Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Ecoinformatics and Soil-Plant Formations
8.1 Methodology, Theory and Problems
As mentioned above, the
field of ecoinformatics provides concepts, methods and
standards in order to guide management and analysis of ecological data with par-
ticular emphasis on exploration of co-occurrences of organisms and their linkage to
environmental conditions and taxon attributes (Boden et al. 1994; Dengler et al.
2011; Fang et al. 2001; Rastetter et al. 2003). This chapter re
ects on the devel-
opment of ecoinformatics and explores its importance for future global change
research with special focus on vegetation-plot data. Vegetation covers including
forests are the most impacted by the anthropogenic reconstruction and revision.
Therefore, the objective of this chapter is threefold:
fl
(1) To present a working methodology for the combined use of modeling tech-
nology and microwave remote sensing measurements in the assessment of
attenuation of electromagnetic waves by the vegetation cover.
(2) To illustrate this methodology with computer calculations of the attenuation
for various soil-plant formations.
(3) To give a perspective of the developed methodology applied to the study of
global environmental change, including the radiative forcing problem.
The solution to the majority of applied problems within agro-meteorology, for-
estry, animal husbandry, and other areas of human activity directed toward the
protection of nature is difficult because effective methods of control of the soil-plant
formation (SPF) are insuf
ciently developed. During the last few years, the global
carbon cycle problem has acquired a special signi
cance because of the greenhouse
effect. The knowledge of the state of the SPF allows to have a real picture of the
spatial distribution of the carbon sinks and sources on the Earth
'
s surface.
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