The Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes: Vol 57 (Society for Experimental Biology)

__The Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes__ provides an informed synthesis on the current status of forests and their future potential for carbon sequestration. This volume is timely, since convincing models which scale from local to regional carbon fluxes are needed to support these international agreements, whilst criticisms have been levelled at existing empirical approaches. One key question is to determine how well eddy-flux measurements at the stand-level represent regional-scale processes. This may be related to specific management practices (age, plantation, fertilisation) or simple bias in choosing representative sites (ease of access, roughness, proximity to physical barriers). The ecology and regeneration state of temperate, tropical and boreal forests under current climatic conditions are discussed, together with partitioning of photosynthetic and respiratory fluxes from soils and vegetation. The volume considers how to integrate contrasting methodologies, and the latest approaches for scaling from stand to the planetary boundary layer. Book Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Contributors......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 14 Preface......Page 18 1. The Global Imperative and Policy for Carbon Sequestration......Page 22 2. Role of Forest Biomes in the Global Carbon Balance......Page 40 3. Carbon Sequestration in European Croplands......Page 70 4. Estimating Forest and Other Terrestrial Carbon Fluxes at a National Scale: The UK Experience......Page 80 5. Regional-Scale Estimates of Forest CO2 and Isotope Flux Based on Monthly CO2 Budgets of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer......Page 102 6. Regional Measurement and Modelling of Carbon Balances......Page 119 7. The Potential for Risking CO2 to Account for the Observed Uptake of Carbon by Tropical, Temperate, and Boreal Forest Biomes......Page 136 8. Measurement of CO2 Exchange Between Boreal Forest and the Atmosphere......Page 177 9. Carbon Exchange of Deciduous Broadleaved Forests in Temperate and Mediterranean Regions......Page 217 10. The Carbon Balance of the Tropical Forest Biome......Page 253 11. The Carbon Balance of Forest Soils: Detectability of Changes in Soil Carbon Stocks in Temperate and Boreal Forests......Page 273 12. Fractional Contributions by Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Respiration to Soil-surface CO2 Effluxin Boreal Forests......Page 290 13. Trace Gas and CO2 Contributions of Northern Peatlands to Global Warming Potential......Page 309 14. Contribution of Trace Gases Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Methane (CH4) to the Atmospheric Warming Balance of Forest Biomes......Page 334 15. Effects of Reforestation, Deforestation, and Afforestation on Carbon Storage in Soils......Page 363 16. 'Carbon Forestry': Managing Forests to Conserve Carbon......Page 377 Index......Page 399 Climate change is increasingly recognized as a real and present problem, and the recent ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by Russia has again brought this issue to the centre of public attention. The 0.6 degree increase in global temperatures over the past 50 years has been attributed to increased release of carbon into the atmosphere from fossil fuels and changed land use.The Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes addresses the role of terrestrial vegetation as part of a global carbon 'sink', taking up and sequestering atmospheric carbon. An author team of international experts address some fundamental issues concerning the Kyoto Protocol and the role of forests in global carbon balance, before describing specific regional conditions and challenges. The book concludes with a summary of the current situation and makes some suggestions for future directions in attempts at global carbon level management. Edited By Howard Griffiths, Paul G. Jarvis. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.