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Mountain biodiversity at risk: the case of the Alps
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Link Orto Botanico del Monte Baldo The Biodiversity and Biological Collections Other links Photogallery > Otonga2004 > Ecuador2006 > A world of biodiversity |
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The biodiversity of the mountain areas of our planet is more and more threatened. Soil use modifications, urbanization, not sustainable tourism, introduction of alien species, climate change are the main factors that are determining a general biodiversity decrease in the mountain environments. All over the world, botanists are reporting the invasion of hundreds of alien vegetal species in the high altitude habitats. These “migrations” are occurring in all continents: from the Rocky Mountains to the Andes, from the Australian Alps to the Hawaiian Mountains, from the Caucasus to the Alps. Alpine flora has 4.491 vegetal species, about 500 of which endemic. Therefore, the Alpine region has the richest flora of the Central Europe, but also the most shocked one from the climate change, because here the warming is slightly above global average and its effects are heavier.
If the actual protected areas are not enlarged and connected in the next future and the biodiversity is not more protected out from these areas, many species disappear from the Alps. Nearly 45% of the vegetal species of the Alps is at risk of extinction within the next century, according to Wolfgang Pfefferkorn of the CIPRA (International Commission for Protection of the Alps). The nival species, that live at the highest altitudes, like the glacier buttercup (Ranunculus glacialis) or the androsace of the Alps (Androsace alpina) are already at risk of extinction.
In the next future, the conservation of biodiversity will depend most of all on political choices that strongly lead the territory management. Today, biodiversity represents an inalienable value for human community: the hydrogeological equilibrium, the landscape architecture and the availability of natural resources are directly referable to its conservation; pratically, the quality of life of all the living organisms, man included, depends on biodiversity.
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05.09.2010  The Third Volume of the WBA Handbooks Our members Pier Mauro Giachino and Dante Vailati ... Continue |
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02.08.2010  Biodiversity Week on Monte Baldo, "Hortus Italiae"! The World Biodiversity Association, in collaboration ... Continue |
10.07.2010  5 cents per square metre of Amazonia! Help us to save 100 Hectares of Amazonia! Since it ... Continue |
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| 08.06.2010 GREECE 2010: already 9 new species! | |||||
| 24.05.2010 WBA to the National Conference on Biodiversity | |||||
| 21.04.2010 "Mantids of the Euro-Mediterranean Area" finally published! | |||||
| 02.04.2010 27th April 2010: Ordinary Assembly of the WBA | |||||
| 03.02.2010 Nine new species of Laboulbeniales from Ecuador! | |||||
| 25.01.2010 Humans Caused Extinction of Australian Megafauna | |||||
| 02.01.2010 Five more new species of Phasmidae from Philippines! | |||||
| 24.12.2009 A JOYFUL HOLIDAY SEASON! | |||||
| 21.12.2009 "Illustrated Flora of the Monte Baldo" presented in Trento | |||||
| 23.11.2009 The didactic kit "Conservation by Education" in distribution | |||||
| 13.11.2009 A bridge to the Otongachi Forest | |||||
MEXICO 2010