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Balkan Biodiversity is the first attempt to synthesise our current understanding of biodiversity in the great European hot spot. The conservation of biodiversity is one of today's great ecological challenges but Balkan biodiversity is still poorly understood, in a region with complex physical geography and a long history of political conflict. The Balkans exhibit outstanding levels of endemism, particularly in caves and ancient lakes such as Ohrid; lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia they are also renowned as a focus of Pleistocene glacial refugia. This volume unites a diverse group of international researchers for the first time. Its interdisciplinary approach gives a broad perspective on biodiversity at the level of the gene, species and ecosystem, including contributions on temporal change. Biological groups include plants, mammals, spiders and humans, cave-dwelling organisms, fish, aquatic invertebrates and algae. The book should be read by zoologists, botanists, speleobiologists, palaeoecologists, palaeolimnologists and environmental scientists.
List of contents
1 Pattern and process in Balkan Biodiversity - an overview.- 2 The physical geography of the Balkans and nomenclature of place names.- 1: Terrestrial.- 3 East Mediterranean vegetation and climate change.- 4 The Balkans as prime glacial refugial territory of European temperate trees.- 5 Quaternary biotic interactions in Slovenia and adjacent regions: the vegetation.- 6 A quantitative assessment of Balkan mammal diversity.- 7 Karyotypic variation in mammals of the Balkan Peninsula.- 8 Late Pleistocene rodent dispersal in the Balkans.- 9 Early hominids in the Balkans.- 10 The biodiversity of amphibians and reptiles in the Balkan Peninsula.- 11 A zoogeographical review of the spiders (Araneae) of the Balkan Peninsula.- 2: Aquatic.- 12 Distribution pattern of the aquatic fauna of the Balkan Peninsula.- 13 The bivalve mollusc fauna of ancient lakes in the context of the historical biogeography of the Balkan region.- 14 A faunistic review of the modern and fossil molluscan fauna from Lake Pamvotis, Ioannina, an ancient lake in NW Greece: implications for endemism in the Balkans.- 15 Fossil ostracods, faunistics and the evolution of regional biodiversity.- 16 The potential of diatoms as biodiversity indicators in the Balkans.- 17 The current status of Adriatic fish biodiversity.- 3: Subterranean.- 18 A census of the obligate subterranean fauna of the Balkan Peninsula.- 19 Diversity of Copepoda (Crustacea) in the unsaturated zone of Karstic caves of Slovenia.
Summary
Balkan Biodiversity is the first attempt to synthesise our current understanding of biodiversity in the great European hot spot. The conservation of biodiversity is one of today’s great ecological challenges but Balkan biodiversity is still poorly understood, in a region with complex physical geography and a long history of political conflict. The Balkans exhibit outstanding levels of endemism, particularly in caves and ancient lakes such as Ohrid; lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia they are also renowned as a focus of Pleistocene glacial refugia. This volume unites a diverse group of international researchers for the first time. Its interdisciplinary approach gives a broad perspective on biodiversity at the level of the gene, species and ecosystem, including contributions on temporal change. Biological groups include plants, mammals, spiders and humans, cave-dwelling organisms, fish, aquatic invertebrates and algae. The book should be read by zoologists, botanists, speleobiologists, palaeoecologists, palaeolimnologists and environmental scientists.
Additional text
From the reviews:
"This is an attractive book that is rich in both information and ideas, with an abundance of tables, species lists, maps and other illustrations. The editors have done an excellent job of ensuring that the papers are all presented to a consistently high standard. A subject index is provided. It should be appreciated by those with an interest in biodiversity and conservation, and is an essential volume for anyone who does, or intends to do, research on any aspect of biodiversity in the Balkans." (D. J. Horne, Journal of Paleolimnology, Vol. 38, 2007)
Report
From the reviews:
"This is an attractive book that is rich in both information and ideas, with an abundance of tables, species lists, maps and other illustrations. The editors have done an excellent job of ensuring that the papers are all presented to a consistently high standard. A subject index is provided. It should be appreciated by those with an interest in biodiversity and conservation, and is an essential volume for anyone who does, or intends to do, research on any aspect of biodiversity in the Balkans." (D. J. Horne, Journal of Paleolimnology, Vol. 38, 2007)
