Originally published in 1974, Arctic and Alpine Environments examines, the relatively simple ecosystems of arctic and alpine lands that still occupy extensive areas little disturbed by modern technology. The book argues that there is a necessity for carefully controlled development of the resources of these regions and suggests that there is a risk of irreversible disturbance without full understanding of these regions. This book provides a detailed documentation of cold-stressed arctic and alpine terrestrial environments and systematically deals with the present and past physical environment – climate, hydrology and glaciology; biota – treeline, vegetation, vertebrate zoology, and historical biogeography; abiotic processes – geomorphological and pedological and the role of man – bioclimatology, archaeology and technological impact, including radioecology. The book will appeal to academics and students of environmental and biological science, as well as providing a significant source for conservationists’, government agencies and industrial organizations.
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Introduction, Roger G. Barry and Jack D. Ives
Part I: Present Environments
2. Climate
2a. Arctic Climate, Roger G. Barry and F. Kenneth Hare
2b. Contribution to the Comparative Meteorology of Mountain Area, Hermann Flohn
2c. Topo-and Microclimatology in Alpine Areas, Roger G. Barry and Claudia C. Van Wie
2d. Snow, Donald Alford
3. Hydrology,
3a. Arctic Hydrology, Donald K. MacKay and Olav H. Løken
3b. Alpine Hydrology, H. Olav Slaymaker
4. Ice
4a. Permafrost, Jack D. Ives
4b. Present Arctic Ice Cover, Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith
4c. Present Alpine Ice Cover, Gunnar Østrem
Part II: Past Environments
5. Palaeoclimatology, James A. Larsen and Roger G. Barry
6. History of Glaciation
6a. Cainzoic Glaciations and Crustal Movements of the Arctic, John T. Andrews
6b. Alpine Quaternary Glaciation, Helmut Heuberger
Part III: Present Biota
7. Treeline
7a. Ecology of the Northern Continental Forest Border, James A. Larsen
7b. Alpine Timberlines, Peter Wardle
8. Vegetation
8a. Arctic and Alpine Vegetation: Plant Adaptation to Cold Summer Climates, W. Dwight Billings
8b. Tundra Primary Productivity, Patrick J. Webber
9. Terrestrial Vertebrates, Robert S. Hoffmann
Part IV: Development of Biota
10. Historical Plant Geography
10a. Origin and Evolution of the Arctic and Alpine Floras, Áskell Löve and Doris Löve
10b. Biological Refugia and the Nunatak Hypothesis, Jack D. Ives
11. Palaeoecology and Palaeozoogeography
11a. Arctic North American Palaeoecology: The Recent History of Vegetation and Climate Deduced From Pollen Analysis, Harvey Nichols
11b. Palaeolithic Players on the American Stage: Man’s Impact on the Late Pleistocene Megafauna, Paul S. Martin
Part V: Abiotic Processes
12. Geomorphic Processes
12a. Geomorphic Processes in the Arctic, J. Brain Bird
12b. The Geomorphic Processes of the Alpine Environment, Nel Caine
13. Soils
13a. Arctic Soils, Samuel Rieger
13b. Alpine Soils, John L. Retzer
Part VI: Man in Cold Environments
14. Bioclimatology
14a. Physiological Responses to Cold Environments, Claudia C. Van Wie
14b. Man Living at High Altitudes, Robert F. Grover
15. Archaeology
15a. The Peopling of Arctic North America, Robert McGhee
15b. Prehistoric Occupation of the Alpine Zone in the Rocky Mountains, Wilfred M. Husted
Part VII: Man’s Impact on the Environment
16. Radioecology, William S. Osburn Jr
17. The Impact of Twentieth-Century Technology
17a. Small-Scale Examples
17a.1. The Impact of Motor Vehicles, Jack D. Ives
17a.2. The Snowmobile in Eskimo Culture, William S. Osburn Jr
17a.3. The Snowmobile, Lapps and Reindeer Herding in Finnish Lapland, Ludger Müller-Wille
17a.4. The Impact of Man as a Biped, Jack D. Ives
17b. Large-Scale Examples, William S. Osburn Jr
18. Postscript, Jack D. Ives and Roger G. Barry
Glossary
Index
Biography
Jack D. Ives, Roger G. Barry