Valuing Chaparral Ecological, Socio-Economic, and Management Perspectives [Hardcover]

Chaparral shrubland ecosystems are an iconic feature of the California landscape, and a highly biodiverse yet highly flammable backdrop to some of the fastest growing urban areas in the United States. Chaparral-type ecosystems are a common element of all of the worlds Mediterranean-type climate regions  of which California is one  yet there is little public appreciation of the intrinsic value and the ecosystem services that these landscapes provide. Valuing Chaparral is a compendium of contributions from experts in chaparral ecology and management, with a focus on the human relationship with chaparral ecosystems. Chapters cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from biodiversity to ecosystem services like water provision, erosion control, carbon sequestration and recreation; from the history of human interactions with chaparral to current education and conservation efforts; and from chaparral restoration and management to scenarios of the future under changing climate, land use, and human population. Valuing Chaparral will be of interest to resource managers, the research community, policy makers, and the public who live and work in the chaparral dominated landscapes of California and other Mediterranean-type climate regions.?

Foreword

?Preface

?Acknowledgments

?Chapter 1 California Chaparral and its Global Significance

?Chapter 2 Drivers of Chaparral Plant Diversity

?Chapter 3 Faunal Diversity in Chaparral Ecosystems

?Chapter 4 Native Peoples Relationship to the California Chaparral

?Chapter 5. Essential Landscape: An Environmental History of Chaparral Ecosystems in California

?Chapter 6 Biogeochemical Cycling of Carbon and Nitrogen in Chaparral Dominated Ecosystems

?Chapter 7 Sediment Delivery, Flood Control, and Physical Eclãœ