Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
10
8
6
4
2
0
Atlas
Pyrenees
Taurus
Dinaric Alps Apennines
Pindos
Figure 9.7
Area (% within each mountain range) with significant negative Normalized Differ-
ence Vegetation Index (NDVI) trends from 1982 to 2006. Values are an average of monthly values
from April to October
of suitable climatic conditions and the availability of resources such as host plants
(Merrill
et al.,
2008). Specifically, Merril and colleagues show that climate is the
most likely explanation for the low elevation-range margin of
Aporia crataegi
in the
Sierra de Guadarrama (central Spain) whereas the absence of host plants from high
elevations sets the upper limit. These examples aim to illustrate the complex rela-
tionships between biodiversity and climate change and the difficulty of predicting
future climate change impacts on biodiversity, mainly in the highly biologically and
topographically diverse Mediterranean mountains.
9.6 Conclusion
Mediterranean mountain environments seem to be accelerating towards uncertain
ecological states because of changes associated with climate and land use changes
(Nogues-Bravo
et al.,
2008b). Models forecast significant increases in temperature
and decreases in rainfall for the twenty-first century, and these changes will likely
have an impact on (i) snow pack and glaciers, which also provide key habitats for
alpine specialist species; and (ii) water availability and river discharge systems
and therefore on aquatic and wetland habitats and species. Beyond these indirect
