Search results

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- On Units and Notation -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Looking Back and Into the Future -- Forests in Human History -- Resilience -- Outline of the Book -- A Look into the Future -- Chapter 2: Forest Types around the World -- Main Forest Types -- On Being Evergreen or Deciduous -- Boreal Forests -- Temperate Forests -- Temperate Coniferous Forests -- Mixed Temperate Forests -- Broad-Leaved Evergreen -- Tropical Forests -- Plantations and Managed Forests -- Advantages of Plantations -- Disadvantages of Plantations -- Summary -- Chapter 3: Weather and Climate Determine Forest Growth and Type -- How Trees Grow -- Weather Factors: Temperature -- Weather Factors: Solar Radiation -- Weather Factors: Air Humidity -- Weather Factors: Precipitation and Hydrology -- Soil Water -- Precipitation, Interception, Runoff, and Drainage -- Transpiration -- Implications of Forest Clearance for Hydrology and Climate -- Summary -- Chapter 4: Causes and Consequences of Rapid Climate Change -- Causes of Global Warming -- Fossil Fuel Burning and Land-Use Change -- How Fast Is the Earth Warming? -- A Word about Denialists -- On Variation and Uncertainty -- Extreme Weather Events -- Impacts and Implications on Climate Change -- Effects on Forests -- Summary -- Chapter 5: How We Value and Use Forests -- Ecosystem Services and Universal Values of Forests -- Reliable Supplies of Clean Water -- Carbon Dioxide Absorption and Storage -- Biodiversity -- The Uses of Forests -- Harvested Wood and Its Uses -- Pulpwood -- Wood for Fuel -- Sawn and Processed Timber -- Abuses of Forests -- Urban Development -- Tropical Forest Destruction -- Summary -- Chapter 6: The Economics and Practices of Forest Management -- An Outline of Relevant Economic Theory -- Macroeconomics as It Relates to Forestry.

Process-based models open the way to useful predictions of the future growth rate of forests and provide a means of assessing the probable effects of variations in climate and management on forest productivity. As such they have the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional forest growth and yield models, which are based on mensuration data and assume that climate and atmospheric CO2 concentrations will be the same in the future as they are now. This book discusses the basic physiological processes that determine the growth of plants, the way they are affected by environmental factors and how we can improve processes that are well-understood such as growth from leaf to stand level and productivity. A theme that runs through the book is integration to show a clear relationship between photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrient requirements, transpiration, water relations and other factors affecting plant growth that are often looked at separately. This integrated approach will provide the most comprehensive source for process-based modelling, which is valuable to ecologists, plant physiologists, forest planners and environmental scientists. * Includes explanations of inherently mathematical models are aided by the use of graphs and diagrams illustrating causal interactions, and by examples implemented as Excel spread sheets * Uses process-based model as a framework for explaining the mechanisms underlying plant growth * Integrated approach provides a clear and relatively simple treatment * Includes access to electronic and printed spreadsheet examples of the variations of the ecophsyiological model