TROPICAL RAINFOREST RESPONSES TO CLIMATIC CHANGE (Second Edition)

Mark B. Bush, John R. Flenley and William D. Gosling

It is commonly acknowledged that the tropical rainforests play a vital part in the sustainability of the Earth's ecosystems and that the enhanced greenhouse effect in these regions is having an effect on this relationship.

This revised and thoroughly updated edition of Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change provided a current overview of the impacts of climate change on tropical forests. The emphasis is on ecological processes, i.e. how diversity is structured by climate and the subsequent impact on tropical forest ecology. This book:

uniquely deals with the ecological effects of past and future climate change on tropical forests around the world;
includes ecophysiology in addition to simple descriptions of observed paleoecological changes;
models past and future vegetation and climate change;
integrates modern and postulated fire risk and climate change in a long-term perspective.

Table of Contents

Preface to Second Edition
Preface to First Edition
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations and acronyms
List of editors
List of contributors

Cretaceous and Tertiary climate change and the past distribution of megathermal rainforests
R. J. Morley
Andean montane forests and climate change
M. B. Bush, J. A. Hanselman, and H. Hooghiemstra
Climate and vegetation change in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin
M. B. Bush, W. D. Gosling, and P. A. Colinvaux
The Quaternary history of Far Eastern rainforests
A.P. Kershaw, S. van der Kaars, and J. R. Flenley
Rainforest responses to past climatic changes in Tropical Africa
R. Bonnefille
Prehistoric human occupation and impacts on neotropical forest landscapes during the Late Pleistocene and Early/Middle Holocene
Dolores R. Piperno
The past, present, and future importance of fire in tropical rainforests
M. A. Cochrane
Ultraviolet insolation and the tropical rainforest: Altitudinal variations, Quaternary and recent change, extinctions, and the evolution of biodiversity
J. R. Flenley
Climate change in the Amazon Basin: Tipping points, changes in extremes, and impacts on natural and human systems
J. A. Marengo, C. A. Nobre, G. Sampaio, L. F. Salazar, and L. S. Borma
Plant species diversity in Amazonian forests
M. R. Silman
Biogeochemical cycling in tropical forests
M. E. McGroddy and W. L.Silver
The response of South American tropical forests to recent atmospheric changes
O. L.Phillips, S. L. Lewis, T. R. Baker, and Y. Malhi
Ecophysiological response of lowland tropical plants to Pleistocene climate
S. A. Cowling
Tropical environmental dynamics: A modeling perspective
R. Marchant and J. C. Lovett
Modeling future effects of climate change on tropical forests
L. Hannah, R. A. Betts, and H. H. Shugart
Conservation, climate change, and tropical forests
L. Hannah and T. Lovejoy

Taxonomic index
Subject index

Extent: 488 pages, black and white/colour images integrated within text
Binding: Hardback
Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-3-642-05382-5

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