The Global Carbon Cycle and Climate Change examines the global carbon cycle and the energy balance of the biosphere, following carbon and energy through increasingly complex levels of metabolism from cells to ecosystems. Utilizing scientific explanations, analyses of ecosystem functions, extensive references, and cutting-edge examples of energy flow in ecosystems, it is an essential resource to aid in understanding the scientific basis of the role played by ecological systems in climate change.
This book addresses the need to understand the global carbon cycle and the interrelationships among the disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics in a holistic perspective. The Global Carbon Cycle and Climate Change is a compendium of easily accessible, technical information that provides a clear understanding of energy flow, ecosystem dynamics, the biosphere, and climate change.
"Dr. Reichle brings over four decades of research on the structure and function of forest ecosystems to bear on the existential issue of our time, climate change. Using a comprehensive review of carbon biogeochemistry as scaled from the physiology of organisms to landscape processes, his analysis provides an integrated discussion of how diverse processes at varying time and spatial scales function. The work speaks to several audiences. Too often students study their courses in a vacuum without necessarily understanding the relationships that transcend from the cellular process, to organism, to biosphere levels and exist in a dynamic atmosphere with its own processes, and spatial dimensions. This book provides the template whereupon students can be guided to see how the pieces fit together. The book is self-contained but lends itself to be amplified upon by a student or professor. The same intellectual quest would also apply for the lay reader who seeks a broad understanding." --W.F. Harris
1. Chapter 1. An introduction to ecological energetics and the global carbon cycle - p. 1 2. Chapter 2. The physical and chemical bases of energy - p. 5 3. Chapter 3. Energy relationships between organisms and their environment - p. 15 4. Chapter 4. Biological energy transformations by plants - p. 43 5. Chapter 5. Energy processing by animals - p. 55 6. Chapter 6. Species adaptations to their energy environment - p. 79 7. Chapter 7. Food chains and trophic level transfers - p. 95 8. Chapter 8. Energy flow in ecosystems - p. 119 9. Chapter 9. Ecosystem productivity - p. 157 10. Chapter 10. The global carbon cycle and the biosphere - p. 183 11. Chapter 11. Anthropogenic alterations to the global carbon cycle and climate change - p. 209 12. Chapter 12. Carbon, climate change, and public policy - p. 253 13. Chapter 13. Postscript - p. 289 14. Chapter 14. Suggested classroom uses of this book - p. 291 15. Bibliography - p. 293 16. Author Index - p. 337 17. Subject Index - p. 343
The Global Carbon Cycle and Climate Change examines the global carbon cycle and the energy balance of the biosphere, following carbon and energy through increasingly complex levels of metabolism from cells to ecosystems. Utilizing scientific explanations, analyses of ecosystem functions, extensive references, and cutting-edge examples of energy flow in ecosystems, it is an essential resource to aid in understanding the scientific basis of the role played by ecological systems in climate change.
This book addresses the need to understand the global carbon cycle and the interrelationships among the disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics in a holistic perspective. The Global Carbon Cycle and Climate Change is a compendium of easily accessible, technical information that provides a clear understanding of energy flow, ecosystem dynamics, the biosphere, and climate change.
"Dr. Reichle brings over four decades of research on the structure and function of forest ecosystems to bear on the existential issue of our time, climate change. Using a comprehensive review of carbon biogeochemistry as scaled from the physiology of organisms to landscape processes, his analysis provides an integrated discussion of how diverse processes at varying time and spatial scales function. The work speaks to several audiences. Too often students study their courses in a vacuum without necessarily understanding the relationships that transcend from the cellular process, to organism, to biosphere levels and exist in a dynamic atmosphere with its own processes, and spatial dimensions. This book provides the template whereupon students can be guided to see how the pieces fit together. The book is self-contained but lends itself to be amplified upon by a student or professor. The same intellectual quest would also apply for the lay reader who seeks a broad understanding." --W.F. Harris
1. Chapter 1. An introduction to ecological energetics and the global carbon cycle - p. 1 2. Chapter 2. The physical and chemical bases of energy - p. 5 3. Chapter 3. Energy relationships between organisms and their environment - p. 15 4. Chapter 4. Biological energy transformations by plants - p. 43 5. Chapter 5. Energy processing by animals - p. 55 6. Chapter 6. Species adaptations to their energy environment - p. 79 7. Chapter 7. Food chains and trophic level transfers - p. 95 8. Chapter 8. Energy flow in ecosystems - p. 119 9. Chapter 9. Ecosystem productivity - p. 157 10. Chapter 10. The global carbon cycle and the biosphere - p. 183 11. Chapter 11. Anthropogenic alterations to the global carbon cycle and climate change - p. 209 12. Chapter 12. Carbon, climate change, and public policy - p. 253 13. Chapter 13. Postscript - p. 289 14. Chapter 14. Suggested classroom uses of this book - p. 291 15. Bibliography - p. 293 16. Author Index - p. 337 17. Subject Index - p. 343
