Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction / Herbert H.T. Prins and Tsewang Namgail -- Part I. Migratory routes and movement ecology. Goose migration across the Himalayas : migratory routes and movement patterns of bar-headed geese / John Y. Takekawa, Eric C. Palm, Diann J. Prosser, Lucy A. Hawkes, Nyambayar Batbayar, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, Ze Luo, Xiangming Xiao and Scott H. Newman -- Himalayan thoroughfare : migratory routes of ducks over the rooftop of the world / Tsewang Namgail, John Y. Takekawa, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, Eric C. Palm, Taej Mundkur, Victor Martâin Vâelez, Diann J. Prosser and Scott H. Newman -- Migratory routes across the Himalayas used by demoiselle cranes / Hiroyoshi Higuchi and Jason Minton -- Passerine migration across the Himalayas / Simon Delany, Charles Williams, Clare Sulston, John Norton and David Garbutt -- Wader migration across the Himalayas / Simon Delany, Charles Williams, Clare Sulston, John Norton and David Garbutt-- Raptor migration across and around the Himalayas / Matâias A. Juhant and Keith L. Bildstein -- Steppe eagle migration from Mongolia to India / Nyambayar Batbayar and Hansoo Lee -- Peregrine falcons crossing the 'roof of the world' / Andrew Dixon, Lutfor Rahman, Aleksandr Sokolov and Vasiliy Sokolov -- Part II. Physiography of the highest barrier on earth. Geological origin and evolution of the Himalayas / Michael Searle -- Late Quaternary glacier fluctuations in the Himalayas and adjacent mountains / Lewis A. Owen -- The influence of hydrology and glaciology on wetlands in the Himalayas / Bodo Bookhagen -- The Himalayan vegetation along horizontal and vertical gradients / Gopal S. Rawat -- Assessing the evidence for changes in vegetation phenology in high-altitude wetlands of Ladakh (2002-2015) / Sumanta Bagchi, Ekta Gupta, Karthik Murthy and Navinder J. Singh-- Part III. High-altitude migration strategies. The wind system in the Himalayas : from a bird's-eye view / Klaus Ohlmann -- Birds, gliders and uplift systems over the Himalayas / Renâe Heise -- Goose migration over the Himalayas : physiological adaptations / Lucy A. Hawkes, Nyambayar Batbayar, Charles M. Bishop, Patrick J. Butler, Peter B. Frappell, Jessica U. Meir, William K. Milsom, Tseveenmyadag Natsagdorj and Graham S. Scott -- Distance-altitude trade-off may explain why some migratory birds fly over and not around the Himalayas / Thomas A. Groen and Herbert H.T. Prins -- Refuelling stations for waterbirds : macroinvertebrate biomass in relation to altitude in the trans-Himalayas / Herbert H.T. Prins, Rob J. Jansen and Victor Martâin Vâelez -- The Himalayas as an ecological barrier for avian migrants : high and dry, but also dangerous? / Ron C. Ydenberg-- Bird species diversity on an elevational gradient between the greater Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau / Herbert H.T. Prins, Sipke E. van Wieren and Tsewang Namgail -- Part IV. People and their effects on the Himalayas. Evidence of human presence in the Himalayan Mountains : new insights from petroglyphs / Martin Vernier and Laurianne Bruneau -- Pastoralism and wetland resources in Ladakh's Changthang Plateau / Sunetro Ghosal and Monisha Ahmed -- Impacts of tourism and military presence on wetlands and their avifauna in the Himalayas / Blaise Humbert-Droz -- Birds in relation to farming and livestock grazing in the Indian trans-Himalaya / T.R. Shankar Raman, Kulbhushansingh R. Suryawanshi and Charudutt Mishra -- Migratory ducks and protected wetlands in India / Tsewang Namgail, John Y. Takekawa, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, Taej Mundkur, Ponnusamy Sathiyaselvam, Diann J. Prosser, Tracy McCracken and Scott H. Newman-- A network of small, dispersed Himalayan wetlands suitable for designation under the Ramsar Convention / Herbert H.T. Prins, Sipke E. van Wieren and Tsewang Namgail -- Part V. Conclusions. Bird migration across the Himalayas and beyond : the need for better conservation and management of a natural wonder / Herbert H.T. Prins and Tsewang Namgail -- Appendix. Selected articles of the 'Central Asian Flyway Action Plan' -- Gazetteer. Locations (places, mountains, rivers etc.) mentioned in the chapters and their geographic coordinates.