Every year Earth is bombarded with about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material. This includes microscopic cosmic dust particles shed by comets and asteroids in outer space, meteorites, as well as large comets and asteroids that have led to catastrophic events in the geologic past. Originally considered only a curiosity, extraterrestrial matter found on Earth provides the only samples we have from comets, asteroids and other planets. Only recently mankind has started to actively collect extraterrestrial matter in space (Apollo program, Stardust mission) rather than to wait for its delivery to Earth. Still, most of our knowledge of the origin and evolution of our solar system is based on careful studies of meteorites, cosmic dust, and traces of large impact events in the geologic record such as the mass extinction that terminated the Cretaceous Period and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This book summarizes our current knowledge of the properties, origin, orbital evolution and accretion mechanism of extraterrestrial matter accreted on Earth and sheds light on accretion processes and fluxes in the geologic past. The chapters in the first part of the book are arranged in order to follow extraterrestrial matter from its origin in space, its orbital evolution on its way to Earth, its interaction with the Earth magnetosphere and atmosphere to its more or less violent collision with the Earth's surface. In the second part of the book several chapters deal with the present?day flux of cosmic dust and meteorites to Earth. Finally, several chapters deal with the reconstruction of the accretion history of extraterrestrial matter on Earth, starting with the most recent geologic past and ending with the very early, violent accretion period shortly after the formation of Earth, Moon and other solid planets in our solar system.

During the last decade, research on Pseudomonas syringae pathovars and related pathogens has progressed rapidly, opening up many new avenues. The application of molecular genetics has provided new insights into determinants of pathogenicity and virulence. Progress has also been made in elucidating the chemical structures and modes of action of phytotoxins from Pseudomonas syringae; by establishing novel strategies for disease control; in biotechnological applications; by studying the resistant reaction of the plant with a combined biochemical and genetic approach; and in the development of new detection and identification methodologies as tools in epidemiological studies. With such rapid advances it becomes more and more difficult to keep abreast of the developments and concepts within disciplines, all involving research on pathovars of P. syringae. In an attempt to provide a balanced overview, recent developments in these rapidly expanding fields have been critically reviewed at the beginning of each chapter by internationally renowned experts. Our comprehensive coverage has been made possible because all the contributors to this volume presented their latest findings at the 5th International Conference on Pseudomonas syringae Pathovars and Related Pathogens' in Berlin, September 3-8, 1995. In this way, it was possible to bring together contributions from a wide range of fields including phytopathology, genetics, bacteriology, plant breeding, plant protection, and taxonomy. This book is not intended simply as a record of the proceedings of the Berlin Conference, but as an extension of recent findings and hypotheses put forward at the meeting. All papers published in this volume have been reviewed by the Editors.

The study of soil nitrogen has long been an active field, but it was generally pivoted on agricultural and forestry production, and animal husbandry. With the rapid increase in the use of fertilizer nitrogen, more attention has been paid to the relationship between nitrogen management and environmental quality and human health. In addition, the study of soil nitrogen has become more comprehensive with the development of related sciences. The quantitative study of the processes of nitrogen cycling and their interrelationships has been an important part of this project and has attracted the attention of scientists all over the world. Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plant growth and the application of fertilizer nitrogen is playing an important role in agricultural production. The annual consumption of fertilizer nitrogen in the world has reached 70 million tons, and China has an annual consumption of more than 15 million tons and is the largest fertilizer nitrogen consumer in the world. However, the efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen is low and losses are large. It is estimated that nitrogen losses from agriculture in China can be as high as 40-60% of the nitrogen applied. Some of the lost nitrogen enters the atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect and some enters water bodies to pollute the water. Consequently, it is important for scientists all over the world to improve the efficiency of use of fertilizer nitrogen, to promote the biological fixation of nitrogen and to increase the nitrogen-supplying potential of soils.

