Holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) forests and woodlands have been considered as a paradigm for Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems. In the western part of the Mediterranean Basin, these forests and woodlands occupy large areas and thus play a very important role in the landscape. A number of research projects from the Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), the Centre de Recerca Ecológica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), and from many other laboratories are currently focusing on Q. ilex ecosystems, and a number of problems have appeared concerning not only basic knowledge but also management aspects. For this reason, the CEFE and the CREAF decided to jointly organize the workshop on Quercus ilex L. Ecosystems, which was held in Montpellier and Barcelona in September 1990. The present volume consists of a selection of papers presented during the workshop and other papers contributed after the workshop. The papers are divided into five sections: Biogeography and History; Structure, Productivity and Dynamics; Water Relationships; Nutrient Cycling; and Management.
This book arises out of a symposium on forest and woodland terrestrial ecosystems which was held in Florence on 20-24th May 1991. It was organised jointly by the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) and the European Science Foundation (ESF) in association with the Italian Research Council (CNR). The symposium brQughUogether most -Of the internationally recognized groups working on forest ecosystems including biologists, botanists, ecologists, soil scientists, modellers, foresters and policy makers. All the CEC countries were represented. In addition, there was a broad audience from Eastern and Central Europe and from EFfA countries. Outstanding experts from outside Europe (US, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, etc.) were also present. In total, the symposium was attended by more than 500 participants. The structure of this book reflects the main elements of the meeting. As such it includes three main sections. The first consists of six major state-of-the-art reviews corresponding to the six plenary sessions, each followed by a discussion which has been summarized by rapporteurs. The reviews were prepared to assess critically the state of current knowledge in ecosystem research and to provide a scientific basis both for policy decisions and for further research.
Used by humans since ancient times, evergreen oak forests still cover extensive mountain areas of the Mediterranean Basin. These broadleaved evergreen forests occupy a transitional zone between the cool-temperate deciduous forest biome and the drier Mediterranean pine forests and shrublands. Slow growing and casting a deep shade, the sclerophyllous holm oak (Quercus ilex) absolutely dominates the closed canopy of many Mediterranean evergreen oak forests. This is a synthesis of 20 years of research on the structure, function, and dynamics of holm oak forests in two intensively studied experimental areas in Spain. By combining observational measurements at the leaf, tree, plot, and catchment scales with field experiments and modelling, the authors explore how these forests cope with strong water limitation and repeated disturbances.
This book provides a concise but comprehensive introduction to Mediterranean-type ecosystems with the emphasis being on the organisms that dominate these regions although their management, conservation, and restoration will also be considered.
After years of technological development and its important achievements to make our life easier and more comfortable, human society is going to face one of the most difficult challenges of the last century: to stabilize the concentra tion levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to prevent harmful effects on the climate system. Through a delicate balance between photosynthesis and respiration, terres trial ecosystems, and in particular forests, are today thought to take up a sig nificant part of the carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, sometimes called the "terrestrial carbon sink". However, the location, magnitude, and vulnerability of the carbon dioxide sink of the terrestrial biota are still uncer tain. The suite of traditional tools in an ecologist's toolbox for studying ecosys tem productivity and carbon balance include leaf cuvettes, whole-plant and soil chambers for gas exchange, and biomass and soil carbon inventories. While each of the cited methods has distinct advantages, they are limited with regards to their ability to measure net carbon dioxide exchange of the whole ecosystem across a variety of time scales. This book present a compendium of results of a European project (EURO FLUX), funded by the European Commission through its fourth framework program, aiming to elucidate the role of forests in continental carbon balance.
