Conservation of Andean Forests

This book addresses recent and novel studies with ecological and conservation relevance of forest ecosystems in the Andes. It provides new insights in a multi-scale perspective into forest management, landscape connectivity changes, forest biomass patterns and species composition, and biological invasions of Andean forests, in a context of anthropogenic disturbance and global change. The studies cover gradients of forest ecosystems from Venezuela to southern Chile.

Chapter 1 The Andean Flanks: Montane Cloud Forests’ Untold BioCultural Heritage and Ecological Legacies.- Chapter 2 Cloud forests in the Venezuelan Andes: A review of functional characteristics at ecosystem and plant scale.- Chapter 3 Litterfall dynamics along a successional gradient in a global hotspot of biodiversity in the tropical Andes.- Chapter 4 The significance of successional forests in human-modified Andean forests landscape.- Chapter 5 Effects of Urban Growth and Local Disturbances on Extent and composition of High Andean Forests.- Chapter 6 A multi-scale ecological approach for the conservation and restoration of Venezuelan Andean cloud forests.- Chapter 7 Forest biomass and species diversity for conservation status assessment in subtropical Andean forests.- Chapter 8 Forest connectivity loss surpasses deforestation in the Colombian Andean forests.- Chapter 9 Phenology and potential primary productivity response to climate change in the Andean Mediterranean forests: a remote sensing analysis.- Chapter 10 Non-native plants in the Andes ecoregions: current patterns and future perspectives.- Chapter 11 The role of environmental instruments in the conservation of Andean Forests in Ecuador.

Nicola Clerici is Full Professor at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. He holds a BSc in Environmental Sciences, an MSc in Remote Sensing and a PhD in Ecology. His interests cover the areas of landscape ecology, applied remote sensing and conservation. His research activities focus on: i) the use of Earth Observation data for modelling landscape change trajectories and their ecological effects, and ii) the development of spatially explicit indicators for ecosystem services modelling. He is also active in the policy for forest conservation discussion. Nicola Clerici is author of more than 45 research publications in the environmental area and an author of the Colombian IPBES report. He is Associate Editor of Landscape & Urban Planning and Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation.