© 2003 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Rocky Mountain ecosystems: diversity, complexity and interactions
John H. Bassman (1, 2), Jon D. Johnson (3), Lauren Fins (4) and James P. Dobrowolski (1)
1. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6410, USA / 2. Author to whom correspondence should be addressed (bassman@mail.wsu.edu) / 3. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Washington State University, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, 7612 Pioneer
Way, Puyallup, WA 98371-4998, USA / 4. Department of Forest Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1133, USA / Received January 23, 2003; accepted May 4, 2003; published online October 1, 2003
Summary
The interior west of North America provides many opportunities to study ecosystem responses to climate change, biological
diversity and management of disturbance regimes. These ecosystem responses are not unique to the Rocky Mountains, but they
epitomize similar scientific problems throughout North America. Better management of these ecosystems depends on a thorough
understanding of the underlying biology and ecological interactions of the species that occupy the diverse habitats of this
region. This review highlights progress in research to understand aspects of this complex ecosystem.
Keywords:
biological diversity, disturbance, ecology, ecophysiology, genetics, water.