In this study, an overview is presented of agricultural policies on manure and minerals, relating to the Nitrate Directive to remedy excessive surface- and groundwater contamination from intensive agricultural practices. Six countries belonging to the European Union were studied: the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The policies and their legal incorporation were related to agricultural and environmental conditions in each country. In addition, an inventory was made of agricultural mineral poli cies in the United States and Canada. Conditions for livestock farming in North America differ considerably from those in Europe, but their solutions shed a different light on European policies. Research has shown that there are still very considerable mineral surpluses in many countries and regions. In both the Netherlands and in the Flemish part of Belgium, existing problems due to very high levels of manure production are structural rather than local and cannot easily be solved by transport of manure to other regions. To a lesser extent. Germany, Denmark and relatively small parts of France (Brittany) and the United Kingdom, still exceed the norms for an equilibrium fertilization. In Denmark, existing problems can probably be solved within the existing legislative framework. The Netherlands, Flanders. several German Lander (Nordrhein-Westfalen and Schleswig-Holstein) and Brittany.

Playing a critical role in both influencing climate change and mitigating its impacts, the world's diverse wetlands have become one of the world's most threatened ecosystems as unsustainable land-use practices coupled with irrational use of water have already resulted in large-scale wetlands loss and degradation. To develop sound management and conservation schemes to assure wetlands sustainability in the long term requires long-term understanding of wetlands ecology. Yet until now, long-term interdisciplinary research into these systems has been limited to only a few systems from tropical or temperate climates (such as the Florida Everglades, and Czech biosphere reserve). This new book adds to the existing wetlands literature, providing a unique reference in basic and applied Mediterranean wetland ecology, based on results from long-term interdisciplinary research at the RAMSAR and UNESCO Biosphere site, of Las Tablas de Daimiel, Spain. Dating back to the early 1990s the research highlights changes in the biotic and abiotic environment in response to cumulative anthropogenic stressors, and provide guidance on applying this understand to sound management and conservation. With particular relevance to researchers dealing with semi-arid wetlands in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, as well as to resource managers, the book discusses the complexity of the interacting abiotic and biotic environment across different spatial and temporal scales and across various levels of biological hierarchy is highlighted, and reveals how management based on poor knowledge causes more damage than repair. The book will be of interest to researchers interested in freshwater ecology, hydrobotany, hydrology, geology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology and environmental management.

Over forty years ago, concern was first focussed on cadmium contamination of soils, fertilisers and the food chain. Adverse effects on human health were first highlighted nearly 30 years ago in Japan with the outbreak of Itai-itai disease. Since then, substantial research data have accumulated for cadmium on chemistry in soils, additions to soils, uptake by plants, adverse effects on the soil biota and transfer through the food chain. However, this information has never been compiled into a single volume. This was the stimulus for the Kevin G. Tiller Memorial Symposium "Cadmium in Soils, Plants and the Food Chain", held at the University of California, Berkeley, in June 1997 as part of the Fourth International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements. This symposium brought together leading scientists in the field of cadmium behaviour in soils and plants, to review the scientific data in the literature and highlight gaps in our current knowledge of the subject. This series of review papers are presented here and deal with the chemistry of cadmium in soils, the potential for transfer through the food chain and management to minimise this problem. We hope this information provides a sound scientific basis to assist development of policies and regulations for controlling cadmium in the soil environment.

This manuscript was made possible by the exceptional support provided by INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquees) Toulouse, the University of New Mexico and the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering. The authors, as listed in this book, took the time to prepare excellent manuscripts focusing on scientific and technical areas relevant to emerging environmental issues. These manuscripts were rigorously reviewed and refereed by scientists and engineers before inclusion in this book. An introductory chapter was prepared to summarize and integrate technical issues covered and the last chapter was written to present policy perspectives. The editors are most grateful to the contributors, sponsor organizations, and many colleagues who were kind enough to assist us in making this manuscript possible. Background information about the editors, principal authors and other contributor: s to this manuscript follows. Editors Professor Dr. Ravi K. Jain Associate Dean for Research and International Engineering College of Engineering University of Cincinnati Mail Location 0018 Cincinnati OH 45221-0018 U.S.A

