Global Climate Change and Human Impacts on Forest Ecosystems

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XIII

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2. Introduction

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 1-3

3. Forest-Ecosystem Fundamentals

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 5-34

4. Post-Glacial Development of Climate and Forest Ecosystems

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 35-82

5. Sources and Sinks of Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollutants

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 83-140

6. Present State of Forest Ecosystems

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 141-186

7. Implications of Changes in Ambient and Climatic Conditions on Ecosystem Processes

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 187-300

8. Scenarios of Future Changes

   • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

   Pages 301-417

9. Forest Management

   • Achim Dohrenbusch

   Pages 419-462

10. Human Impacts on Central European Forests: Summary and Conclusions

    • Joachim Puhe, Bernhard Ulrich

    Pages 463-476

11. Back Matter

    Pages 477-594

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The inclusion of forests as potential biological sinks in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997 has attracted international attention and again has put scientific and political focus on the world's forests, regarding their state and development. The international discus­ sion induced by the Kyoto Protocol has clearly shown that not only the tropical rain forests are endangered by man's activities, but also that the forest ecosystems of boreal, temperate, mediterranean and subtropical regions have been drastically modified. Deforestation on a large scale, burning, over-exploitation, and the degra­ dation of the biological diversity are well-known symptoms in forests all over the world. This negative development happens in spite of the already existing knowledge of the benefits of forests on global energy and water regimes, the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and other elements as well as on the biological and cultural diversity. The reasons why man does not take care of forests properly are manifold and complex and there is no easy solution how to change the existing negative trends. One reason that makes it so difficult to assess the impacts of human activity on the future development of forests is the large time scale in which forests react, ranging from decades to centuries.

• Europe
• Greenhouse gas
• Klima
• air pollution
• climate
• climate change
• ecosystem
• ecosystem processes
• emission
• environment
• environmental change
• forest
• forest management
• nitrogen
• pollution
• air pollution and air quality

"... a major contribution to forest ecosystems research ... elaborate analysis for the social sciences and for climate policy makers ... has a comprehensive list of references and a very elaborate subject index." (Naturwissenschaften)
"To our knowledge, this book is among the best, if not the best, in combining information on air pollution, climate and global change, and forest history  and management into one volume. Teachers and researchers in any of these areas will find the book very useful." (Forest Pathology)

 

• Prolong, Baños del Inca Cajamarca, Peru

  Joachim Puhe

• Universität Göttingen, Institut für Bodenkunde und Waldernährung, Göttingen, Germany

  Bernhard Ulrich

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