Drivers of Landscape Change in the Northwest Boreal Region
Drivers of Landscape Change in the Northwest Boreal Region

Author: Valerie Barber

Publisher: University of Alaska Press

Published: 2020-01-04

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1602233977

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The northwest boreal region (NWB) of North America is a land of extremes. Extending more than 1.3 million square kilometers (330 million acres), it encompasses the entire spectrum between inundated wetlands below sea level to the tallest peak in North America. Permafrost gradients span from nearly continuous to absent. Boreal ecosystems are inherently dynamic and continually change over decades to millennia. The braided rivers that shape the valleys and wetlands continually change course, creating and removing vast wetlands and peatlands. Glacial melt, erosion, fires, permafrost dynamics, and wind-blown loess are among the shaping forces of the landscape. As a result, species interactions and ecosystem processes are shifting across time. The NWB is a data-poor region, and the intention of the NWB Landscape Conservation Cooperative is to determine what data are not available and what data are available. For instance, historical baseline data describing the economic and social relationships in association with the ecological condition of the NWB landscape are often lacking. Likewise, the size and remoteness of this region make it challenging to measure basic biological information, such as species population sizes or trends. The paucity of weather and climate monitoring stations also compound the ability to model future climate trends and impacts, which is part of the nature of working in the north. The purpose of this volume is to create a resource for regional land and resource managers and researchers by synthesizing the latest research on the historical and current status of landscape-scale drivers (including anthropogenic activities) and ecosystem processes, future projected changes of each, and the effects of changes on important resources. Generally, each chapter is coauthored by researchers and land and natural resource managers from the United States and Canada.

The Global Cryosphere
The Global Cryosphere

Author: Roger G. Barry

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-05-05

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 1108806708

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Recent studies indicate that - due to climate change - the Earth is undergoing rapid changes in all cryospheric components, including polar sea ice shrinkage, mountain glacier recession, thawing permafrost, and diminishing snow cover. This book provides a comprehensive summary of all components of the Earth's cryosphere, reviewing their history, physical and chemical characteristics, geographical distributions, and projected future states. This new edition has been completely updated throughout, and provides state-of-the-art data from GlobSnow-2 CRYOSAT, ICESAT, and GRACE. It includes a comprehensive summary of cryospheric changes in land ice, permafrost, freshwater ice, sea ice, and ice sheets. It discusses the models developed to understand cryosphere processes and predict future changes, including those based on remote sensing, field campaigns, and long-term ground observations. Boasting an extensive bibliography, over 120 figures, and end-of-chapter review questions, it is an ideal resource for students and researchers of the cryosphere.

The Routledge Handbook of Landscape Ecology
The Routledge Handbook of Landscape Ecology

Author: Robert A. Francis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-09

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 042967967X

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The Handbook provides a supporting guide to key aspects and applications of landscape ecology to underpin its research and teaching. A wide range of contributions written by expert researchers in the field summarize the latest knowledge on landscape ecology theory and concepts, landscape processes, methods and tools, and emerging frontiers. Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary and holistic discipline, and this is reflected in the chapters contained in this Handbook. Authors from varying disciplinary backgrounds tackle key concepts such as landscape structure and function, scale and connectivity; landscape processes such as disturbance, flows, and fragmentation; methods such as remote sensing and mapping, fieldwork, pattern analysis, modelling, and participation and engagement in landscape planning; and emerging frontiers such as ecosystem services, landscape approaches to biodiversity conservation, and climate change. Each chapter provides a blend of the latest scientific understanding of its focal topics along with considerations and examples of their application from around the world. An invaluable guide to the concepts, methods, and applications of landscape ecology, this book will be an important reference text for a wide range of students and academics in ecology, geography, biology, and interdisciplinary environmental studies.

Mountain Landscapes in Transition
Mountain Landscapes in Transition

Author: Udo Schickhoff

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 665

ISBN-13: 3030702383

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This book compiles available knowledge of the response of mountain ecosystems to recent climate and land use change and intends to bridge the gap between science, policy and the community concerned. The chapters present key concepts, major drivers and key processes of mountain response, providing transdisciplinary orientation to mountain studies incorporating experiences of academics, community leaders and policy-makers from developed and less developed countries. The book chapters are arranged in two sections. The first section concerns the response processes of mountain environments to climate change. This section addresses climate change itself (past, current and future changes of temperature and precipitation) and its impacts on the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and human-environment systems. The second section focuses on the response processes of mountain environments to land use/land cover change. The case studies address effects of changing agriculture and pastoralism, forest/water resources management and urbanization processes, landscape management, and biodiversity conservation. The book is designed as an interdisciplinary publication which critically evaluates developments in mountains of the world with contributions from both social and natural sciences.

