This volume describes one of the most extensive grassland ecosystems and the efforts of Chinese scientists to understand it. Leading Chinese scientists attribute the decline in China's grasslands to overgrazing and excessive cultivation of marginal areas and discuss measures to limit the damage. The book gives its view on the Chinese approach to the study of grasslands and the relevance of this activity in China to global scientific concerns.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of grassland ecosystems based on publications by Chinese scholars. It offers an up-to-date review of the recent advances in grassland research in China, discusses the climatic and physical conditions governing the grasslands, describes their types and distribution, and introduces a new classification scheme for grassland ecosystems. Further, it details the plant, animal, and microbial compositions of each grassland ecosystem type, examining the above and below ground relationships between phytomass, vegetation succession, and past/current management practices with a particular focus on the steppes in China. It also includes references that are only available in the Chinese language. This scientifically rigorous book offers insights into knowledge gaps for the scientific community and identifies pressing issues facing practitioners of grassland ecology and management. It can be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in ecology, environmental science, natural resource management, agriculture, and other relevant fields, and is also a valuable reference resource for researchers studying drylands in China or around the globe.
This book unravels the complexities of the grassland systems of Mongolia and northern China, identifying the ways in which policies and incentives can be strengthened to improve grassland condition and herder livelihoods. Offering a comparative analysis of policies and incentives, chapters argue for a mix of incentives and associated policy measures to benefit both grassland conditions and herder lifestyles.
Soil Nematodes of Grasslands in Northern China presents research on China’s temperate grasslands, providing the findings and results of a large field survey along a transect across the northern temperate grassland. It examines nematode distribution patterns along the transect from trophic group and family, to genus level, also evaluating their relationship with climatic conditions, plant biomass and soil parameters. The book then presents detailed taxonomy information of nematodes to genus or species level, providing keen insights into nematode diversity along the grassland transect in north China. Final sections review the advances and perspectives for the research of soil ecology on soil nematodes in China, including recent major discoveries of soil microbial diversity and eco-function during this field survey. This work will help researchers predict the impact of global change drivers on below ground soil biota and better understand the functioning and services they provide in terrestrial ecosystems. Features previously unavailable information on nematode diversity and distribution along a large geographic region of China Describes the relationship of nematode assemblage composition with climatic conditions, plant and soil characteristics Covers nematode genera and species descriptions along the grassland transect
This book is a comprehensive volume that brings together vast knowledge about agricultural prairies in one place, providing concise information and providing concise descriptions of natural resources and their influence on crop productivity. It provides detailed descriptions about natural settings as well as lucid discussions on soil fertility and
Northeast Asia is a region with highly disparate levels of industrialization and political systems. It also contains some very troubling security flashpoints the Taiwan Strait, the Korean Peninsula, and the East China Sea. China s rapacious quest for energy and rapid industrial expansion have led to intense international competition with Japan and the United States and internal instability as well. North Korea poses two distinct environmental security threats: famine refugees and the regime s use of nuclear blackmail for subsidized energy. Yet there is very little regional cooperation, despite the need to manage disputes over energy, natural resources, and pervasive pollution. The Environmental Dimension of Asian Security examines these issues through a regional environmental security complex that explores the potential for greater intersubjective understandings of regional environmental and natural resource problems and greater institutional collaboration and management."
Nearly two-thirds of the world's population live in Asia, and many countries in that region are currently undergoing very rapid industrial, agricultural and economic development. The Framework Convention on Climate Change constrains developed countries with regard to their future emissions of greenhouse gases, but recognizes the special needs of developing countries. There is growing appreciation of the ways in which developing countries in the Asian region both contribute to global changes (by altering biogeochemical pathways and cycles) and are themselves affected by those changes. This volume uses the intellectual efforts and findings of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) community to provide the first integrated analysis of the interactions between global change and Asian change, giving particular attention to China's role. The book will be of interest to readers in a wide range of academic disciplines (natural sciences and socio-economic) and for those involved in national and international policy development relevant to global change.