With more than 50% of the world's population already living in towns and cities, migration from rural areas continuing at an alarming rate in developing countries and suburbanisation using more and more land in developed countries, the urban environment has become supremely important with regard to human health and wellbeing. For centuries, urbanisation has caused relatively low level soil conta- nation mainly by various wastes. However, from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, both the scale of urban development and the degree of soil contamination rapidly increased and involved an ever widening spectrum of c- taminants. With constraints on the supply of land for new urban development in many countries, it is becoming increasingly necessary to re-use previously dev- oped (brownfield) sites and to deal with their accompanying suites of contaminants. It is therefore essential to fully understand the diversity and properties of urban soils, to assess the possible risks from the contaminants they contain and devise ways of cleaning up sites and/or minimizing hazards. The author, Helmut Meuser, is Professor of Soil Protection and Soil Clean-up at the University of Applied Sciences, Osnabruck and is one of Europe's foremost experts on contamination from technogenic materials in urban soils. He has many years' experience of research in Berlin, Essen, Osnabruck, other regions of Germany, and several other countries.

The majority of this book was written in 1983-84 while the senior author was a Visiting Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We believe that the approach to the problem of acid deposition effects on soils and waters developed during this collaboration contains ele ments that are significantly different from most prior work in this area. Some of the material and the software used in the development of these concepts stem from earlier individual efforts of the authors. However, what we believe to be the more significant concepts concerning the processes by which alkalinity may be developed in acid soil solutions, and by which acid deposition may contrib ute to the loss of this alkalinity, were the result of this collaboration. The ultimate usefulness of these concepts in understanding and dealing with various aspects of the problems associated with acid deposition cannot be adequately gauged at the present time. They must first withstand tests of con sistency with available observation, and of direct experimentation. It is our hope that dissemination through this book will facilitate this process within the scientific community. The authors wish to thank the administration of the Environmental Science Division at ORNL, and the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University for their support in arranging this collaboration. We also wish to express our appreciation for the financial support provided by EPA. Personal thanks are due to Dr."

A review of such natural disasters as floods and landslides, highlighting the possibility of safe and correct land planning and management by means of a global approach to territory. Since the events deriving from slope and fluvial dynamics are commonly triggered by the same factor, occur at the same time and are closely related, this book analyses floods and slope stability phenomena as different aspects of the same dynamic system: the drainage basin.

Today the goal of designing highly productive, sustainable agricultural produc tion systems is at the forefront of the agricultural research agenda around the world. The key to designing sustainable agricultural production technologies is in understanding their economic, environmental, and human health impacts. This volume presents a methodology designed to quantify such impacts and to represent them as tradeoff's. We propose this tradeoff' methodology as an approach to accomplish two essential elements in achieving agricultural sustainability. First, the tradeoff's method is a key to the design of successful interdisciplinary research projects to assess sustainability of production systems. Second, the tradeoff's method provides a successful means to communicate research findings to policy makers and the public. To put this effort into perspective, we would like to explain its origins and reflect on its implications for conducting future research. In 1987, the Rockefeller Foundation commissioned a report that set out to ascertain why, in view ofthe extensive literatures on certain classes of agricul tural pollution, there had been few if any attempts to incorporate pollution externalities into the rather voluminous literature on the assessment of agricultural research impacts (Antle and Capalbo, 1988; see also Antle, 1994)."

R. F. HUTTL AND W. SCHAAF Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus, Chair of Soil Protection and Recultivation, P.O. Box 10 13 44, 03013 Cottbus, Germany The health status of forest trees and stands is determined by numerous site factors such as chemical, physical, and biological soil factors, water supply, climate, weather conditions, management history as well as atmospheric deposition impacts. In this context, the nutrient supply is an important evaluation parameter. Forest trees well supplied with nutrients are more resistant to stresses that affect the forest ecosystem than other trees. This is true for both biotic and abiotic influences. Therefore the investigation of the so-called 'new type forest damage' was aimed at the exact determination of the health status of damaged trees. When considering the complete forest ecosystem, health (=vitality) means the sustainable ability to withstand negative environmental influences and still remain stable and productive. From this viewpoint, an optimal nutritional status is a prerequisite for an optimal health status. The term 'new type forest damage' comprises a number of damage symptoms which have been observed in various tree species on very different sites since the mid-1970s, particularly in Europe and North America. However, they occurred much more intensively in the 1980s. Generally, this forest damage was thought to be related to negative impacts of air pollutants.

