Of the world's seven continents, Asia is the largest. Its physical landscapes, political units, and ethnic groups are both wide-ranging and many.  Southwest, South and Middle Asia are highly populated regions which, as a whole, cover an extremely large area of varied geography. In total, this domain is unique in its plant diversity and large vegetation zones with different communities and biomes. It is rich in endemics, with specific and intraspecific diversity of fruit trees and medicinal plants, including a number of rare, high value, species. At the same time, much of the land in the region is too dry or too rugged, with many geographical extremes. Overgrazing, oil and mineral extraction, and poaching are the major threats in the area.

This two-volume project focuses on the dynamic biodiversity of the region with in-depth analysis on phytosociology, plants, animals and agroecology.  There are also chapters that explore new applications as well as approaches to overcome problems associated with climate change. Much of the research and analysis are presented here for the first time.  We believe this work is a valuable resource for professionals and researchers working in the fields of plant diversity and vegetation, animal diversity and animal populations, and geo-diversity and sustainable land use, among others.

The first volume guides our readers to West Asia and the Caucasus region, while volume two focuses on issues unique to South and Middle Asia.

Prof. Munir  Ozturk (PhD, DSc.) specialises in the fields of Ecology & Environmental Sciences. He is the author of over 450 papers including over 55 books on ecological studies as well as medicinal plants and biomonitoring in different habitats. Dr. Ozturk has received fellowships from Alexander von Humboldt and Japanese Society for Promotion of Science. He has worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with funding from the National Science Foundation, USA. He was a Consultant Fellow at the Faculty of Forestry, University Putra Malaysia and a 'Distinguished Visiting Scientist' at the ICCBS, Karachi University, Pakistan. His scientific interests include Plant Eco-Physiology; Conservation of Plant Diversity; Biosaline Agriculture and Crops; Pollution, Biomonitoring, and Medicinal/Aromatic Plants. 

Prof. Volkan Altay (Ph.D.,D.Sc.) is Professor of Ecology at the Botany Department of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey. His fields of scientific interest are Plant Ecology, Taxonomy, Biodiversity, Biomonitoring, and sustainable use of medicinal plants. He has a proven track record of over 50 research publications in reputed professional journals. He has also published 1 book with Springer.

Prof. Recep  Efe ( Ph.D.,D.Sc.)  is an active researcher with research interests spanning over a wide range of topics in geography, biogeography and ecology. He has over 200 publications with more than 120 papers in national and international scientific journals. Dr. Efe has authored and co-authored/edited 60 books and 18 book chapters in Turkish and English. He is member of International Geographical Union (IGU), Association of American Geographers (AAG), International Associations of Geomorphologists (IAG), International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS-6648), Balkan Geographical Association, Turkish Geographical Association.