Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
publications (Conant et al. 2011; Chen et al. 1999, 2000; Cocknell et al. 2006). The
results represented in Fig. 8.18 show that biocomplexity is a nonlinear function of
soil moisture.
8.5 The Role of Forests in CO 2 Cycle
One of the principal aspects of the anthropogenic impact on the environment is the
evaluation of the consequences of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere. Published
results estimating the greenhouse effect and excess CO 2 distribution in the bio-
sphere widely vary, sometimes they are contradictory, or too blandly stated. This is
a natural consequence of all kinds of simpli
cations adopted in modeling the global
CO 2 cycle. The GIMS makes it possible to create an effective monitoring system
allowing the estimation of the spatial distribution of the carbon sinks and sources in
real time.
First of all, some problems should be solved to assess the role of the anthro-
pogenic use of the Earth
is surface. In particular, among these problems there is the
problem of the formalized description of the processes of change of the structure of
the Earth land covers, such as afforestation, forest reconstruction, deforestation and
the associated carbon supplies. Understanding the meteorological processes as
functions of the greenhouse gases is one of the key problems of humankind in the
'
first decade of the third Millennium. Only an adequate knowledge of the meteo-
rological phenomena on various spatial-temporal scales under conditions of varying
supplies of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases will enable to make correct and
constructive decisions in the
field of global environmental protection.
The dynamics of the surface ecosystems depend on interactions between the
biogeochemical cycles, which during the last decade of the 20th century and
rst
decade of the 21st century have suffered signi
cation,
especially to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and water. The surface ecosystems, in
which carbon remains in the living biomass, decomposing organicmatter, and the soil,
play an important role in the global CO 2 cycle. Carbon exchanges between these
reservoirs and the atmosphere take place through photosynthesis, respiration,
decomposition, and burning. Human interference into this process takes place through
changing the structure of the vegetation covers, pollution of the water basin surfaces
and of the soil areas, as well as through direct emissions of CO 2 into the atmosphere.
The role of various ecosystems in the formation of carbon supplies to the bio-
spheric reservoirs determines the rate and direction of changes to the regional
meteorological situations and to the global climate. The accuracy of assessment of
the level of these changes depends on the reliability of the data on the inventory of
the surface ecosystems.
Existing environmental data show that knowledge of the rates and trends of
carbon accumulation in the surface ecosystems are rather uncertain. However, it is
clear that the surface ecosystems are important assimilators of excess CO 2 .
Understanding the details of such assimilation is only possible through modeling
cant anthropogenic modi
Search WWH ::




Custom Search