Climate, vegetation, and human interactions in the Amazon. Introduction to vegetation and climate interactions in the humid tropics. Geophysiology: a new look at earth science. Climate, natural vegetation, and soils in Amazonia: an overview. Causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Dam building the Tropics: some environmental and social consequences. Species diversity, phenology, plant - animal interactions, and their correlation with climate, as illustrated by the Brazil Nut family (Lecythidaceae). Climate change in the humid tropics, especially amazonia, over th last twenty thousand years. Biogeochemical cycles in the tropics. Role of the tropics in atmospheric chemistry. Contribution of tropical ecosystems to the global budgets of trace gases, especially CH4, H2, CO, and N2O. Influence of a tropical forest on air chemistry. Biological processes and productivity of soils in the humid tropics. Effects of deforestation on soil properties and microclimate of a high rain forest in Southern Nigeria. Element cycling in the Amazon Basin: a riverine perspective. Climate, micrometeorology, ant the hydrological cycle in the moist tropics. Micrometeorology of an Amazonian Rain Forest. The forest and the hydrological cycle. Modeling effects of vegetation on climate. Tropical climate and general circulation: its susceptibility to human intervention. Interactions between convective and large-scale motions over Amazonia. On the dynamic climatology of the Amazon Basin and associated rain-producing mechanisms. General circulation modeling and the tropics. Effects of change in land use on climate in the humid tropics.

Looks at the most important processes linking climate and vegetation in the tropics in general and in the Amazon in particular. Through individual reviews by some of the world's leading scientists, it covers such subjects as modeling tropical meteorology and climate, tropical microclimatology, connections of vegetation to climate, and impacts of tropical deforestation on regional and global climate. Editorial summaries integrate this material into an overall perspective. Features an essay on protecting the global environment by James Lovelock.

Climate, vegetation, and human interactions in the Amazon. Introduction to vegetation and climate interactions in the humid tropics. Geophysiology: a new look at earth science. Climate, natural vegetation, and soils in Amazonia: an overview. Causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Dam building the Tropics: some environmental and social consequences. Species diversity, phenology, plant - animal interactions, and their correlation with climate, as illustrated by the Brazil Nut family (Lecythidaceae). Climate change in the humid tropics, especially amazonia, over th last twenty thousand years. Biogeochemical cycles in the tropics. Role of the tropics in atmospheric chemistry. Contribution of tropical ecosystems to the global budgets of trace gases, especially CH4, H2, CO, and N2O. Influence of a tropical forest on air chemistry. Biological processes and productivity of soils in the humid tropics. Effects of deforestation on soil properties and microclimate of a high rain forest in Southern Nigeria. Element cycling in the Amazon Basin: a riverine perspective. Climate, micrometeorology, ant the hydrological cycle in the moist tropics. Micrometeorology of an Amazonian Rain Forest. The forest and the hydrological cycle. Modeling effects of vegetation on climate. Tropical climate and general circulation: its susceptibility to human intervention. Interactions between convective and large-scale motions over Amazonia. On the dynamic climatology of the Amazon Basin and associated rain-producing mechanisms. General circulation modeling and the tropics. Effects of change in land use on climate in the humid tropics.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 186. Amazonia and Global Change synthesizes results of the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) for scientists and students of Earth system science and global environmental change. LBA, led by Brazil, asks how Amazonia currently functions in the global climate and biogeochemical systems and how the functioning of Amazonia will respond to the combined pressures of climate and land use change, such as Wet season and dry season aerosol concentrations and their effects on diffuse radiation and photosynthesis Increasing greenhouse gas concentration, deforestation, widespread biomass burning and changes in the Amazonian water cycle Drought effects and simulated drought through rainfall exclusion experiments The net flux of carbon between Amazonia and the atmosphere Floodplains as an important regulator of the basin carbon balance including serving as a major source of methane to the troposphere The impact of the likely increased profitability of cattle ranching. The book will serve a broad community of scientists and policy makers interested in global change and environmental issues with high-quality scientific syntheses accessible to nonspecialists in a wide community of social scientists, ecologists, atmospheric chemists, climatologists, and hydrologists.

The Amazon -that name was given to the biggest river on earth and is often used for the whole area of its basin too. This geographical region is currently referred to as Amazonia, thus emphasizing the peculiar character of its aquatic and terrestrial reaches. The Amazon embodied the dream of many a naturalist to explore what for a long time was a terra incognita. In recent years, however, Amazonia has emerged as a main centre for 'development' by some of the countries in which it lies and by foreign industrialized nations. The development projects and enterprises have aroused woridwide interest and have given rise to discussions on their aims and their consequences to the Amazonian nature. Limnological and ecological investigations in Amazonia started only about 40 years ago. The editor had the good fortune to partake in them from the very beginning. He spent his decisive years in Amazonia, and dedicated his life's work to that research and to that country and the Amazonian people. Nearing the end of his scicntific activities, hc is gratcful to bc ablc to summarizc in this book most of the knowledge we possess at present of Amazonian limnology and landscape ecology.

The Amazonia is the largest continuous river basin and rainforest ecosystem in the world. In all aspects it is a natural wonder, and the rainforest with its billions of trees is a vital carbon store that slows down the advance of global warming. It is home to one million indigenous people and some three million species of plants and animals. There have been many climate fluctuations during the last 55 million years of its existence, but never before have “the lungs of the world” been at greater risk than they are today due to uncontrolled fires, expanding agriculture and heavy industrial development in the forms of oil drilling, mining and large hydroelectric dams. Over twelve chapters, this book describes the anthropological, biological and industrial problems facing the Amazonia, and seeks to find new solutions.

Amazonia under siege; Environmental threats; Forces of change and societal responses; Forest conservation and management; Silviculture and plantation crops; Agro-forestry and perennial cropping systems; Ranching problems and potential on the uplands; Land-use dynamics on the Amazon flood plain; Trends and opportunities.

The book focuses on geological history as the critical factor in determining the present biodiversity and landscapes of Amazonia. The different driving mechanisms for landscape evolution are explored by reviewing the history of the Amazonian Craton, the associated sedimentary basins, and the role of mountain uplift and climate change. This book provdes an insight into the Meso- and Cenozoic record of Amazonia that was characterized by fluvial and long-lived lake systems and a highly diverse flora and fauna. This fauna includes giants such as the ca. 12 m long caiman Purussaurus, but also a varied fish fauna and fragile molluscs, whilst fossil pollen and spores form relics of ancestral swamps and rainforests. Finally, a review the molecular datasets of the modern Amazonian rainforest and aquatic ecosystem, discussing the possible relations between the origin of Amazonian species diversity and the palaeogeographic, palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental evolution of northern South America. The multidisciplinary approach in evaluating the history of Amazonia has resulted in a comprehensive volume that provides novel insights into the evolution of this region.

The future of Brazilian Amazonia, the world's largest remaining tropical rainforest, hangs in the balance. Two decades of destructive development have provoked violent struggles for control over the region's resources, with disastrous social and environmental consequences. This multi-disciplinary collection reviews past experience but focusses on the latest phase of Amazonian settlement. Chapters by leading authorities examine such issues as colonisation in the most recent frontier areas, multinational mining projects, hydro-electric schemes, and the military occupation of Brazil's borders. After demonstrating how new government and business activities have exacerbated social tensions and ecological destruction, the volume considers alternative, more sustainable strategies.