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Mountain Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Life on Land

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definitions

The transition from lowland plains to mountain terrain is usually gradual. Thus, the definition of mountains is necessarily conventional. The United Nations Environment Program – World Conservation Monitoring Centre adopts a lower limit of 300 m in combination with slope thresholds. According to this definition, mountains occupy about 23% of the global land area. Other definitions use lower limits that change according to the latitude (e.g., 1,000 m at the equator) or are based on a combination of geographical and climatic criteria (Körner and Ohsawa 2005; Körner and Paulsen 2010).

In ecological terms, the expression “alpine vegetation” refers to vegetation forms above the climate tree line, independently from their geographical location (Körner 2003).

Introduction

Mountains host a high biodiversity concentrated in small spaces. High altitude areas are not only home to endemics, but, due to their inhospitability to man, play a pivotal role as refuges for lowland...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Simone Fattorini, Cristina Mantoni, Letizia Di Biase & Loretta Pace

Authors
  1. Simone Fattorini
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  2. Cristina Mantoni
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  3. Letizia Di Biase
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  4. Loretta Pace
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Fattorini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Amanda Lange Salvia

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Real Jardín Botánico-CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    María Paz Martín

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Fattorini, S., Mantoni, C., Di Biase, L., Pace, L. (2020). Mountain Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_144-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_144-1

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