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The Biology of Alpine Habitats THE BIOLOGY OF HABITATS SERIES This attractive series of concise, affordable texts provides an integrated overview of the design, physiology, and ecology of the biota in a given habitat, set in the context of the physical environment. Each book describes practical aspects of working within the habitat, detailing the sorts of studies which are possible. Management and conservation issues are also included. The series is intended for naturalists, students studying biological or environmental science, those beginning independent research, and professional biologists embarking on research in a new habitat. The Biology of Rocky Shores Colin Little and J. A. Kitching The Biology of Polar Habitats G. E. Fogg The Biology of Lakes and Ponds Christer Brönmark and Lars-Anders Hansson The Biology of Streams and Rivers Paul S. Giller and Björn Malmqvist The Biology of Mangroves Peter J. Hogarth The Biology of Soft Shores and Estuaries Colin Little The Biology of the Deep Ocean Peter Herring The Biology of Lakes and Ponds, 2nd Edition Christer Brönmark and Lars-Anders Hansson The Biology of Soil Richard D. Bardgett The Biology of Freshwater Wetlands Arnold G. van der Valk The Biology of Peatlands Håkan Rydin and John K. Jeglum The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses, 2nd Edition Peter J. Hogarth The Biology of African Savannahs Bryan Shorrocks The Biology of Polar Regions, 2nd Edition David N. Thomas et al. The Biology of Deserts David Ward The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats David C. Culver and Tanja Pipan The Biology of Rocky Shores, 2nd Edition Colin Little, Gray A. Williams, and Cynthia D. Trowbridge The Biology of Alpine Habitats Laszlo Nagy and Georg Grabherr The Biology of Alpine Habitats Laszlo Nagy and Georg Grabherr 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2009 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Biddles Ltd, King's Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–856703–5 (Hbk.) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 978–0–19–856704–2 (Pbk.) Preface Habitat is one of the oldest concepts of ecology—and an important one, as R. H. Yapp devoted his presidential address to the British Ecological Society in 1921 to discussing this concept in detail (Yapp 1922). Reading