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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010342218 | QE720.2.A35 N49 2014 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
Volume 32 (2013) of the internationally recognized and acclaimed yearbook series 'Palaeoecology of Africa' publishes 9 new interdisciplinary scientific papers on former and recent landscape evolution and on past environments of the African continent (e.g. climate change, vegetation dynamics and growing impact of humans on ecosystems). These papers expand horizons and interconnections to various types and methodologies of research on environmental dynamics from the Pliocene up to the present: review articles and regional case studies cover Nigeria, Cameroon, selected areas of the Congo basin, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. This volume also gives space to researchers from Africa to present their findings to a wider international audience.
Today, by growing awareness of the worldwide impact of Global Change, it has become obvious that aside of the northern and southern hemisphere Polar region also the environmental setting in Africa was subject to considerable changes over time. Natural shifts in climate at least since the Pliocene have caused repeated and strong modification in the area dynamics of ecosystems located in lower latitudes. By a variety of so-called 'proxies' - researched and applied by the different authors from numerous disciplines - an attempt is made to reconstruct the evolution of landscapes over space and time. Besides such spatio-temporal oscillations in forested and savanna areas of Africa this volume of 'Palaeoecology of Africa' also focuses on possible relationships between environmental change and human impact, also on the perception of this phenomenon of recent 'climate changes' by different stakeholders.
This book will be of interest to all concerned with low latitudes ecosystem changes and their respective interpretation in the framework of natural climate and vegetation change evidenced by a variety of methods that allow us to read and learn from 'proxy data' archives. Archaeologists, Palynologists, Palaeobotanist, Geographers, Geologists and Geomorphologists will find this edition equally useful for their work.
Author Notes
Jurgen Runge is Professor of Physical Geography and Geoecology at the Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany. As an environmentalist and consultant he has worked on the evolution of tropical landscapes and former and recent climate changes in lower latitudes for many years. He is the editor of the series "Palaeoecology of Africa" and a member in several scientific editorial boards. The outcome and results of his research has been used for many applied purposes such as regional planning, remote sensing, land use, infrastructure projects and management of natural resources.
Table of Contents
| Palaeoecological conditions in the Sokoto basin and the deep offshore Niger Delta (Nigeria) evidenced by benthonic foraminiferal microfauna |
| A hazy shade of winter: Late Pleistocene environments and behavioural adaptations at Blombos Cave, South Africa |
| Late Quaternary valley and slope deposits and their palaeoenvironmental significance in the Upper Congo Basin, Central Africa |
| Lake level Changes of Barombi Mbo (Cameroon) during late Quaternary. Compared catchment and crater lake records |
| Palaeoenvironmental comments on a Late Holocene debris-flow process in Lake Assom (Adamawa, Cameroon) |
| Palaeoenvironmental Characteristics of the Plio-Pleistocene Chiwondo and Chitimwe Beds (N-Malawi) |
| Why 'Younger Dryas'? Why not 'Antarctic Cold Reversal'? Eksteenfontein revisited |
| Historical and Present-Day Landscape Degradation in Anambra State (Nigeria): Impacts and Remedial Measures |
| Climate change analysis across rainfall-discharge variability in selected river catchments of Kenya and Central African Republic |
