Environmental Science/Climate Change & Mitigation

Biodiversity Hotspots of the World

Wallacea
An Enigmatic Biodiversity Hotspot

Editors: Bernard Michaux, PhD
T. Pullaiah, PhD

Wallacea

In Production
Pub Date: Forthcoming April 2027
Hardback Price: $220 USD | £170 UK
Hard ISBN: 9781779647696
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-77964-770-2
Pages: Est. 621 pp w index
Binding Type: Hardback / ebook
Series: Biodiversity Hotspots of the World
Notes: 94 color and 6 b/w illustrations

Wallacea is a biodiversity hotspot and preeminent global center for studies of biogeography and the interplay between evolutionary and tectonic processes. Wallacea is a globally critical biodiversity hotspot, acting as a unique evolutionary, biological, and geographic laboratory where Asian and Australian species intermingle. Located in Indonesia, this "living laboratory" boasts exceptionally high rates of endemism (species found nowhere else), with many unique plants, mammals, and birds inhabiting its thousands of islands.

This new volume, Wallacea: An Enigmatic Biodiversity Hotspot, discusses the unique biodiversity characteristics of the region. The book opens with a historical description of European exploration of Wallacea, and a summary of the many different ideas generated to explain what was observed. A description of early German exploration will be new to many readers. The physical geography of the region includes accounts of its geology and tectonics, modern volcanism, and climate. The geology of Wallace is described and it’s tectonic development as a melee of continental fragments, island arcs, and ocean basins trapped between the Sunda and Sahul Shelves and Philippine Sea Plate were formed, translated, and often amalgamated in response to Australia’s steady move northwards. This complex development continues today with many active volcanoes present. The climate of Indonesian Wallacea is dominated by two monsoon seasons. The dry southeast monsoon winds from central Australia create a savannah biome in Timor and Nusa Tenggara. The Philippines lie to the north and are within the belt of tropical cyclones.

The flora of Wallacea is discussed along with some of the important processes leading to its evolution. The book looks at the link between climate change and biodiversity loss, and also describes the many pressures on Indonesia’s forests that have led to their unsustainable exploitation and difficulties of prosecuting illegal logging through the courts. Examples of integrated approaches to biodiversity conservation that support sustainable livelihoods are discussed, and stress the importance of including local people with their deep knowledge of local habitats in the design and implementation of such programs.

The volume includes in-depth reviews of a broad selection of invertebrate and vertebrate groups by recognized leaders in their fields. Each of these chapters contains a wealth of current information on what taxa are present, their distribution within Wallacea, their rates of endemism, their phylogenetic affinities to adjacent faunas, a summary of past and present studies and future needs, and discussion of threats and conservation priorities. Comprehensive accounts are provided for the land snails, dragonflies, stick and leaf insects, beetles, butterflies, frogs and toads, snakes, monitor lizards, birds, and tarsiers.

This volume’s importance lies in collecting in a single place many up-to-date accounts of its most important and iconic taxa, which we hope will serve as a resource for specialists, biogeographers, conservationists, and policymakers for some years to come.

This volume joins the others in the Biodiversity Hotspots of the World series as an essential resource for researchers and practitioners in the fields of conservation biology, ecology, and evolution as the series concisely records the existing biodiversity of these biodiversity hotspots of the world.

CONTENTS:
Preface

1. Classifying Wallacea: A History
Malte C. Ebach

2. Wallacea: A Mosaic of Many Parts
Bernard Michaux

3. An Updated Floristic Account for Wallacea
Alastair S. Robinson, Visotheary Ung, and Daniel John Murphy

4. Biodiversity Decline in Wallacea Due to Deforestation and Climate Change
Gun Mardiatmoko, Freddy Pattiselanno, and Jan William Hatulesila

5. Integrated Landscape-Seascape Approaches for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods in Seram and Boano Islands, Maluku, Indonesia
Agni Klintuni Boedhihartono and Jeffrey Sayer

6. Orchids of Wallacea
Paul Ormerod

7. Diversity of Land Snails In Wallacea
Frank Kohler

8. The Odonata of Wallacea
Philip J. Benstead

9. The Phasmatodea (Stick and Leaf Insects) of Wallacea
Frank H. Hennemann

10. Beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) of Wallacea: An Informal Overview
Dmitry Telnov

11. An Assessment of the Geographical Patterns Shown by the Lepidoptera of Wallacea, with Special Reference to Sulawesi
Richard I. Vane-Wright

12. Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation of Wallacean Frogs
Umilaela Arifin and Benjamin Karin

13. The Diversity, Distribution, and Biogeography of the Snakes of Wallacea
Mark O’Shea

14. The Monitor Lizards of Wallacea
Valter Weijola and Samuel S. Sweet

15. The Birds of Wallacea
Colin R. Trainor

16. Conservation Strategy for Sulawesi Using Tarsiers as Flagship Species: Reflections after 25 Years
Myron Shekelle

Index


About the Authors / Editors:
Editors: Bernard Michaux, PhD
Independent Researcher

Bernard Michaux, PhD, has been an independent researcher for the past 40 years. Trained in geology (University College, Oxford) and evolutionary biology (Auckland University), he has had a long-standing interest in the biogeographer A. R. Wallace and the interplay of evolutionary and tectonic processes operating in Wallacea and has published widely on both. His books include Tewkesbury Walks, Biogeology: Evolution in a changing landscape, Biotectonics, and Biotectonics of Neotropical Transition Zones.

T. Pullaiah, PhD
Former Professor, Department of Botany, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Andhra Pradesh, India

T. Pullaiah, PhD, is a former Professor at the Department of Botany at Sri Krishnadevaraya University in Andhra Pradesh, India, where he has taught for more than 35 years. He has held several positions at the university, including Dean, Faculty of Biosciences, Head of the Department of Botany, Head of the Department of Biotechnology, and Member of Academic Senate. He was President of Indian Botanical Society (2014), President of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (2013), and Fellow of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences. He has been awarded with various prestigious awards for his work. Under his guidance 54 students obtained their doctoral degrees. He has authored 65 books, edited 45 books, and published over 340 research papers. His books include Mangroves: Biodiversity, Livelihoods and Conservation; Ethnobotany of India (5 volumes); Global Biodiversity (4 volumes);Monograph on Brachystelma and Ceropegia in India, Apomixis in Angiosperms, Invasive Alien Species (4 volumes); Advances in Cell and Molecular Diagnostics; Camptothecin and Camptothecin Producing Plants; Paclitaxel; Red Sanders: Silviculture and Conservation; and more. Dr. Pullaiah was also a member of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Professor Pullaiah received his PhD from Andhra University, India, attended Moscow State University, Russia, and worked as Postdoctoral Fellow during 1976–1978.




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