The acceleration in the rate of ice mass loss may only get worse as not only climate but also other local effects become more pronounced, such as more debris accumulating on glaciers surfaces and lakes at the bottom of glaciers swell, exacerbating melt. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Caprinae. Mountain forests are composed of mixed beech (Fagus sylvatica) and silver fir (Abies alba), pure spruce (Picea abies), or prostrate pine (Pinus mugo) in the outer regions. IUCN. 1994. Sclerophyllous evergreen Mediterranean trees occur in valleys of the above mentioned "Mediterranean" border areas. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Gustav Fisher Verlag, Stuttgart. Some of the last forests in Europe of an almost natural state are found in this ecoregion. They agree with palaeoclimate reconstructions, early historic evidence and instrumental records that show our ice is shrinking from a warming climate.". Ellenberg, H. 1986. Climate change has had a significant impact on ice loss around the world. More Than 90% of Glacier Volume in the Alps Could Be Lost by 2100, How Our Ancestors With Autistic Traits Led a Revolution in Ice Age Art, Blue-Eyed Humans Have a Single, Common Ancestor, Archaeology Uncovers Infectious Disease Spread 4000 Years Ago, The Surprising Organization of Avian Brains, Scientists Discover Why Tarantulas Come in Vivid Blues and Greens, New Brain Cell-Like Nanodevices Work Together to Identify Mutations in Viruses, Unusual Climate Conditions Influenced WWI Mortality and Subsequent Influenza Pandemic, Scientists Predict Potential Spread, Habitat of Invasive Asian Giant Hornet, Jaws of Death: Paleontologist Renames Giant, Prehistoric Marine Lizard, Wild Birds as Offerings to the Egyptian Gods, World's Largest DNA Sequencing of Viking Skeletons Reveals They Weren't All Scandinavian. 2000. WWF, Switzerland. Prepared by: Pedro RegatoReviewed by: In process, 1250 24th Street, N.W. This mainly threatens the permanence of large carnivores (who are naturally returning or are being reintroduced in the Alps). The climate is primarily cold and temperate, with slight local variations, for example in border "Mediterranean character" areas. Moreover, Alpine conservation has to do not only with difficulties in protecting a rather large area, but also with the necessity of dealing with an area that is inhabited and exploited by man (through tourism, agriculture, and power plants/industry), as well as where the air and water pollution factor becomes more and more dangerous. Text is available under [http://wikitravel.org/shared/Copyleft Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0] images are available under [http://wikitravel.org/shared/How_to_re-use_Wikitravel_guides various licenses], see each image for details. View our inclusive approach to conservation, http://dataservice.eea.eu.int/dataservice/metadetails.asp?table=DMEER&i=1. These include Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), wolf (Canis lupus), and brown bear (Ursus arctos). Centres of Plant Diversity. The mountains cover an area that is about 1200 km long, are distributed among seven different countries, and have a total population of 11.1 million people. WWF, Switzerland. Fifteen reptiles species are present. It consists of montane to altimontane beech and mixed beech forests, submontane to altimontane spruce and spruce-fir forests, and alpine vegetation in the European Alps. New Zealand's Southern Alps glacier melt has doubled. Pignatti, S. 1998. Bonn-Bad Godesberg 2000. Financial support for ScienceDaily comes from advertisements and referral programs, where indicated. Deep valleys are rich in a variety of habitats and are important migration corridors. Masson Ed., Paris. Looking forwards, planning must be made for mitigating the decreased runoff to glacier-fed rivers because that affects local water availability, landscape stability and aquatic ecosystems.".