Understanding Northern Latitude Vegetation Greening and Browning
Understanding Northern Latitude Vegetation Greening and Browning

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-04-18

Total Pages: 63

ISBN-13: 0309491800

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Vegetation change has been observed across Arctic and boreal regions. Studies have often documented large-scale greening trends, but they have also identified areas of browning or shifts between greening and browning over varying spatial extents and time periods. At the same time, though, there are large portions of these ecosystems that have not exhibited measurable trends in greening or browning. These findings have fueled many questions about the drivers of vegetation dynamics, how trends are measured, and potential implications of vegetation change at local to global scales. In December 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, convened a workshop to discuss opportunities to improve understanding of greening and browning trends and drivers and the implications of these vegetation changes. The discussions included a close look at many of the methodological approaches used to evaluate greening and browning, as well as exploration of newer technologies that may help advance the science. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Landscapes and Landforms of Western Canada
Landscapes and Landforms of Western Canada

Author: Olav Slaymaker

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 3319445952

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This is the only book to focus on the geomorphological landscapes of Canada West. It outlines the little-appreciated diversity of Canada’s landscapes, and the nature of the geomorphological landscape, which deserves wider publicity. Three of the most important geomorphological facts related to Canada are that 90% of its total area emerged from ice-sheet cover relatively recently, from a geological perspective; permafrost underlies 50% of its landmass and the country enjoys the benefits of having three oceans as its borders: the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Canada West is a land of extreme contrasts — from the rugged Cordillera to the wide open spaces of the Prairies; from the humid west-coast forests to the semi-desert in the interior of British Columbia and from the vast Mackenzie river system of the to small, steep, cascading streams on Vancouver Island. The thickest Canadian permafrost is found in the Yukon and extensive areas of the Cordillera are underlain by sporadic permafrost side-by-side with the never-glaciated plateaus of the Yukon. One of the curiosities of Canada West is the presence of volcanic landforms, extruded through the ice cover of the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, which have also left a strong imprint on the landscape. The Mackenzie and Fraser deltas provide the contrast of large river deltas, debouching respectively into the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

National Forest Inventories
National Forest Inventories

Author: Erkki Tomppo

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-12-02

Total Pages: 614

ISBN-13: 9048132339

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Forest inventories throughout the world have evolved gradually over time. The content as well as the concepts and de?nitions employed are constantly adapted to the users’ needs. Advanced inventory systems have been established in many countries within Europe, as well as outside Europe, as a result of development work spanning several decades, in some cases more than 100 years. With continuously increasing international agreements and commitments, the need for information has also grown drastically, and reporting requests have become more frequent and the content of the reports wider. Some of the agreements made at the international level have direct impacts on national economies and international decisions, e. g. , the Kyoto Protocol. Thus it is of utmost importance that the forest information supplied is collected and analysed using sound scienti?c principles and that the information from different countries is comparable. European National Forest Inventory (NFI) teams gathered in Vienna in 2003 to discuss the new challenges and the measures needed to get data users to take full advantage of existing NFIs. As a result, the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN), a network of NFIs, was established. The ENFIN members decided to apply for funding for meetings and collaborative activities. COST– European Cooperation in Science and Technology - provided the necessary ?n- cial means for the realization of the program.

Land Use Intensification
Land Use Intensification

Author: Saul Cunningham

Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

Published: 2012-07-18

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0643104097

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There can be little doubt that there are truly colossal challenges associated with providing food, fibre and energy for an expanding world population without further accelerating already rapid rates of biodiversity loss and undermining the ecosystem processes on which we all depend. These challenges are further complicated by rapid changes in climate and its additional direct impacts on agriculture, biodiversity and ecological processes. There are many different viewpoints about the best way to deal with the myriad issues associated with land use intensification and this book canvasses a number of these from different parts of the tropical and temperate world. Chapters focus on whether science can suggest new and improved approaches to reducing the conflict between productive land use and biodiversity conservation. Who should read this book? Policy makers in regional, state and federal governments, as well as scientists and the interested lay public.