Philip W. Rundel Libri

Focusing on the unique ecology of the Mojave Desert, this book explores the delicate balance of its plant and animal life within a challenging environment marked by winter rains and summer droughts. It compiles extensive research data, particularly from Rock Valley, Nevada, to analyze community structure and dynamics in desert ecosystems. Aimed at ecologists and conservation biologists, it highlights the importance of preserving this fragile region amidst various external disruptions.

Human impact on natural landscapes through urbanization and agricultural expansion are becoming more and more dramatic and are the cause of serious environmental problems. This volume examines the effect of landscape disturbance on plant and animal diversity in the five mediterranean-climate regions of the world. It begins with three introductory chapters broadly reviewing the issues of landscape degradation. Further contributions describe regional land use conflicts in each of the five regions. Landscape disturbance and plant diversity, and landscape disturbance and animal diversity are treated in separate chapters. Four contributions deal with demography and ecophysiology in vegetation succession following disturbance. The volume closes with a consideration of the future addressing aspects of environmental politics.