Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Forest Ecosystems

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-3

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2. A Climate Change Scenario for the Tropics

   • Mike Hulme, David Viner

   Pages 5-36

3. Tropical Forests under the Climates of the Last 30,000 Years

   • J. R. Flenley

   Pages 37-57

4. Potential Changes in Tropical Storms, Hurricanes, and Extreme Rainfall Events as a Result of Climate Change

   • K. Walsh, A. B. Pittock

   Pages 59-73

5. Possible Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Tropical Forest Hydrology

   • M. Bonell

   Pages 75-132

6. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Regimes in the Tropics Based on MAGICC and a GISS GCM-Derived Lightning Model

   • Johann Georg Goldammer, Colin Price

   Pages 133-156

7. Tropical Forests in a CO2-Rich World

   • Christian Körner

   Pages 157-175

8. Tropical Forests in a Future Climate: Changes in Biological Diversity and Impact on the Global Carbon Cycle

   • F. A. Bazzaz

   Pages 177-196

9. The Potential Effects of Elevated CO2 and Climate Change on Tropical Forest Soils and Biogeochemical Cycling

   • Whendee L. Silver

   Pages 197-221

10. Relating Tree Physiology to Past and Future Changes in Tropical Rainforest Tree Communities

    • Thomas A. Kursar

    Pages 223-239

11. Responses of Tropical Trees to Rainfall Seasonality and Its Long-Term Changes

    • Rolf Borchert

    Pages 241-253

12. Deep Soil Moisture Storage and Transpiration in Forests and Pastures of Seasonally-Dry Amazonia

    • Peter H. Jipp, Daniel C. Nepstad, D. K. Cassel, C. Reis de Carvalho

    Pages 255-272

13. Ecological Implications of Changes in Drought Patterns: Shifts in Forest Composition in Panama

    • Richard Condit

    Pages 273-287

14. Potential Impact of Climatic Change on Tropical Rain Forest Seedlings and Forest Regeneration

    • T. C. Whitmore

    Pages 289-298

15. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Asian Forests through an Influence on Phenology

    • Richard T. Corlett, James V. Lafrankie Jr.

    Pages 299-313

16. Possible Effects of Climate Change on Plant/Herbivore Interactions in Moist Tropical Forests

    • Phyllis D. Coley

    Pages 315-332

17. Global Climate Change and Tropical Forest Genetic Resources

    • Kamaljit S. Bawa, S. Dayanandan

    Pages 333-345

18. A Model of Conductive Heat Flow in Forest Edges and Fragmented Landscapes

    • Jay R. Malcolm

    Pages 347-362

19. Vulnerability of Island Tropical Montane Cloud Forests to Climate Change, with Special Reference to East Maui, Hawaii

    • Lloyd L. Loope, Thomas W. Giambelluca

    Pages 363-377

20. Vulnerabilities of Tropical Forests to Climate Change: The Significance of Resident Epiphytes

    • David H. Benzing

    Pages 379-400

Climate change represents one of the most alarming long-term threats to ecosystems the world over. This new collection of papers provides, for the first time, an overview of the potentially serious impact that climate change may have on tropical forests. The authors, a multi-disciplinary group of leading experts in climatology, forestry, ecology and conservation biology, present a state-of-knowledge snapshot of how tropical forests are likely to react to the changes being wrought on our planet's atmosphere and climate.
Tropical forests represent extraordinary harbours for biological diversity, and yet as deforestation and degradation continue apace, they are under greater pressure from human impacts than ever before. Climate change adds yet another threat to these valuable ecosystems, and this volume demonstrates just how significant a problem this may really be. The authors identify certain types of forest, including tropical montane cloud forest that may be particularly vulnerable. They also show the strong likelihood of global warming aggravating problems in already fragmented forest areas.

• Climatology
• Cloud
• Conservation biology
• Deforestation
• Ecology
• Rain
• Rainforest
• Storm
• Transpiration
• ecosystem
• ecosystems
• forest
• hydrology
• physiology

`... it will be of interest to many working on the ecology and management of these forests ...'
Progress in Environmental Science, 1:4 (1999)

• Energy and Climate Program, World Wildlife Fund, USA

  Adam Markham

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