Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Forest Ecosystems
Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Forest Ecosystems

Author: Adam Markham

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9401727309

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Climate change represents one of the most alarming long-term threats to ecosystems the world over. This new collection of papers provides, for the first time, an overview of the potentially serious impact that climate change may have on tropical forests. The authors, a multi-disciplinary group of leading experts in climatology, forestry, ecology and conservation biology, present a state-of-knowledge snapshot of how tropical forests are likely to react to the changes being wrought on our planet's atmosphere and climate. Tropical forests represent extraordinary harbours for biological diversity, and yet as deforestation and degradation continue apace, they are under greater pressure from human impacts than ever before. Climate change adds yet another threat to these valuable ecosystems, and this volume demonstrates just how significant a problem this may really be. The authors identify certain types of forest, including tropical montane cloud forest that may be particularly vulnerable. They also show the strong likelihood of global warming aggravating problems in already fragmented forest areas.

Climate Change Impacts on Tropical Forests in Central America
Climate Change Impacts on Tropical Forests in Central America

Author: Aline Chiabai

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-09-25

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1317961498

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The loss of biodiversity is a major environmental problem in nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. This loss is accelerating driven by climate change, as well as by other causes including agricultural exploitation, fragmentation and degradation triggered by land use changes. The crucial issue under debate is the impact on the welfare of current and future population, and the role of humans in the exploitation of natural resources. This is of particular importance in Central America, which it is amongst the richest and most threatened biodiversity regions on the Earth, and where the loss of ecosystems strongly affects its socio-economic vulnerability. This book addresses the impacts of climate and land-use change on tropical forest ecosystems in this important region, and assesses the expected economic costs if no policy action is taken, under different future scenarios and for different geographical scales. This innovative collection utilises both theoretical approaches and empirical results to provide a conceptual framework for an integrated analysis of climate and land-use change impacts on forest ecosystems and related economic effects, offering insight into the complex relationship between ecosystems and benefits to humans. This important contribution to forest ecosystems and climate change provides invaluable reading for students and scholars in the fields of environmental and ecological economics, environmental science and forestry, natural resource management, agriculture and climate change.

Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change
Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change

Author: John Flenley

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-06-20

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 3540488421

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This is the first book to examine how tropical rain forest ecology is altered by climate change, rather than simply seeing how plant communities were altered. The book’s goal is to provide a current overview of the impacts of climate change on tropical forests. It aims to investigate past, present, and future climatic influences on the ecosystems with the highest biodiversity on the planet.

Global Climate Change and Human Impacts on Forest Ecosystems
Global Climate Change and Human Impacts on Forest Ecosystems

Author: J. Puhe

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 604

ISBN-13: 3642595316

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The inclusion of forests as potential biological sinks in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997 has attracted international attention and again has put scientific and political focus on the world's forests, regarding their state and development. The international discus sion induced by the Kyoto Protocol has clearly shown that not only the tropical rain forests are endangered by man's activities, but also that the forest ecosystems of boreal, temperate, mediterranean and subtropical regions have been drastically modified. Deforestation on a large scale, burning, over-exploitation, and the degra dation of the biological diversity are well-known symptoms in forests all over the world. This negative development happens in spite of the already existing knowledge of the benefits of forests on global energy and water regimes, the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and other elements as well as on the biological and cultural diversity. The reasons why man does not take care of forests properly are manifold and complex and there is no easy solution how to change the existing negative trends. One reason that makes it so difficult to assess the impacts of human activity on the future development of forests is the large time scale in which forests react, ranging from decades to centuries.

Impacts of Climate Change on Tree Physiology and Responses of Forest Ecosystems
Impacts of Climate Change on Tree Physiology and Responses of Forest Ecosystems

Author: Mariangela Fotelli

Publisher:

Published: 2021-12-27

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9783036527505

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Extreme climatic events, such as intense and prolonged droughts and heat waves, are occurring with increasing frequency and with pronounced impacts on forests. Forest trees, as long-lived organisms, need to develop adaptation mechanisms to successfully respond to such climatic extremes. Whether physiological adaptations on the tree level result in ecophysiological responses that ensure plasticity of forest ecosystems to climate change is currently in the core forest research. Within this Special Issue, forest species' responses to climatic variability were reported from diverse climatic zones and ecosystem types: from near-desert mountains in western USA to tropical forests in central America and Asia, and from Mediterranean ecosystems to temperate European forests. The clear effects of constraints related to climate change were evidenced on the tree level, such as in differentiated gene expression, metabolite abundance, sap flow rates, photosynthetic performance, seed germination, survival and growth, while on the ecosystem level, tree line shifts, temporal shifts in allocation of resources and species shifts were identified. Experimental schemes such as common gardens and provenance trails also provided long-term indications on the tolerance of forest species against drought and warming and serve to evaluate their performance under the predicted climate in near future. These findings enhance our knowledge on the potential resilience of forest species and ecosystems to climate change and provide an updated basis for continuing research on this topic.

The Regional Impacts of Climate Change
The Regional Impacts of Climate Change

Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group II.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 9780521634557

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Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Why Forests? Why Now?
Why Forests? Why Now?

Author: Frances Seymour

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2016-12-27

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1933286865

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Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.

Abrupt Climate Change
Abrupt Climate Change

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-04-23

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0309133041

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The climate record for the past 100,000 years clearly indicates that the climate system has undergone periodic-and often extreme-shifts, sometimes in as little as a decade or less. The causes of abrupt climate changes have not been clearly established, but the triggering of events is likely to be the result of multiple natural processes. Abrupt climate changes of the magnitude seen in the past would have far-reaching implications for human society and ecosystems, including major impacts on energy consumption and water supply demands. Could such a change happen again? Are human activities exacerbating the likelihood of abrupt climate change? What are the potential societal consequences of such a change? Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises looks at the current scientific evidence and theoretical understanding to describe what is currently known about abrupt climate change, including patterns and magnitudes, mechanisms, and probability of occurrence. It identifies critical knowledge gaps concerning the potential for future abrupt changes, including those aspects of change most important to society and economies, and outlines a research strategy to close those gaps. Based on the best and most current research available, this book surveys the history of climate change and makes a series of specific recommendations for the future.