Alpine Plant Life - Second edition

Hardback  350pp, 293 illus, 32 color photos  ISBN 3540003479      £46.00

Generations of plant scientists have been fascinated by alpine plant life - with the exposure of organisms to dramatic climatic gradients over a very short distance.

This comprehensive text treats a wide range of topics: alpine climate and soils, plant distribution and the treeline phenomenon, physiological ecology of water-, nutritional- and carbon relations of alpine plants, plant stress and plant development, biomass production, aspects of reproductive biology, and human impacts on alpine vegetation. Geographically the book covers all parts of the world including the tropics.

This new edition of Alpine Plant Life has been fully updated. It now includes over a hundred new references, new diagrams, revised and extended chapters, and a geographic index.

From the reviews of the first edition

"This book should be required reading for all ecologists and ecology students. Modern treatment of alpine ecology and the inclusion of tropics and good treatment of tropical alpine environments makes this book unique. ...the best modern treatment of "functional ecology" of alpine plants. Both the author and the publisher should be commended for this book." (Botanical Electronic News)

"For anyone interested in alpine plant ecology (or ecophysiology) this book is a must, being encyclopaedic in both scope and information content. Though it deals with potentially complex topics, the book has been organised carefully and logically, and the topics are treated with a simple yet elegant writing style which exudes the author's enthusiasm and fascination. It was a delight to read, like a good novel that one is reluctant to set down. ... a most impressive and comprehensive, up-to-the-minute book by undoubtedly the world's foremost alpine plant ecologist and ecophysiologist." (New Zealand Journal of Ecology)

"The structure of the book and the approach in presenting information make it easy to read. Highlighted information throughout the chapters and summaries at the end of each chapter assist readers in recapturing important information. Color plates included at the end of the book serve as a good summary of the book's contents. ... provides the most up-to-date information about the ecology of plants at high altitudes." (Mountain Research and Development)