Tropical Montane Cloud Forests: Science for Conservation and Management

Description

This volume represents a uniquely comprehensive overview of our current knowledge on tropical montane cloud forests. 72 chapters cover a wide spectrum of topics including cloud forest distribution, climate, soils, biodiversity, hydrological processes, hydrochemistry and water quality, climate change impacts, and cloud forest conservation, management, and restoration. The final chapter presents a major synthesis by some of the world's leading cloud forest researchers, which summarizes our current knowledge and considers the sustainability of these forests in an ever-changing world. This book presents state-of-the-art knowledge concerning cloud forest occurrence and status, as well as the biological and hydrological value of these unique forests. The presentation is academic but with a firm practical emphasis. It will serve as a core reference for academic researchers and students of environmental science and ecology, as well as practitioners (natural resources management, forest conservation) and decision makers at local, national, and international levels.

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. Frederick N. Scatena is Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1988 he has served as the Principal Co-PI of the National Science Foundation's Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Project and since 2009 as the Lead PI of the NSF Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, both in Puerto Rico. Professor Scatena has worked in tropical forest hydrology for the past 32 years, on topics ranging from water supply to the influence of hurricanes on the biogeochemistry and water quality of Caribbean streams. He has been awarded the International Institute of Tropical Forestry Puerto Rican Ecology Award (2008), and various USDA Research Scientist Awards. Lawrence Hamilton is a Professor Emeritus (Cornell University) and former Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawai'i. He has authored over 300 publications throughout his career and is known popularly as the 'father of cloud forests' due to his successful campaign over many years to get these unique forests on the international conservation agenda. His awards include Forest Conservationist of the Year from the New York State Conservation Council (1969); the Environmental Achiever Award from Friends of UNEP (1987); the Packard International Parks Merit Award from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (2003); and the prestigious King Albert Gold Medal for Mountain Conservation Leadership (2004). In 2008 he was named an Honorary Member of IUCN, and in the same year was profiled as one of the 20 global 'Earth Movers' by IUCN.

'The editors and authors have done a tremendous job in assembling a comprehensive volume on the past and present of the biological diversity, hydrology, conservation and sustainable management of the Tropics' montane cloud forests. This book provides us with a wealth of knowledge that underscores the urgency to save the world's tropical highland cloud forests.' Maarten Kappelle, University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Lead Scientist, Nature Conservancy Science Program, Latin America 'This book contains the most up-to-date synthesis of the scientific understanding of tropical montane cloud forests. It is global and long-term in scope and is authored by the top scientific minds working on the subject. It will be essential reading for those interested in a holistic understanding of an ecosystem type at the cross hairs of climate and global environmental change.' Ariel E. Lugo, Director of the Institute of Tropical Forestry, Puerto Rico - US Department of Agriculture 'Representing a compilation of the currently available scientific knowledge by the most important cloud forest specialists of the world, this book provides conservationists and forest managers all the arguments and tools to convince policy-makers they should protect these forests. Use it!' Willem Ferwerda, Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), National Committee of The Netherlands 'This is an incredibly rich assemblage of work by leaders in an important field, and deserves to be on the shelves of all libraries of natural resource institutions ... It is also an exceptionally good launch pad for all further work on cloud forests that remains to be done ... I am very glad I shall have this book to hand as I attempt to conserve my forest for the future.' Jeff Sayer, International Forestry Review '... attractively designed ... offers a presentation of copious themes and a vast collection of references, and thus should be considered an important source for experts to enlarge their knowledge of TMCF ecosystems.' Frontiers of Biogeography '... this book provides a valuable platform on which to base future research, and certainly no one active in cloud forest research can afford to be without a copy.' Adrian Newton, Mountain Research and Development '... an extraordinary compilation of individual studies that will be of value to all working on this precious ecosystem ... many contributions provide extensive lists of references ...' David L. Hawksworth, Biodiversity and Conservation