Dear colleagues,
Some of you might be interested in a new text book I've written,
dealing with vegetation in the context of climate (biomes, plant
migration, microclimate, etc.) and how vegetation MAKES climate
(feedbacks on rainfall and temperature, carbon cycle etc.) as part of
the interacting earth system. The aim of the book is to be both up to
date and highly accessible.
Below is a link to a Web page on the book, where you can download
sample pages in pdf format. If the pdf doesn't download correctly
when you click on the page links, just right-click and it will save
as a pdf onto your computer. You can then open the page by clicking
on it directly from your computer.
Link to main page:
http://www.springer.com/east/home?SGWID=5-102-22-138795485-0&changeHeade
And here is the blurb from the Web page itself:
About this book
If youve ever wondered how vegetation can create clouds, haze and rain,
or how plants have an impact on the composition of greenhouse gases, then
this book is required reading.
Ideal for undergraduates, researchers and conservationists alike, the
authors cover everything from tiny local microclimates created by plants
to their effect on a global scale.
The book explains the influence of plants (both on land and in the ocean)
in making clouds, haze and rain are considered, along with plant effects
on the composition of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere.
Also explored are the broad global feedbacks that either stabilize or
destabilize the earth's environment. They are set in the context of
environmental change in the recent geological past as well as in the near
future.
Common contentions and misconceptions about the role of vegetation or
forest removal in the spread of deserts are also considered.
This book presents a window on one of the worlds most important issues,
explaining some of the underlying mechanisms by which plant life controls
how our planet works and influences the climate, the atmosphere and the
oceans.
Written for:
Undergraduates and graduate students, researchers in the field of
environmental sciences and conservationists
Keywords:
Earth system science
Environmental change
Greenhouse gases
Vegetation-climate feedbacks
World plant life
Table of contents
1. The climate system;- 2. From climate to vegetation;- 3. Plants on the
move; 4. Microclimates and vegetation;- 5. The desert makes the desert:
Climate feedbacks from the vegetation of arid zones;- 6. Forests;- 7.
Plants and the carbon cycle;- 8. The direct carbon dioxide effect on
plants.
If you have any more questions about the book, you can always contact
me directly too.
Thanks,
Jonathan Adams