Based on palaeoecological studies by many authors, this book gives an overview of the changing history of the European plant cover during the past 2.6 million years, characterized by numerous cold and warm periods. The period of the last 20 000 years (from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present) is presented in detail, with special emphasis on the vegetation dynamics of Europe, the history of selected woody plants, the development of lakes and bogs and the emergence of European cultural landscapes under the influence of humans over thousands of years. In the analysis of the glacial and interglacial periods, the focus is on the different vegetation developments and the progressive impoverishment of the European flora. Further important topics are the spatio-temporal patterns and causes of long-term vegetation changes, the legacies of disturbances and land use on vegetation composition, the role of palaeoecology in nature conservation and its contribution to ecology and environmental sciences. In addition to recent research results, the book provides an overview of the main palaeoecological research methods. It concludes with a summary of the history of palaeoecology and Quaternary botany. For the first time, a detailed synthesis is presented of the many findings on European vegetation dynamics, which are complex and increasingly difficult to summarize. Numerous figures and tables, many of them original, accompany the text. The bibliography includes over 3000 publications. This book is primarily intended for students, researchers and practitioners in plant ecology, palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology, forestry, agronomy, Quaternary sciences, climate sciences, biogeography, geography and archaeology.
Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes is a unique, five volume reference that provides a global synthesis of biomes, including the latest science. All of the book's chapters follow a common thematic order that spans biodiversity importance, principal anthropogenic stressors and trends, changing climatic conditions, and conservation strategies for maintaining biomes in an increasingly human-dominated world. This work is a one-stop shop that gives users access to up-to-date, informative articles that go deeper in content than any currently available publication. Offers students and researchers a one-stop shop for information currently only available in scattered or non-technical sources Authored and edited by top scientists in the field Concisely written to guide the reader though the topic Includes meaningful illustrations and suggests further reading for those needing more specific information
With more than 500 species distributed all around the Northern Hemisphere, the genus Quercus L. is a dominant element of a wide variety of habitats including temperate, tropical, subtropical and mediterranean forests and woodlands. As the fossil record reflects, oaks were usual from the Oligocene onwards, showing the high ability of the genus to colonize new and different habitats. Such diversity and ecological amplitude makes genus Quercus an excellent framework for comparative ecophysiological studies, allowing the analysis of many mechanisms that are found in different oaks at different level (leaf or stem). The combination of several morphological and physiological attributes defines the existence of different functional types within the genus, which are characteristic of specific phytoclimates. From a landscape perspective, oak forests and woodlands are threatened by many factors that can compromise their future: a limited regeneration, massive decline processes, mostly triggered by adverse climatic events or the competence with other broad-leaved trees and conifer species. The knowledge of all these facts can allow for a better management of the oak forests in the future.
The publication of Volume 5 of the International Treatise Series on Advances in Plant Physiology has been feasible - exclusively and unquestionably due to commendable contributions from World Scientists of distinction in explicit fields. within eight years, the treatise series has been instituted in the spirits and compassion of illustrious readers all through the world. The proficient International and National Co-ordinators have all along unified their views for the expediency of readers assisting them to speed up important research work in the field of Plant and Crop Physiology, Biochemistry & Plant Molecular Biology. in spite of handiness of quick accessibility of vast literature from internet, this treatise series in the field of life sciences has been realized over and above to be like a true guide, friend and philosopher, everlastingly enlightening the most hidden perceptible nerves of an individual worker, which is beyond the competence of mere web services. The volume 8 is absolutely another one of its kinds for incorporation of most timely and important worthy reviews of diverse objectives contributed by forty four well-informed, admirable and documented scientists/ stalwarts, of which twenty three participated from abroad. The original writing coming in bounteous journals of international repute covering new technologies and tools in plant science research have been pulled together in affirmative, prolific and supportive manner by specialists all over the globe. In this volume efforts have been made to fetch together twenty one indispensable review articles, duly evaluated by the respective Consulting Editors of international stature from India, U.K., U.S.A., Argentina, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Israel, and Morocco and rationally distributed in eight sections. Indeed, the treatise is wealth for interdisciplinary exchange of information. Apart from fulfilling need of this kind of exclusive edition in different volumes for research teams in Molecular Plant Physiology and Biochemistry in traditional and agricultural universities, institutes and research laboratories throughout the world, it would be extremely a constructive book and a voluminous reference material for acquiring advanced knowledge by post-graduate and Ph.D. scholars in response to the innovative courses in Plant Physiology, Plant Biochemistry, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology, Environmental Sciences, Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Botany.
