Arctic Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment

This book addresses the significant environmental changes experienced by high latitude and high altitude ecosystems at the beginning of the 21st c- tury. Increased temperatures and precipitation, reduction in sea ice and glacier ice, the increased levels of UV-radiation and the long-range tra- ported contaminants in arctic and alpine regions are stress factors that challenge terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The large natural variation in the physical parameters of these extreme environments is a key factor in structuring the biodiversity and biotic productivity, and the effect of the new stress factors can be critical for the population structures and the - teraction between species. These changes may also have socio-economic effects if the changes affect the bio-production, which form the basis for the marine and terrestrial food chains. The book is uniquely multidisciplinary and provides examples of va- ous aspects of contemporary environmental change in arctic and alpine - gions. The 21 chapters of the book are organised under the fields of -Climate change and ecosystem response, -Long range transport of poll- ants and ecological impacts, and -UV radiation and biological effects, each also including aspects of the -Socio-economic effects of environmental change. The introductory chapter presents and explains the internal c- nection and integration of all chapters. The added value of these reviews and review-like manuscripts from different disciplines hopefully yields new information about the integrated aspects of environmental change.

Table of Contents:
Arctic-Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment — Introduction.- Integrated aspects of environmental change: Climate change, UV radiation and long range transport of pollutants.- An environment at risk: Arctic indigenous peoples, local livelihoods and climate change.- Climate change and ecosystem response.- Climate variation in the European sector of the Arctic: Observations and scenarios.- Impact of climate change on arctic and alpine lakes: Effects on phenology and community dynamics.- Changes in growing season in Fennoscandia 1982–1999.- Northern climates and woody plant distribution.- Topographic complexity and terrestrial biotic response to high-latitude climate change: Variance is as important as the mean.- The flow of Atlantic water to the Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean.- Climate variability and possible effects on arctic food chains: The role of Calanus.- Adjustment to reality: Social responses to climate changes in Greenland.- UV radiation and biological effects.- Factors, trends and scenarios of UV radiation in arctic-alpine environments.- Effects of enhanced UV-B radiation and epidermal UV screening in arctic and alpine plants.- Effects of UV radiation in arctic and alpine freshwater ecosystems.- Climate control of biological UV exposure in polar and alpine aquatic ecosystems.- Effects of UV radiation on seaweeds.- Climate and ozone change effects on UV-radiation and health risks.- Long range pollutants transport and ecological impacts.- Contaminants, global change and cold regions.- Modeling of long-range transport of contaminants from potential sources in the Arctic Ocean by water and sea ice.- Long-term atmospheric contaminant monitoring for the elucidation of airborne transport processes into polar regions.- Levels and effects ofpersistent organic pollutants in arctic animals.- Arctic health problems and environmental challenges in Greenland.

Review :
From the reviews: "This book of 21 chapters by 46 authors consists of papers presented at the international conference on the topic of the title, organized in Tromso, Norway in 2003. ... Overall, the book is especially useful for scholars of the interaction between ecosystems in the northern part of the world in this case mainly European, and the humans affected by climate changes over which they have no control, but to which they must adapt." (The Polar Times, Vol. 3 (12), 2007) "This 21-chapter edited volume is a synthesis of papers presented at an international conference on 'Arctic Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment,' held in Norway in early 2003. ... The material covered is strongly multidisciplinary in nature, while some of the individual chapters provide authoritative and accessible reviews or treatments of their subject matter, making the volume a valuable literature resource." (Pete Convey, Polar Record, Vol. 44(4), 2008) "This 434-page, multi-author volume touches upon alpine data for, at most, 20 pages. By referring to 'environment' the authors primarily mean climate and pollutants. ... Those topics addressed in the book read well, mostly go into great depth, and are nicely supported by diagrams, some of which are in color. ... All in all, this book ... should be on the bookshelves at all Arctic Circle research institutions, particularly those that focus on aquatic life." (Christian Korner, EOS, Vol. 88 (16), April, 2007)