The book includes 22 chapters by 28 authors united by the single theme: biogeography and ecology of Bulgaria. From the single-celled organisms in the Black Sea sand to the endemic cave crustaceans, from the mountain glacial relict insects to the most diverse bird fauna in Europe, the unique fauna of Bulgaria has been a subject of study of mostly Bulgarian zoologists for more than a century. This is the first monograph in English broadly addressing all vertebrateand many key invertebrate groups of Bulgaria, their faunistics, origin, geographical and ecological distribution, and conservation issues are addressed by the experts on each group.

Autorentext

Dr. Victor Fet is a Professor of Biology at Marshall University, West Virginia, USA. He was a co-editor of Biogeography and Ecology of Turkmenistan (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994) and authored dozens of research publications on animal biogeography, systematics and evolution. He is also one of the world's leading experts on scorpions and one of the authors of the Catalog of Scorpions of the World (New York, 2000).

Dr. Alexi Popov is the Director of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Bulgaria. He authored and co-authored 94 research publications on insect faunistics, taxonomy, ecology, and conservation. He served as a Secretary and/or the Member of the Editorial Board of Historia naturalis bulgarica, Acta entomologica bulgarica, and Journal of Neuropterology. In the project "Fauna Europaea", Dr. Popov leads the team of 30 entomologists working on the insects of Bulgaria.

Zusammenfassung

From single-celled organisms in Black Sea sand to endemic cave crustaceans, from mountain glacial relict insects to the most diverse bird fauna in Europe, the fauna of Bulgaria has been a subject of study for more than a century. This is the first English language survey of all vertebrate and many key invertebrate groups of Bulgaria, their faunistics, origin, geographical and ecological distribution, and conservation issues.

Inhalt
Terrestrial Mammals of Bulgaria: Zoogeographical and Ecological Patterns of Distribution.- Fauna, Zoogeography, and Ecology of Birds in Bulgaria.- Amphibians and Reptiles of Bulgaria: Fauna, Vertical Distribution, Zoogeography, and Conservation.- Fauna and Distribution of Fishes in Bulgaria.- Fauna And Zoogeography Of Marine, Freshwater, And Terrestrial Mollusks (Mollusca) In Bulgaria.- Fauna, Ecology, and Zoogeography of Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) of Bulgaria.- Fauna and Zoogeography of the Orthopterid Insects (Embioptera, Dermaptera, Mantodea, Blattodea, Isoptera, and Orthoptera) in Bulgaria.- Biogeography of the Endemic Carabidae (Coleoptera) in the Central and Eastern Balkan Peninsula.- Fauna and Zoogeography of Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in Bulgaria.- Fauna and Zoogeography of Myriapoda in Bulgaria.- Fauna and Zoogeography of Scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) in Bulgaria.- Spatial Niches of Opiliones (Arachnida) from Vitosha Mountains, Bulgaria.- Fauna and Zoogeography of Spiders of the Family Linyphiidae (Araneae) in Bulgaria.- Fauna and Zoogeography of Wolf Spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae) in Bulgaria.- Haplogyne Spiders (Araneae) in Bulgaria: Faunistic and Zoogeographical Analysis.- Terrestrial Cave Animals in Bulgaria.- Stygofauna of the Fresh Waters in Bulgaria.- Biodiversity and Ecology of the Bulgarian Black Sea Invertebrates.- Testate Amoebas and Monothalamous Foraminifera (Protozoa) from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.- Florogeographical Elements and Evolutionary Trends in the Bulgarian Flora.- Vegetation and Phytogeography: A Brief Characteristic.- Landscapes and Climate of Bulgaria.