Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Theoretical and empirical study of microwave radiation and its propagation in
the atmosphere-vegetation-soil system.
￿
Synthesis of the GIMS database including theoretical and empirical assessments
for model coef
￿
cients, radiation characteristics of vegetation, and spatial dis-
tribution of the biomes.
8.2 Global Dynamics of Land Ecosystems
The growing global size of population and the associated growing forcing of human
activity on the environment and ecosystems have become not only the main threat
to further sustainable development of civilization, in the context of the global
ecological safety, but also re
ect a dangerous disorder in the normal functioning of
various systems of life support (Bolin and Sukumar 2000; Borodin et al. 2008;
Krapivin and Varotsos 2007, 2008). In connection with the key role of the eco-
systems in the processes of the natural regulation of the environmental properties,
of principal importance is an analysis of the available data on the global dynamics
of ecosystems and an assessment of possible trends. Important information on these
problems can be found, in particular, in recent publications by many authors
(Kondratyev and Krapivin 2001c, d; Hackler et al. 1999; Ito and Oikawa 2002;
Seppelt and Voinov 2002; Gbondo-Tugbawa and Driscoll 2002; Lischke et al.
2002; Sellers et al. 1997; Bouwman 1990), among which the most informative is
the report prepared by the World Resources Institute (WRI 2011) supported by the
UN Programme of Development, UNEP, and the World Bank (A Guide
fl
2000;
WRI 2012). This report emphasizes a close relationship between the global eco-
systems and the global population
a symbiosis, unique and extremely sensitive to
external forcings. These presentations have been thoroughly substantiated by
Gorshkov et al. (2000, 2002) in the form of a concept of biotic regulation of the
environment. Monographs by Kondratyev (1998a, b, 1999) and new publications
(Kondratyev et al. 2000; Kondratyev and Krapivin 2001c; Nitu et al. 2004, 2013a, b;
Krapivin and Shutko 2012) contain an analysis of the key aspects of the global
changes from the viewpoint of functioning of the global systems of life support and
requirements to an adequate ecological monitoring.
Global natural and regulated ecosystems play an important role as a factor of the
environmental dynamics ranging from micro-scales (e.g., soil bacteria) to the whole
planet and, on the other hand, are vitally important sources of drinking water, food,
timber, paper, and other means of life support. As has been mentioned earlier, an
urgency of the problem is that the world, on the whole, has already drawn near such
limits to the impacts on the ecosystems, an exceeding of which is fraught with
irreversible destruction of the global systems of life support. These limits have
already been exceeded; though the present enthusiasm for apocalyptic predictions
is, so far, unfounded (this especially refers to the so-called global warming .
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