions about future inputs of greenhouse gases. This multiauthored volume is a must-read for anyone, from layperson through student to expert, with an interest in conservation biology, or in the interplay between the global economy and the imperiled ecosystem services we too often take for granted."—Robert M. May, President of the Royal Society and Zoology Department, Oxford University

"Is the climate of our planet changing? If it is, what will be the effects on the animals and plants with which we share the earth? Here, at last, is authoritative evidence from around the world for all those who wish to find answers to those questions and to decide what must be done in the light of them."—Sir David Attenborough, author of Life on Earth: A Natural History

"Climate change threatens the very biological underpinnings of civilization. This book provides a more than timely overview of the daunting effects of climate change on biodiversity and vice versa. Anyone serious about the environment and the future of humanity needs to understand this issue. This will be a classic contribution to understanding our choices and what the future can hold."—Ted Turner, Philanthropist

"This is a serious book and a cautionary tale about a complex problem: global warming and life on Earth as we know it and want to preserve it. Serious and enormously useful to the layman and scientist alike. I am immediately making room for it on my book-shelf."—Tom Brokaw

"Climate Change and Biodiversity reminds us of what is at stake if we continue to ignore global warming. From the polar regions to the coral reefs to isolated mountain habitats, the impacts of our warming planet are ubiquitous, and threaten to render insignificant current efforts to protect biodiversity. The trends described in this book should be of concern to legislators and the public alike, and we all should do all that we can to avoid the worst of climate change in the future."—U.S. Senator John McCain and U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman

"Deplorable climate change will transform natural system in important ways. The authors have produced a state of the science collection explaining the data and projecting effects on biodiversity. Past, present and anticipated future trends are all considered in this comprehensive volume."—William K. Reilly, Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency (1989-93)

"The most admirable feature of this book . . .is that its chapters address a spectrum of issues within a single conceptual framework. . . . The articles contributed by Terry Root, Chris Thomas, Lesley Hughes and Camille Parmesan offer conclusive evidence that many plants and animals are already reacting to climate change. . . . The book reflects the aggregate expertise of 66 leading scientists. . . . As long as we largely persist with 'business as usual' . . . we are essentially saying that the consequences for biodiversity are such that we can pretty well ignore them. That, at least, is the implicit message that certain 'sit on your hands' scientists are sending out to policy makers and political leaders as well as the public at large. This book will go far to modify that message—and, let us earnestly hope, will generate even more bang than its predecessor volume, Global Warming and Biological Diversity."—Norman Myers, American Scientist

"This volume, like its predecessor, Global Warming and Biological Diversity, will become the standard text on climate change as a driver of biodiversity change."—Shahid Naeem, BioScience

“This is a well-written treatise on the past, present, and future effects of climate change on plant and animal biodiversity. It thoroughly explores conservation biology and policy implications reltaed to these effects. Written by a team of eminent international researcher in climate change and conservation biology, the book is well illustrated and comprehensive in nature. . . . It is destined to become a classic. . . . Exceptionally well written. . . . This reviewer found it to be a 'can't put down' read. . . . The editors deserve congratulations for an exceptionally fine and timely book. Highly recommended.”—Choice

"An important book, remarkable for its breadth, depth, and overall intellectual weight. It is both a progress report on our growing understanding of anthropogenic climate change and an urgent call to action for the sake of Earth's ecological and evolutionary processes."—David M. Armstrong, Environment

"Writing for the specialist as well as the concerned citizen, the authors present a comprehensive view of the newest research and thinking on climate change and biological diversity."—Natural Resources Journal

"If the government of a great nation will not act to protect the livelihoods of its own citizens, it is unlikely to take political risks to defend a few animals and plants. Lovejoy and Hannah's book may well be the only kind of resource we have: an attempt to let those who have the power to act to know what the intelligence system of science is saying, and that it should be believed."—Paul Colinvaux, Nature

'...a comprehensive, authoritative overview of the process and implications of global warming.' - Plant Talks

"Yale has produced an attractive package with clear text and presentation...an interesting, serious and useful collection of essays...a quality informative read. ... Climate change is a complex phenomenon. This book is recommended for all who have concerns about future ecosystems and biodiversity; it is the first I have encountered that realistically and scientifically attempts to tackle these concerns." - John F. Potter, The Environmentalist

"A comprehensive look."—Northeastern Naturalist

ISBN: 9780300104257
Publication Date: April 11, 2005

440 pages, 7 x 10
107 b/w + 11 color illus.

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