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Full Description
South Africa's fynbos region has intrigued biologists for centuries. It has achieved iconic status as a locus of megadiversity and therefore a place to study the ecological underpinnings of massive evolutionary radiations. Researchers have made great advances over the past two decades in unravelling the complexities of fynbos ecology and evolution, and the region has contributed significant insights into the adaptive radiations of large lineages, conservation science, pollination biology, invasive plant biology, and palaeoanthropology. Lessons from the fynbos offer much of value for understanding the origin, maintenance, and conservation of diversity anywhere in the world.
This book provides the first synthesis of the field for 20 years, bringing together the latest ecological and evolutionary research on the South African global biodiversity hotspots of the Greater Cape Floristic Region - the iconic fynbos and succulent karoo. It explores the historical and modern physical and biological environment of this region, the circumstances and processes which have fostered its remarkable biodiversity, and the role this diversity has played in the emergence of modern humans. It also discusses the challenges of contemporary management and conservation of the region's biodiversity in the face of accelerating global change.
Contents
1. Vegetation types of the Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 2. Landscapes, rock types and climate of the Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 3. Drivers, ecology and management of fire in fynbos ; 4. Floristic and faunal Cape biochoria: do they exist? ; 5. Cenozoic assembly of the Greater Cape flora ; 6. Speciation and extinction in the Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 7. The shifting landscape of genes since the Pliocene: terrestrial phylogeography in the Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 8. Stone age people in a changing South African Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 9. The assembly and function of Cape plant communities in a changing world ; 10. Biotic interactions ; 11. Plant ecophysiological diversity ; 12. Biological invasions in the Cape Floristic Region: history, current patterns, impacts, and management challenges ; 13. Impacts of climate change in the Greater Cape Floristic Region ; 14. Conserving the Cape Floristic Region ; 15. People, the Cape Floristic Region and Sustainability ; 16. Geography, climate and biodiversity: the history and future of mediterranean-type ecosystems