Mountain Environments: Changes and Impacts Natural Landscapes and Human Adaptations to Diversity

This book studies mountains with a global perspective, like a complex topographic and topoclimatic mosaic organized in altitudinal belts that are influenced by a huge variability in slopes, soils, lithology and insolation. Furthermore, the presence of lower temperatures, higher precipitation and the seasonal presence of snow create conditions conductive to supporting various life forms and natural geomorphological and hydrological processes. The integration of environmental and human aspects highlights the impacts of human activities and climate fluctuations on soil hydrology, soil erosion, water resources, and landscape/landforms evolution. After presenting the way in which humans (from Prehistory to Alexander von Humboldt) discovered the mountains, subsequent chapters try to underline the importance of mountains in generating water resources and hydropower for lowlands, serving as biodiversity hotspots,  and contributing to cultural diversity. The book delves into the role ofhuman actives in transforming the natural landscapes and creating new cultural landscapes. This exploration considers the significance of altitudinal belts in shaping the spatial and temporal organization of land uses which, in turn, have been determined by population growth and the development of regional and national markets. Additionally, the book illustrates the effect of global change on mountain evolution, exploring their consequences on landscape characteristics and dynamics as well as on the planetary role of the mountains. It concludes by offering a unique perspective on enhancing mountain conservation in order to preserve cultures, land uses, and landscapes.

Introduction.- How are mountains defined and why are they so important?.- The changing world of mountains in the long term.- The discovery of mountains: from enigma to exploitation.- The climate of the mountains, originality and spatial variability.- Snow in the mountains.- Ice and glaciers in the mountains.- The main features of mountain vegetation and its altitudinal organization. The timberline.- Hydrology and fluvial morphology in mountains: those special rivers.- Landforms and geomorphological processes: from summits to valley bottoms.- Creation and organization of mountain landscapes by human societies.- Living in the mountains: The wide variety of land uses and their geo-ecological consequences.- Global change in mountains and its consequences at different scales.- Mountains: As difficult to exploit as they are to conserve. An integrative look at mountain landscapes and societies.

José M. García-Ruiz (Zaragoza, Spain, 1949) is Research Professor (retired) of the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology. He was Head of the University College of La Rioja (1982-1984), Head of the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (1988-90), and President of the Spanish Society of Geomorphology (1994-1996). His main focuses of interest have been the consequences of land-use changes and human activity on soil erosion, runoff generation, fluvial dynamics, and the evolution of water resources at different spatial and temporal scales. Landscape changes and geomorphic processes in relation to deforestation in the subalpine belt have been also a main focus of research, along with glacial evolution in the European mountains, particularly in the Pyrenees and the Iberian Range, during deglaciation and the Holocene.

José Arnáez (Haro, Spain, 1957) is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of La Rioja (Spain) and Director of EUSOT (Erosion, Land Uses, and Land Management) research group. He was Rector of the University of La Rioja (2012-2016) and Executive Director of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) (2017-2020). His research activity has focused, especially, on topics related to soil erosion, environmental hydrology, land management, environmental consequences of agricultural abandonment in mountain areas, and rural development. The research activity has been financed by different projects (European, national, and regional), and the results have been published in national and international scientific journals. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica (Geographical Research Letters).

Teodoro Lasanta (Villamediana de Iregua, La Rioja, Spain, 1959) is Research Professor of the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology. His researchaims to analyze the interrelations between society and the physical environment in rural areas, with special emphasis on the Mediterranean mid-mountains (Pyrenees and Iberian Range). In the last few years, he has been trying to offer a functional and sustainable perspective of land management in fragile and marginal areas, such as the Mediterranean mountains, with special attention to the role of public policies (support to extensive livestock, shrub clearing, reforestation...) in order to provide land managers with models oriented to a balanced use of resources in time and space.

Juan Ignacio López-Moreno (Zaragoza, Spain, 1974) is Doctor of Geography and Scientific Researcher of the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology. His research focuses on the evolution of climate, snow and glaciers in alpine and arctic areas, their response to global change, and the impact of a changing cryosphere on hydrology and landscape evolution.