Ecological Climatology: Concepts and Applications

by Gordon B. Bonan

• ISBN13: 9780521804769
• ISBN10: 0521804760
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Ecological climatology is an interdisciplinary framework to understand the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in the climate system. It examines the physical, chemical, and biological processes by which landscapes affect and are affected by climate. The central theme is that terrestrial ecosystems, through their cycling of energy, water, chemical elements, and trace gases, are important determinants of climate. The coupling between climate and vegetation is seen at spatial scales from stomata to vegetation geography and at time scales of near instantaneous to millennia. In particular, natural vegetation dynamics and human land uses and land management are important mechanisms of climate change. The boreal forest-tundra ecotone and the North African Sahel are examples of climate-ecosystem dynamics at the biogeographical spatial and temporal scale. Deforestation, desertification of drylands, cultivation of grasslands, reforestation following farm abandonment, and urbanization are case studies of how human uses of land alter climate.

Author Biography

Gordon Bonan is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(24)
Ecological climatology: concepts	1	(11)
Shared origins; disciplinary development	1	(4)
Interdisciplinary framework	5	(4)
Climate-vegetation dynamics	9	(3)
Ecological climatology: applications	12	(10)
Land use and land cover change	12	(6)
Land use planning	18	(1)
Ecosystem functions	19	(1)
Bioclimatic ecoregions	20	(2)
Overview of the book	22	(3)
Global climatology	25	(37)
Introduction	25	(1)
Annual global mean energy budget	25	(3)
Atmospheric general circulation	28	(11)
Continents and oceans	39	(3)
Seasons	42	(11)
Climate zones	53	(7)
Climate and vegetation	60	(2)
Climate variability	62	(27)
Introduction	62	(1)
Floods, droughts, and heatwaves	62	(5)
Air masses	67	(3)
Mechanisms of seasonal-to-interannual variability	70	(12)
Climatic extremes	82	(6)
Land surface processes	88	(1)
Climate change	89	(40)
Introduction	89	(1)
Climate history of the last 250 000 years	89	(5)
Mechanisms of climate change	94	(25)
Plate tectonics	95	(3)
Orbital changes	98	(5)
Greenhouse effect	103	(10)
Freshwater runoff and thermohaline circulation	113	(1)
Solar variability	114	(1)
Aerosols	115	(4)
Anthropogenic climate change	119	(5)
Climate feedbacks	124	(5)
Hydrologic cycle	129	(38)
Introduction	129	(1)
Global water balance	129	(2)
Phase change	131	(3)
Cycling of water on land	134	(18)
Interception and throughfall	136	(1)
Soil water	137	(4)
Evapotranspiration	141	(5)
Infiltration and runoff	146	(3)
A simple water balance model	149	(3)
Watersheds	152	(11)
Global drainage basins	163	(4)
Soils	167	(42)
Introduction	167	(1)
Soil texture and structure	167	(5)
Soil formation	172	(8)
Erosion	180	(5)
Water erosion	181	(3)
Wind erosion	184	(1)
Soil temperature	185	(7)
Soil water	192	(8)
Soil nutrients	200	(9)
Rock weathering	201	(1)
Decomposition and mineralization	202	(5)
Soil solution	207	(2)
Surface energy fluxes	209	(39)
Introduction	209	(1)
Surface energy budget	209	(8)
Leaf temperature and fluxes	217	(10)
Surface temperature and fluxes	227	(7)
Vegetated canopies	234	(5)
Surface climate	239	(9)
Surface climates	248	(45)
Introduction	248	(1)
Hillslopes and mountains	248	(17)
Lakes and oceans	265	(4)
Land cover	269	(18)
Forests and clearings	276	(3)
Land surface processes in climate models	279	(5)
Landscape heterogeneity and mesoscale circulations	284	(3)
Hydrology	287	(4)
Snow	287	(2)
Soil water	289	(2)
Microclimates and land use planning	291	(2)
Leaves and plants	293	(54)
Introduction	293	(1)
Carbon assimilation	294	(17)
Light reactions	294	(3)
Dark reactions	297	(2)
Stomata	299	(3)
Net photosynthesis	302	(1)
Environmental and physiological controls of photosynthesis	303	(3)
Photosynthesis-transpiration compromise	306	(5)
Leaf traits	311	(6)
Leaf size and shape	311	(1)
Coordinated leaf traits	312	(5)
Carbon balance of plants	317	(11)
Canopy photosynthesis	317	(6)
Whole plant carbon balance	323	(1)
Phenology	324	(4)
Allocation	328	(4)
Reproduction	329	(2)
Aboveground and belowground growth	331	(1)
Life history patterns	332	(15)
Annuals and perennials	334	(1)
Trees	335	(4)
Disturbance and competition	339	(3)
Plant functional types	342	(5)
Populations, communities, and ecosystems	347	(68)
Introduction	347	(2)
Niche and species abundance	349	(6)
Environmental gradients and communities	355	(4)
Ecosystems	359	(28)
What is an ecosystem?	359	(2)
Ecosystem structure and function	361	(5)
Environmental controls of net primary production	366	(5)
Biogeochemical cycles	371	(4)
Forest production and nutrient cycling	375	(6)
Net ecosystem production	381	(6)
Landscapes	387	(3)
Global vegetation	390	(25)
Biogeography	390	(11)
Net primary production	401	(6)
Litterfall and soil carbon	407	(3)
Global carbon cycle	410	(4)
Global terrestrial ecosystem models	414	(1)
Vegetation dynamics	415	(45)
Introduction	415	(1)
Population dynamics	416	(5)
Succession	421	(30)
Lake Michigan sand dunes	423	(2)
Glacier Bay, Alaska	425	(2)
Old-field succession in the North Carolina Piedmont	427	(1)
Northern hardwood forests	428	(5)
Boreal forests of interior Alaska	433	(2)
Mechanisms of succession	435	(8)
Pattern and process in plant communities	443	(8)
Biogeography and climate change	451	(5)
Vegetation dynamics models	456	(4)
Climate-ecosystem dynamics	460	(46)
Introduction	460	(2)
Biogeophysics	462	(15)
Phenology	463	(3)
Stomatal physiology	466	(2)
Biogeography	468	(9)
Carbon cycle	477	(12)
Ecosystem metabolism	478	(2)
Terrestrial carbon storage	480	(5)
Biogeography	485	(4)
Mineral dust	489	(3)
Coupled climate-ecosystem models	492	(14)
Daisyworld	492	(2)
Asynchronous equilibrium coupling	494	(4)
Integrated synchronous coupling	498	(8)
Agroecosystems	506	(41)
Introduction	506	(2)
Drylands	508	(13)
Tropical deforestation	521	(4)
European deforestation	525	(4)
U.S. deforestation	529	(13)
U.S. Central Plains	542	(5)
Urban ecosystems	547	(40)
Introduction	547	(1)
Urban climate	548	(22)
Urban hydrology	570	(4)
Biogeochemical cycles	574	(4)
Biodiversity	578	(4)
The ecological city	582	(5)
References	587	(78)
Index	665