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Modeling the Response of Terrestrial Vegetation to Climate Change in the Tropics

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Tropical Forests in Transition

Part of the book series: Advances in Life Sciences ((ALS))

Abstract

The conservation and management of tropical ecosystems must consider the temporal and spatial dynamics of vegetation. An understanding of the patterns and processes of ecosystems as they relate to environmental gradients is of particular importance in the face of potential global climate change as a result of increasing atmospheric levels of CO2.

Three classes of models relating vegetation pattern to climate and their application to climate change research are discussed.

The potential consequences of global climate change on the distribution of vegetation in the tropics are examined using the vegetation-climate classification model of Holdridge. The distribution of major biome-types was simulated under both current climate and four climate change scenarios based on general circulation models. The changes in global climate patterns have a major influence on the distribution of tropical ecosystems. All four scenarios predict a decrease in the areal coverage of desert. The scenarios differ, however, in their predictions of forest distribution. Differences among the scenarios are due to the general uncertainty with regard to predictions of precipitation patterns in the tropical zone.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA

    Herman H. Shugart

Authors
  1. Thomas M. Smith
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  2. Jackson B. Smith Jr.
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  3. Herman H. Shugart
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute of Chemistry, Biogeochemistry Department (Mainz), Fire Ecology and Biomass Burning Research Group, c/o University of Freiburg, Bertoldstr. 17, D-7800, Freiburg, Germany

    Johann Georg Goldammer

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© 1992 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland

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Smith, T.M., Smith, J.B., Shugart, H.H. (1992). Modeling the Response of Terrestrial Vegetation to Climate Change in the Tropics. In: Goldammer, J.G. (eds) Tropical Forests in Transition. Advances in Life Sciences. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7256-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7256-0_16

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-7258-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-7256-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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