The Impacts of Climate Variability on Forests
The Impacts of Climate Variability on Forests

Author: Martin Beniston

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2006-04-10

Total Pages: 471

ISBN-13: 3540691073

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This volume contains a selection of scientific papers which were presented at an international workshop on the impacts of climatic variability held in Wengen, Switzerland, September 1997. For the first time, an assessment is made of the interactions between physical and biological elements of the Earth System on the basis of shifts in extreme climatic conditions, rather than simply changes in mean atmospheric conditions which research has tended to focus on until recently. Natural ecosystems and forests are typical examples of systems which, while constrained within certain ranges of mean climate, can undergo rapid and often irreversible damage in the face of short-lived but intense extreme events.

Climatic Change: Implications for the Hydrological Cycle and for Water Management
Climatic Change: Implications for the Hydrological Cycle and for Water Management

Author: Martin Beniston

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-04-11

Total Pages: 507

ISBN-13: 0306479834

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year simulations in order to separate noise in the system from the climate change signal. Several contributing papers focused on case studies using Regional Climate Models (RCMs) linked to hydrological models, applied to the analysis of runoff under conditions of convective activity and extreme precipitation, in regions of complex topography, or stakeholder-driven investigations such as water runoff simulations in Quebec undertaken for a major utility. Thorough analyses of GCM results for the Century were reported at the Workshop, in order to illustrate the improvements in model results which have taken place in recent years, and the increasing confidence with which the models can be used for projecting climatic change in coming decades. However, there is still much room for improvement; there is also a need to address more fully the manner in which climate and impacts models (e. g. , hydrological models) can be linked, in terms of consistency and the overlap between different scales, the underlying physical assumptions, and the parameterizations used. Session 2 was devoted to the two extremes of water resources, namely floods and droughts, the focus here being to identify the climate change component in river floods. These have significant economic implications, as was shown by several scientists from Western and Central Europe. Many long time series have been studied worldwide with the aim of detection of nonstationarities, yet there is no conclusive evidence of climate-related changes in flow records, in general.

Forecasting Forest Futures
Forecasting Forest Futures

Author: Hamish Kimmins

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2010-09-23

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1136532153

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Modelling is an important tool for understanding the complexity of forest ecosystems and the variety of interactions of ecosystem components, processes and values. This book describes the hybrid approach to modelling forest ecosystems and their possible response to natural and management-induced disturbance. The book describes the FORECAST family of ecosystem management models at three different spatial scales (tree, stand and landscape), and compares them with alternative models at these three spatial scales. The book will help forest managers to understand what to expect from ecosystem-based forest models; serve as a tool for use in teaching about sustainability, scenario analysis and value trade-offs in natural resources management; and assist policy makers, managers and researches working in assessment of sustainable forest management and ecosystem management. Several real-life examples of using the FORECAST family of models in forest management and other applications are presented from countries including Canada, China, Spain and the USA, to illustrate the concepts described in the text. The book also demonstrates how these models can be extended for scenario and value trade-off analysis through visualization and educational or management games.

Forests and Global Change
Forests and Global Change

Author: David A. Coomes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-02-20

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 1107041856

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This book synthesises recent research across temperate and tropical forest ecosystems, to present the numerous ways forests are responding to global change.

Environmental Change in Mountains and Uplands
Environmental Change in Mountains and Uplands

Author: Martin Beniston

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-06

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1317836030

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Mountain environments are often perceived to be austere, isolated, and inhospitable. In fact, these areas are of immense value to mankind, providing direct life support to close to 10 percent of the world's population and sustaining a wide variety of species - many of which are endemic to this environment. 'Environmental Change in Mountains and Uplands' provides detailed account of the fragile and marginal physical and socio-economic systems which make up the world's mountain regions. Discussing the direct and indirect impacts of human interference on environmental ecosystems, it then turns to the social and economic consequences of such environmental change - both upon the mountain environment itself and upon the populations who depend on mountain resources for their economic sustenance. This book includes a review of possible implications for adaption and mitigation strategies in a global context. Working within a broad temporal scale, it draws upon paleoenvironmental records to document past changes which have occured in the absence of major anthropogenic influences, as well as utilising modelling as a means to assessing future environmental change.

Forest Succession
Forest Succession

Author: D. C. West

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 1461259509

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Succession-nothing in plant, community, or ecosystem ecology has been so elaborated by terminology, so much reviewed, and yet so much the center of controversy. In a general sense, every ecologist uses the concept in teaching and research, but no two ecologists seem to have a unified concept of the details of succession. The word was used by Thoreau to describe, from a naturalist's point of view, the general changes observed during the transition of an old field to a forest. As data accumulated, a lengthy taxonomy of succession developed around early twentieth century ecologists such as Cooper, Clements, and Gleason. Now, nearer the end of the century, and after much discussion concerning the nature of vegetation communities, where do ecologists stand with respect to knowledge of ecological succession? The intent of this book is not to rehash classic philosophies of succession that have emerged through the past several decades of study, but to provide a forum for ecologists to present their current research and present-day interpretation of data. To this end, we brought together a group of scientists currently studying terrestrial plant succession, who represent research experience in a broad spectrum of different ecosystem types. The results of that meeting led to this book, which presents to the reader a unique summary of contemporary research on forest succession.