Digital Soil Mapping is the creation and the population of a geographically referenced soil database. It is generated at a given resolution by using field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships. Digital soil mapping is advancing on different fronts at different rates all across the world. This book presents the state-of-the art and explores strategies for bridging research, production, and environmental application of digital soil mapping.It includes examples from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The chapters address the following topics: - evaluating and using legacy soil data - exploring new environmental covariates and sampling schemes - using integrated sensors to infer soil properties or status - innovative inference systems predicting soil classes, properties, and estimating their uncertainties - using digital soil mapping and techniques for soil assessment and environmental application - protocol and capacity building for making digital soil mapping operational around the globe. "

As we enter the last decades of the twentieth century, many persistent and perplexing problems continue to afflict humankind. Thus it is appropriate to address, in a new group of books, two of the monumental issues that haunt people throughout the world. Soils and the Environment by Professor Gerald W. Olson is the first book in this new publish ing program on Environment, Energy, and Society. The purpose of all these books will be to explore the many interrelated facets of these topics and to provide guidance for dealing with problems and offering ideas for their solutions. Environment and energy are twin problems that occupy what many believe to be opposite sides of a two-headed coin. They are often viewed as being antithetical and incompatible. The various books in this program will try to place in perspective the options that are available to those who design policy and plan and manage societal matters. Typical of books being developed currently are ones on coal resources, environmental geoscience, environmental pollution, land-use planning, nuclear energy, mineral resources, and water resources. However, because soils are at the very heart of civilization and provide the building block for human sustenance, it is fitting to inaugurate this series with Dr. Olson's timely analysis of soils. Unfortu nately, these most vital resources seem to have low priority in many farming enterprises, urbanization projects, deforestation schemes, and mining and developmental terrain changes.

The global cycle of nitrogen has been altered by human activity to a greater extent than that of any other element. The production of nitrogen fertilizer, cultivation of legumes, and incidental nitrogen fixation in internal combustion engines together transfer more nitrogen from the atmosphere into biologically available forms than is fixed by all natural processes combined. Additionally, biomass burning and land-use change mobilize large quantities of recalcitrant nitrogen into dynamic forms. Although the global change in nitrogen cycling is immense, reactive and biologically available forms of nitrogen do not truly cycle globally. Rather, their transport is over distances of tens to many hundreds of kilometers. Consequently, the alteration of the global nitrogen cycle is manifested as changes at the scale of large regions. Thus, since 1994 the International SCOPE Nitrogen Project has held a series of workshops focused upon nitrogen dynamics in several different regions of the globe. In May 1996, the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change (IAI) co-sponsored a SCOPE-N workshop in Termas de Chillan, Chile, entitled A Comparative Analysis of Nitrogen Cycling in the Temperate and Tropical Americas. More than 40 scientists from 12 different countries met with two principal goals: 1) to compare nitrogen cycling in the relatively pristine temperate zone of South America with the generally more polluted zone of North America; and 2) to compare both with nitrogen cycling in the tropical regions of Latin America. This volume presents 12 manuscripts which summarize their efforts during and after the meeting; these papers are rich in new insights and theory. Their conclusions not only advance our understanding of nitrogen dynamics in the Americas, but also of how the global nitrogen cycle responds to the pronounced and continued effects of human activity."

Morphotectonics, the relation between geomorphology and (neo)tectonics is fundamental to the understanding of landscape evolution. Stressing mainly the quantitative interpretation of field observations, this monograph compares the morphological structure of drainage systems, river courses, glacial forms, volcanic landscapes and mass movements with joint orientations. The latter are indicative of the neotectonic stresses; and thus inferences on the genesis of the morphological forms can be drawn. The data on outcrops on all six continents and on islands in all major oceans have been acquired to a large extent by the author himself. The book, therefore, represents a first-hand account of the work and its relevance which has been done worldwide over the last 30 years.

