Climate Change, Ecology and Systematics

Climate change has shaped life in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Understanding the interactions between climate and biodiversity is a complex challenge to science. With contributions from 60 key researchers, this book examines the ongoing impact of climate change on the ecology and diversity of life on earth. It discusses the latest research within the fields of ecology and systematics, highlighting the increasing integration of their approaches and methods. Topics covered include the influence of climate change on evolutionary and ecological processes such as adaptation, migration, speciation and extinction, and the role of these processes in determining the diversity and biogeographic distribution of species and their populations. This book ultimately illustrates the necessity for global conservation actions to mitigate the effects of climate change in a world that is already undergoing a biodiversity crisis of unprecedented scale.

Trevor R. Hodkinson is Senior Lecturer in Botany at the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. He is Head of the Botany Molecular Laboratory and Assistant Curator of the Herbarium. He specializes in the research fields of molecular systematics, genetic resources and taxonomy. Michael B. Jones holds the Chair of Botany in the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. He is a plant ecophysiologist and his research focuses on the study of climate-plant interactions, particularly on the effects of climate on photosynthesis, growth and primary productivity. Stephen Waldren is Senior Lecturer in Botany and Curator of the Trinity College Dublin Botanic Garden. His research interests are in the areas of conservation biology and phylogeography. John A. N. Parnell, currently Head of the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin, is Professor of Systematic Botany and Curator of the Herbarium. His research interests are predominantly in the fields of planttaxonomy and systematics, working mainly on the floras of Ireland and Thailand.