Ebook: Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change

The goal of this book 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.

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. Shifting the emphasis onto ecological processes, e.g. how diversity is structured by climate and the subsequent impact on tropical forest ecology, provides the reader with a more comprehensive coverage.

A major theme of this book that emerges progressively is the interaction between humans, climate and forest ecology. While numerous books have appeared dealing with forest fragmentation and conservation, none have explicitly explored the long term occupation of tropical systems, the influence of fire and the future climatic effects of deforestation, coupled with anthropogenic emissions. Incorporating modeling of past and future systems paves the way for a discussion of conservation from a climatic perspective, rather than the usual plea to stop logging.

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The goal of this book 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.

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. Shifting the emphasis onto ecological processes, e.g. how diversity is structured by climate and the subsequent impact on tropical forest ecology, provides the reader with a more comprehensive coverage.

A major theme of this book that emerges progressively is the interaction between humans, climate and forest ecology. While numerous books have appeared dealing with forest fragmentation and conservation, none have explicitly explored the long term occupation of tropical systems, the influence of fire and the future climatic effects of deforestation, coupled with anthropogenic emissions. Incorporating modeling of past and future systems paves the way for a discussion of conservation from a climatic perspective, rather than the usual plea to stop logging.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxxii
Cretaceous and Tertiary climate change and the past distribution of megathermal rainforests....Pages 1-31
Andean montane forests and climate change....Pages 33-54
Climate change in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin....Pages 55-76
The Quaternary history of far eastern rainforests....Pages 77-115
Rainforest responses to past climatic tropical Africa....Pages 117-170
Tropical environmental dynamics: A modeling perspective....Pages 171-192
Prehistoric human occupation and impacts on Neotropical forest landscapes during the Late Pleistocene and Early/Middle Holocene....Pages 193-218
Ultraviolet insolation and the tropical rainforest: altitudinal variations, Quaternary and recent change, extinctions, and biodiversity....Pages 219-235
Climate change and hydrological modes of the wet tropics....Pages 236-268
Plant species diversity in Amazonian forests....Pages 269-294
Nutrient-cycling and climate change in tropical forests....Pages 295-316
The response of South American tropical forests to contemporary atmospheric change....Pages 317-332
Ecophysiological response of lowland plants to Pleistocene climate....Pages 333-349
Modeling future effects of climate change on tropical forests....Pages 351-366
Conservation, climate change, and tropical forests....Pages 367-378
Back Matter....Pages 379-404

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The goal of this book 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.

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. Shifting the emphasis onto ecological processes, e.g. how diversity is structured by climate and the subsequent impact on tropical forest ecology, provides the reader with a more comprehensive coverage.

A major theme of this book that emerges progressively is the interaction between humans, climate and forest ecology. While numerous books have appeared dealing with forest fragmentation and conservation, none have explicitly explored the long term occupation of tropical systems, the influence of fire and the future climatic effects of deforestation, coupled with anthropogenic emissions. Incorporating modeling of past and future systems paves the way for a discussion of conservation from a climatic perspective, rather than the usual plea to stop logging.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxxii
Cretaceous and Tertiary climate change and the past distribution of megathermal rainforests....Pages 1-31
Andean montane forests and climate change....Pages 33-54
Climate change in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin....Pages 55-76
The Quaternary history of far eastern rainforests....Pages 77-115
Rainforest responses to past climatic tropical Africa....Pages 117-170
Tropical environmental dynamics: A modeling perspective....Pages 171-192
Prehistoric human occupation and impacts on Neotropical forest landscapes during the Late Pleistocene and Early/Middle Holocene....Pages 193-218
Ultraviolet insolation and the tropical rainforest: altitudinal variations, Quaternary and recent change, extinctions, and biodiversity....Pages 219-235
Climate change and hydrological modes of the wet tropics....Pages 236-268
Plant species diversity in Amazonian forests....Pages 269-294
Nutrient-cycling and climate change in tropical forests....Pages 295-316
The response of South American tropical forests to contemporary atmospheric change....Pages 317-332
Ecophysiological response of lowland plants to Pleistocene climate....Pages 333-349
Modeling future effects of climate change on tropical forests....Pages 351-366
Conservation, climate change, and tropical forests....Pages 367-378
Back Matter....Pages 379-404
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