With the use of high-level soil management technology, Africa could feed several billion people, yet food production has generally stagnated since the 1960s. No matter how powerful the seed technology, the seedling emerging from it can flourish only in a healthy soil. Accordingly, crop yields in Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean could be doubled or tripled through adoption of technologies based on laws of sustainable soil management. Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems describes the application of these laws to enhance ecosystem services while restoring degraded soils and promoting sustainable use. With chapters contributed by world-class soil scientists, ecologists, and social scientists, this book outlines critical changes in management of agricultural soils necessary to achieve food security and meet the food demands of the present and projected future population. These changes include conversion to no-till and conservation agriculture; adoption of strategies of integrated nutrient management, water harvesting, and use of drip sub-irrigation; complex cropping/farming systems such as cover cropping and agroforestry; and use of nano-enhanced fertilizers. The book is based on the premise that it is not possible to extract more from a soil than what is put into it without degrading its quality. The strategy is to replace what is removed, respond wisely to what is changed, and be pro-active to what may happen because of natural and anthropogenic perturbations. The chapters, which exemplify these ideas, cover a range of topics including organic farming, soil fertility, crop-symbiotic soil microbiota, human-driven soil degradation, soil degradation and restoration, carbon sink capacity of soils, soil renewal and sustainability, and the marginality principle.

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Paleoclimatology and Paleometeorology: Modem and Past Patterns of Global Atmospheric Transport" (held at Oracle, Arizona, USA from November 17-19, 1987) brought together atmospheric chemists, physicists, and meteorologists who study the origin and transport of modem-day mineral and biological aerosols with geologists and paleobotanists who study the sedimentary record of eolian and hydrologic processes along with modelers who study and conceptualize the processes influencing atmospheric transport at present and in the past. Presentations at the workshop provided a guide to our present knowledge of the entire spectrum of processes and phenomena important to the generation, transport, and deposition of eolian terrigenous material that ultimately becomes part of the geologic record and the modeling techniques that used to represent these processes. The presenta tions on the geologic record of eolian deposition documented our present understanding of the na~e and causes of climate change on time scales of the last glacial ages (tens of thousands of years) to time scales over which the arrangement of continents, mountains, and oceans has changed sub stantially (tens of millions of years). There has been a growing recognition of the importance of global climatic changes to the future well-being of humanity. In particular, the climatic response to human alterations to the earth's surface and chemical composition has led to concern over the agricultural, ecological, and societal impacts of such potential global changes.

This book deals with sedimentary sulfides which are the most abundant authigenic minerals in sediments.Special emphasis is given to the biogeochemistry that plays such a central role in the formation of sedimentary sulfides. It will be of interest to scientists in a number of disciplines, including geology, microbiology, chemistry and environmental science. The sulfur system is important to environmental scientists considering the present and future effects of pollution and anoxia.The development of the sulfur system - particularly the characteristics of ocean anoxia over the last 200 Ma - is useful in predicting the future fate of the Earth surface system as well asin understanding the past. The biochemistry and microbiology of the sulfur systemare key to understanding microbial ecology and the evolution of life.
First monograph on sedimentary sulfides, covering the ancient and modern sedimentary sulfide systemsComprehensive, integrating chemistry, microbiology, geology and environmental scienceAll key references are included and discussed
"

