Environmental factors and ecological processes in boreal forests
- Earth Resources Branch/Code 623, Lab. for Terrestrial Physics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (US)
- Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (US)
This paper reports on the boreal forest, a broad, circumpolar mixture of cool coniferous and deciduous tree species which covers over 14.7 million km{sup 2}, or 11%, of the earth's terrestrial surface. At these latitudes, a strong correlation exists between the seasonal dynamics of atmospheric carbon dioxide and the seasonal dynamics of the greenness of the earth. A possible causal relation, in which the dynamics of the forests at these latitudes regulates the atmospheric carbon concentrations, appears to be consistent with the present-day understanding of ecological processes in these ecosystems. Along with its familiar role in plant photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that markedly affects the heat budget of the earth. Thus the possibility that boreal forests may actively participate in the dynamics of atmospheric carbon dioxide is of considerable significance, especially since the climatic response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations seems to be strongly directed to the boreal forests of the world.
- OSTI ID:
- 5268199
- Journal Information:
- Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics; (United States), Vol. 20; ISSN 0066-4162
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CARBON DIOXIDE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FORESTS
EMISSION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ECOLOGY
PRODUCTION
TREES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
540250* - Environment
Terrestrial- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)
540120 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)