Analysis of Temperate Forest Ecosystems

A series of concise books, each by one or several authors, will provide prompt, world-wide information on approaches to analyzing ecological systems and their interacting parts. Syntheses of results in turn will illustrate the effectiveness, and the limitations, of current knowledge. This series aims to help overcome the fragmen tation of our understanding about natural and managed landscapes and water- about man and the many other organisms which depend on these environments. We may sometimes seem complacent that our environment has supported many civilizations fairly well - better in some parts of the Earth than in others. Modern technology has mastered some difficulties but creates new ones faster than we anticipate. Pressures of human and other animal populations now highlight complex ecological problems of practical importance and theoretical scientific interest. In every climatic-biotic zone, changes in plants, soils, waters, air and other resources which support life are accelerating. Such changes engulf not only regions already crowded or exploited. They spill over into more natural areas where contrasting choices for future use should remain open to our descendents-where Nature's own balances and imbalances can be interpreted by imaginative research, and need to be.

Inhalt
Analysis of an Ecosystem.- 1. Combination of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches.- 2. Analysis of Ecosystems.- 3. Studying the Effects of Environmental Factors on Ecosystems.- 4. Phenology in Productivity Studies.- Primary Producers.- 5. Biomass and Productivity Models of Forest Canopies.- 6. A Synthesis of Studies by the Harvest Method: Primary Production Relations in the Temperate Deciduous Forests of Japan.- 7. Metabolism of Terrestrial Ecosystems by Gas Exchange Techniques: The Brookhaven Approach.- Consumer Organisms.- 8. Insect Influences on the Forest Canopy.- 9. Estimation of the Effects of Phytophagous Insects on Forest Production.- 10. Secondary Production of Birds and Mammals.- Decomposer Populations.- 11. Soil Flora: Studies of the Number and Activity of Microorganisms in Woodland Soils.- 12. The Role of Soil Invertebrates in Turnover of Organic Matter and Nutrients.- Nutrient Cycling.- 13. Micronutrients: Forest Ecology and Systems Analysis.- 14. Biological Cycling of Minerals in Temperate Deciduous Forests.- 15. Carbon Cycle and Temperate Woodlands.- Hydrologic Cycles.- 16. The Water Flux in Temperate Forests: Precipitation and Evapotranspiration.- 17. Measurement and Sampling of Outputs from Watersheds.- 18. Models of the Hydrologic Cycle.- Geographic Index of World Ecosystems.