This book reports on developments in Proximal Soil Sensing (PSS) and high resolution digital soil mapping. PSS has become a multidisciplinary area of study that aims to develop field-based techniques for collecting information on the soil from close by, or within, the soil. Amongst others, PSS involves the use of optical, geophysical, electrochemical, mathematical and statistical methods. This volume, suitable for undergraduate course material and postgraduate research, brings together ideas and examples from those developing and using proximal sensors and high resolution digital soil maps for applications such as precision agriculture, soil contamination, archaeology, peri-urban design and high land-value applications, where there is a particular need for high spatial resolution information. The book in particular covers soil sensor sampling, proximal soil sensor development and use, sensor calibrations, prediction methods for large data sets, applications of proximal soil sensing, and high-resolution digital soil mapping. Key themes: soil sensor sampling - soil sensor calibrations - spatial prediction methods - reflectance spectroscopy - electromagnetic induction and electrical resistivity - radar and gamma radiometrics - multi-sensor platforms - high resolution digital soil mapping - applications Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel is a scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia. Alex McBratney is Pro-Dean and Professor of Soil Science in the Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources at the University of Sydney in Australia. Budiman Minasny is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Regenerative practices for the farm, garden, orchard, forest, and landscape Mycorrhizal fungi have been waiting a long time for people to recognize just how important they are to the making of dynamic soils. These microscopic organisms partner with the root systems of approximately 95 percent of the plants on Earth, and they sequester carbon in much more meaningful ways than human "carbon offsets" will ever achieve. Pick up a handful of old-growth forest soil and you are holding 26 miles of threadlike fungal mycelia, if it could be stretched it out in a straight line. Most of these soil fungi are mycorrhizal, supporting plant health in elegant and sophisticated ways. The boost to green immune function in plants and community-wide networking turns out to be the true basis of ecosystem resiliency. A profound intelligence exists in the underground nutrient exchange between fungi and plant roots, which in turn determines the nutrient density of the foods we grow and eat. Exploring the science of symbiotic fungi in layman's terms, holistic farmer Michael Phillips (author of The Holistic Orchard and The Apple Grower) sets the stage for practical applications across the landscape. The real impetus behind no-till farming, gardening with mulches, cover cropping, digging with broadforks, shallow cultivation, forest-edge orcharding, and everything related to permaculture is to help the plants and fungi to prosper . . . which means we prosper as well. Building soil structure and fertility that lasts for ages results only once we comprehend the nondisturbance principle. As the author says, "What a grower understands, a grower will do." Mycorrhizal Planet abounds with insights into "fungal consciousness" and offers practical, regenerative techniques that are pertinent to gardeners, landscapers, orchardists, foresters, and farmers. Michael's fungal acumen will resonate with everyone who is fascinated with the unseen workings of nature and concerned about maintaining and restoring the health of our soils, our climate, and the quality of life on Earth for generations to come.

Soil diversity (pedodiversity) is part of our natural and cultural heritage. The preservation of the pedosphere is essential for the protection of the biosphere and the Earth's systems, the regulation of climate, and for world food security. In this book, reputed international experts discuss the state of the art of pedodiversity analysis-analyzing the relationships among biodiversity, pedodiversity, landform diversity, lithodiversity, and land use diversity. The first of its kind, the book is intended to be a combined handbook, historical account of pedodiversity research, and essay on its future challenges.

Marine Clastic reservoirs provides an integrated perspective to sandstone reservoir description and analysis. It combines analog-oriented methods fromsequence stratigraphy with rigorous stratigraphic and sedimentological description of cores and outcrops to develop a process-based analysis of sandstone facies. Twelve chapters, divided into 3 sections, first describe the specific use of sequence stratigraphy to catalog, identify, andpredict marine clastic reservoir facies. Next they examine the importance ofrigorous sedimentological and geomorphic description. Finally, marine depositional environments from delta systems to deep-sea fans arereviewed to give examples of these improved descriptive and analytical techniques

Soil is one of our most precious natural resources, providing a range of ecosystem functions and services, while supporting huge biodiversity. In this new book, the focus is on soil management for agriculture and the environment. Changing land-use practices and the role of soil biological diversity has been a major focus of soil science research over the past couple of decades, a trend that is likely to continue. The information presented in this book point to a holistic approach to soil management. The first part of the book looks at the land use effects on soil carbon storage, which considers how a range of factors include carbon sequestration in soils. The second part of the book presents research investigating the interactions between soil properties, plant species, and the soil biota.Soil Science Management highlights some of the most important contemporary issues concerning land management, nutrient cycling, and soil carbon and leads to more holistic approaches to sustainable land management in the future.

Drawing from a decade-long collaboration between Japan and Russia, this important volume presents the first major synthesis of current knowledge on the ecophysiology of the coniferous forests growing on permafrost at high latitudes. It presents ecological data for a region long inaccessible to most scientists, and raises important questions about the global carbon balance as these systems are affected by the changing climate.

Making up around 20% of the entire boreal forests of the northern hemisphere, these permafrost forest ecosystems are subject to particular constraints in terms of temperature, nutrient availability, and root space, creating exceptional ecosystem characteristics not known elsewhere. This authoritative text explores their diversity, structure, dynamics and physiology. It provides a comparison of these forests in relation to boreal forests elsewhere, and concludes with an assessment of the potential responses of this unique biome to climate change.

The book will be invaluable to advanced students and researchers interested in boreal vegetation, forest ecology, silviculture and forest soils, as well as to researchers into climate change and the global carbon balance. "