Climate Change: Biological and Human AspectsThe second edition of this acclaimed text has been fully updated and substantially expanded to include the considerable developments (since publication of the first edition) in our understanding of the science of climate change, its impacts on biological and human systems, and developments in climate policy. Written in an accessible style, it provides a broad review of past, present and likely future climate change from the viewpoints of biology, ecology, human ecology and Earth system science. It will again prove to be invaluable to a wide range of readers, from students in the life sciences who need a brief overview of the basics of climate science, to atmospheric science, geography, geoscience and environmental science students who need to understand the biological and human ecological implications of climate change. It is also a valuable reference text for those involved in environmental monitoring, conservation and policy making. |
Contents
4 | |
Principal indicators of past climates | 40 |
Past climate change | 66 |
climate and biology | 119 |
Present climate and biological change | 198 |
Current warming and likely future impacts | 262 |
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000 years ago 20th century 21st century agricultural Antarctic Antarctica anthropogenic Arctic areas assessment atmospheric carbon dioxide biofuels biological biosphere carbon cycle carbon dioxide Chapter circulation climate change consumption cooling decades decline dendrochronology developed difficult Earth ecological economic ecosystems effect efficiency energy Environment environmental Eocene estimates Europe event extinction factors fiiel fiiture first flooding flow forecasts forest fossil carbon fossil fuel gases geological global climate global warming greenhouse gas Greenland Holocene human ice sheet impact increase interglacial IPCC IPCC’s isotope Kyoto Protocol last glacial latitudes levels Little Ice Age marine methane methane hydrates migration Milankovitch million models nations Nature North northern hemisphere nuclear ocean past photosynthesis plants population precipitation production proxies rainfall reflected regional release scenario Science scientific sea-level rise significant Snowball Earth soil species specific sufficiently temperature terrestrial thermal thermohaline circulation tropical Younger Dryas