Kinabalu: The Natural History, Ecology and Biodiversity of a World Heritage Mountain

For very many explorers, naturalists and conservationists, there is no parallel to the spectacular Kinabalu and its special biological richness. During its genesis, this geologically young mountain attained remarkable height to over 4000 m, and has weathered climate change episodes through millennia that ranged from ice-capped peaks to today’s largely bare granitic summit area. The mountain has an impressive array of natural communities dispersed over a complex formation of rock types and topography, across an impressive elevation gradient from tropical, through temperate, to polar climatic regimes. The precipitous topography has kept many places unexplored and most ecological assemblages and organisms are only beginning to be better studied.