Terrestrial Ecosystems in Changing Environments [Paperback]

A unique review of the problem of predicting the response of ecosystems to changed conditions.The vegetation of the Earth is in a constant state of flux in response to changing environmental conditions. Understanding the dynamics of natural ecosystems is central to predicting how they will respond to environmental changes. One of the key challenges is to understand and predict the effect of human-induced changes such as pollution or long-term climate change. The book provides the reader with the ecological background needed to understand the prospects for predicting the changes in natural landscapes in response to changes in the environment.The vegetation of the Earth is in a constant state of flux in response to changing environmental conditions. Understanding the dynamics of natural ecosystems is central to predicting how they will respond to environmental changes. One of the key challenges is to understand and predict the effect of human-induced changes such as pollution or long-term climate change. The book provides the reader with the ecological background needed to understand the prospects for predicting the changes in natural landscapes in response to changes in the environment.Predicting how terrestrial ecosystems might respond in the future to large-scale human-generated changes is a major challenge for ecologists. In Terrestrial Ecosystems in Changing Environments, Herman H. Shugart describes the fundamental ecological concepts, theoretical developments, and quantitative analyses involved in understanding the responses of natural systems to change. The key ecological concepts described include the ecosystem paradigm, niche theory, vegetation/climate relationships, landscape ecology and ecological modeling. A variety of ecological models are presented, and their applications in predicting responses to change are considered. The challenge of producing ecological models capable of predicting long-term and large-area ecosystem dynamics is reviewed and severalc"