Vegetation Dynamics & Global Change

During the summer of 1987, a series of discussions I was held at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (nASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, to plan a study of global vegetation change. The work was aimed at promoting the Interna tional Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), sponsored by the International Council of Scientific Unions (lCSU), of which nASA is a member. Our study was designed to provide initial guidance in the choice of approaches, data sets and objectives for constructing global models of the terrestrial biosphere. We hoped to provide substantive and concrete assistance in formulating the working plans of IGBP by involving program planners in the development and application of models which were assembled from available data sets and modeling ap proaches. Recent acceptance of the "nASA model" as the starting point for endeavors of the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems Core Project of the IGBP suggests we were successful in that aim. The objective was implemented by our initiation of a mathematical model of global vegetation, including agriculture, as defined by the forces which control and change vegetation. The model was to illustrate the geographical consequences to vegetation structure and functioning of changing climate and land use, based on plant responses to environmental variables. The completed model was also expected to be useful for examining international environmental policy responses to global change, as well as for studying the validity of IIASA's experimental approaches to environmental policy development.

Springer Book Archives

I Introduction.- 1. Global Change.- II Biotic Responses to Global Environmental Change.- 2. Biospheric Implications of Global Environmental Change.- 3. CO2 Fertilization: The Great Uncertainty in Future Vegetation Development.- 4. Leaf Responses to the Environment and Extrapolation to Larger Scales.- 5. The Prediction and Physiological Significance of Tree Height.- 6. Uncertainties in the Terrestrial Carbon Cycle.- 7. Coupling of the Atmosphere with Vegetation.- III Measuring Global Vegetation Change.- 8. Monitoring Vegetation Change Using Satellite Data.- 9. Global Geographic Information Systems and Databases for Vegetation Change Studies.- 10. Assessing Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation Using Climate Classification Systems.- 11. Vegetation Diversity and Classification Systems.- IV Modeling Global Vegetation Change.- 12. Modeling Large-Scale Vegetation Dynamics.- 13. Rapid Simulations of Vegetation Stand Dynamics with Mixed Life-Forms.- 14. Plant Functional Types.- 15. Vegetation Functional Classification Systems as Approaches to Predicting and Quantifying Global Vegetation Change.- 16. Modeling Crop Responses to Environmental Change.- Concluding Comments.