Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change
Mediterranean ecosystems contain some of the highest levels of plant diversity of any region on Earth and are amongst those believed to be most at risk from the consequences of global warming. Yet such ecosystems are not static and have responded to environmental changes at a variety of scales and f...
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crsagepubl:10.1191/0309133303pp387ra 2024-04-28T08:21:54+00:00 Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change Allen, Harriet D. 2003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 27, issue 3, page 359-377 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2003 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra 2024-04-02T08:13:46Z Mediterranean ecosystems contain some of the highest levels of plant diversity of any region on Earth and are amongst those believed to be most at risk from the consequences of global warming. Yet such ecosystems are not static and have responded to environmental changes at a variety of scales and from a variety of causes, particularly climatic and anthropogenic. The purpose of this paper is to review recent research on environmental change and ecosystem response. Long-term records are available to analyse changes over glacial-interglacial cycles, while high resolution records show the sensitivity and coupling of Mediterranean, North Atlantic and Greenland records. For the Holocene, there is continued debate about the relative impact of anthropogenic activity, but there is also increasing recognition that mediterranean-type ecosystems should not be regarded as fragile, degraded landscapes, but are disturbance- adapted. Nevertheless, conservation measures face increasing challenges from contemporary climate change and human pressures. Some insights into the identification of refugial areas, either in glacial times or for present-day conservation purposes, come from molecular Biogeographical studies of past faunal and floral distribution. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland North Atlantic SAGE Publications Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 27 3 359 377 |
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SAGE Publications |
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English |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development Allen, Harriet D. Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Mediterranean ecosystems contain some of the highest levels of plant diversity of any region on Earth and are amongst those believed to be most at risk from the consequences of global warming. Yet such ecosystems are not static and have responded to environmental changes at a variety of scales and from a variety of causes, particularly climatic and anthropogenic. The purpose of this paper is to review recent research on environmental change and ecosystem response. Long-term records are available to analyse changes over glacial-interglacial cycles, while high resolution records show the sensitivity and coupling of Mediterranean, North Atlantic and Greenland records. For the Holocene, there is continued debate about the relative impact of anthropogenic activity, but there is also increasing recognition that mediterranean-type ecosystems should not be regarded as fragile, degraded landscapes, but are disturbance- adapted. Nevertheless, conservation measures face increasing challenges from contemporary climate change and human pressures. Some insights into the identification of refugial areas, either in glacial times or for present-day conservation purposes, come from molecular Biogeographical studies of past faunal and floral distribution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Allen, Harriet D. |
author_facet |
Allen, Harriet D. |
author_sort |
Allen, Harriet D. |
title |
Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
title_short |
Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
title_full |
Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
title_fullStr |
Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Response of past and present Mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
title_sort |
response of past and present mediterranean ecosystems to environmental change |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra |
genre |
Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 27, issue 3, page 359-377 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1191/0309133303pp387ra |
container_title |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
359 |
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377 |
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1797583933514186752 |