Plant Ecology, Herbivory, and Human Impact in Nordic Mountain Birch Forests

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Edited by M.M. Caldwell, Logan, USA G. Heldmaier, Marburg, Germany R.B. Jackson, Durham, USA O.L. Lange, Würzburg, Germany H.A. Mooney, Stanford, USA E.-D. Schulze, Jena, Germany U. Sommer, Kiel, Germany

Ecological Studies Volumes published since 2000 are listed at the end of this book.

F.E. Wielgolaski (Ed.) P.S. Karlsson S. Neuvonen D. Thannheiser (Ed. Board)

Plant Ecology, Herbivory, and Human Impact in Nordic Mountain Birch Forests

With 69 Figures, 21 Tables, and CD-ROM

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Volume editor Professor Dr. Frans E. Wielgolaski University of Oslo Department of Biology P.O. Box 1045 Blindern 0316 Oslo, Norway Editorial Board Dr. P. Staffan Karlsson Uppsala University Department of Plant Ecology Ecolutionary Biology Centre Villavägen 14 75236 Uppsala, Sweden Professor Dr. Seppo Neuvonen University of Turku Kevo Subarctic Research Institute 20014 Turku, Finland Professor Dr. Dietbert Thannheiser University of Hamburg Department of Geography Bundesstr. 55 20146 Hamburg, Germany Cover illustration: Scheme after an idea of F.E. Wielgolaski. Background phto by H. Bylund (see Fig. 12.1) ISSN 0070-8356 ISBN 3-540-22909-4 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2004113135

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Preface

In Fennoscandia and Iceland, large parts of particularly elevated areas are treeless. Below these areas there is often a belt of Nordic mountain birch trees, now often called Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii. In Fennoscandia, this plant is also common in a zone north of the coniferous trees and is found in small forests in the southwestern-most parts of Greenland and more locally in other parts of Europe. Before the begin of the International Biological Programme (IBP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, only minor fractions of these ecosyst