Vegetation and the Terrestrial Carbon Cycle
The First 400 Million Years

An analysis of the Earth's vegetations and carbon cycle in the past and predictions for the future.

David Beerling (Author), F. Ian Woodward (Author)

9780521801966, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 October 2001

416 pages, 123 b/w illus. 69 colour illus. 33 tables
25.5 x 18 x 2.8 cm, 1.099 kg

'… an excellent reference to a new approach using data on vegetation and the carbon cycle.' Philip E. LaMoreaux, Environmental Geology

Plants have colonised and modified the World's surface for the last 400 million years. In this book the authors demonstrate that an understanding of the role of vegetation in the terrestrial carbon cycle during this time can be gained by linking the key mechanistic elements of present day vegetation processes to models of the global climate during different geological eras. The resulting interactive simulations of climate and vegetation processes tie in with observable geological data, such as the distributions of coals and evaporites, supporting the validity of the authors' approach. Simulation of possible conditions in future centuries are also presented, providing valuable predictions of the status of the Earth's vegetation and carbon cycle at a time of global warming.

Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Investigating the past from the present
3. Climate and terrestrial vegetation of the present
4. The global climate system and terrestrial carbon cycle
5. The late Carboniferous
6. The Jurassic
6. The Cretaceous
8. The Eocene
9. The late Quaternary
10. Climate and terrestrial vegetation in the future
11. Endview
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental science, engineering & technology [TQ], Earth sciences [RB], Plant ecology [PSTS], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]