- Email: [email protected]
Publication received
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 49 (1990) 257-259
257
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., A m s t e r d a m - - P r i n t e d in T h e N e t h e r l a n d s
Publications Received
The Geophysiology of Amazonia. Vegetation and Climate Interactions. R.E. Dickinson (Editor), Wiley, Chichester, 1987, xvii + 526 pp., £69.40. This volume is the result of a collective effort by a diverse group of scientists to comprehend better the region of Amazonia. Utilizing a geophysiological approach, the study of the functions, processes and phenomena of the biosphere and its support systems, the contributors examined important features, interactions, and developments in the region, especially those linking climate and vegetation. Reviews and comments address four broad areas: climate, vegetation, and human interactions in the Amazon; biogeochemical cycles in the Tropics; climate micrometeorology and the hydrological cycle in the moist Tropics; and tropical climate and general circulation and its susceptibility to human intervention. Highlights include a survey of climate interactions in the Humid Tropics by Robert Dickinson, an essay on geophysiology and what is needed to protect the global environment by James Lovelock, an up-to-date report on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by Philip Fearnside, and a review of the importance of the Tropics to atmospheric chemistry by Paul Crutzen. This book had its origin in the International Conference on Climatic, Biotic and H u m a n Interactions in the Humid Tropics with Emphasis on the Vegetation and Climate Interactions in Amazonia, held in Brazil in the Spring of 1985. This was the first meeting of a United Nations University project addressing ecology and human interactions in the Humid Tropics.
Climate and Plant Distribution. F.I. Woodward, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, ix+ 174 pp., price not given (softcover). The central thesis for plant ecology is that climate exerts the dominant control on the distribution of the major vegetation types of the world. This book sets out to examine this often neglected area in two ways. In the first part the author analyses the distribution of species in relation to climate over different scales of time and place. In the second, he reviews the various approaches to explaining observed correlation between plant distribution and climate, and to establishing the mechanisms of control in physiological and biochemical terms. This book provides a modern text on this basic problem of plant ecology, encompassing the techniques of palaeoecology, climatology, ecology, physiology, biochemistry and genetics.
258
The Greenhouse Effect, Climatic Change, and Ecosystems. B. Bolin et al. (Editors), Scope Number 29. Wiley, Chichester, 1987, xxxi + 541 pp., £56.00. This is the result of the first international scientific assessment of the consequences of the continuing increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which modify the radiative balance of the atmosphere. It addresses a number of questions which have been a major concern in recent years. These include the projection of energy use and increased emission of carbon dioxide by fossil fuel burning; the natural sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and their modification by deforestation and changing land use; the expected increase in the level of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; possible climatic change and its detection; sea level change and its detection and the overall response of terrestrial ecosystems.
Modelling of Agricultural Production: Weather, Soils and Crops. H. van Keulen and J. Wolf, Pudoc, P.O. Box 4, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1986, x + 479 pp., Dfl. 110.00. This book introduces the reader to the quantitative aspects of agricultural production, as influenced by environmental conditions and management practices. The aim is to familiarize the reader with the subjects in such a way that first estimates of agricultural production potentials in situations relevant to him can be made. For that purpose many exercises and examples have been included in the text to facilitate direct application of the theory presented. The approach presented in this book is developed by the Centre for World Foods Studies (SOW), an interdisciplinary research group working on problems related to world food supply and agricultural production potentials and limitations. In this textbook four hierarchically ordered production situations are treated quantitatively. Exercises are provided, and answers are given. The book can be used for courses.
Boundary Layer Climates. T.R. Oke, second edition, Methuen, London, xvi+435 pp., 1987, £14.95 (softcover). This modern climatology textbook explains the climates formed near the ground in terms of the cycling of energy and mass through systems. It begins with a discussion of atmospheric processes, and how they interact with the physical properties of surfaces to produce distinctive climates. This provides the conceptual framework for the subsequent analysis of the climates of a wide range of natural and man-modified environments, extending from the microscale of insects and leaves up to the local scale of cities and regional air pollution. In this second and expanded edition, Professor Oke provides a fuller de-
259 scription of atmospheric layers, and gives more emphasis to the whole planetary boundary layer. There are nearly 50 new figures and new material on radiation geometry, thermals, convective cloud, leaf-air exchange, evapotranspiration from crops and forests, effects of topography on airflow, and the energy balance of cities.
Topics in Micrometeorology. A Festschrift for Arch Dyer. B.B. Hicks (Editor), reprinted from Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 42. Reidel, Dordrecht, 152 pp., 1988, Dfl. 125.00. Environmental management in Agriculture. European Perspectives. J.R. Park (Editor), Pinter Publishers, 25 Floral Street, London, xiii+ 260 pp., 1988 £25.00. Proceedings of a workshop held at Bristol, July 1987. This book provides an overview of the achievements and objectives of environmental conservation and management in European agriculture. It presents national state-of-theart reports from seven European nations and discusses conservation issues in the following important ecological settings: field margins, grasslands, and wetlands.
Interactions Between Energy Transformations and Atmospheric Phenomena. A Survey of Recent Research. M. Beniston and R.A. Pielke (Editors), reprinted from Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 41. Reidel, Dordrecht, 426 pp., 1987, Dfl. 270.00.
257
Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., A m s t e r d a m - - P r i n t e d in T h e N e t h e r l a n d s
Publications Received
The Geophysiology of Amazonia. Vegetation and Climate Interactions. R.E. Dickinson (Editor), Wiley, Chichester, 1987, xvii + 526 pp., £69.40. This volume is the result of a collective effort by a diverse group of scientists to comprehend better the region of Amazonia. Utilizing a geophysiological approach, the study of the functions, processes and phenomena of the biosphere and its support systems, the contributors examined important features, interactions, and developments in the region, especially those linking climate and vegetation. Reviews and comments address four broad areas: climate, vegetation, and human interactions in the Amazon; biogeochemical cycles in the Tropics; climate micrometeorology and the hydrological cycle in the moist Tropics; and tropical climate and general circulation and its susceptibility to human intervention. Highlights include a survey of climate interactions in the Humid Tropics by Robert Dickinson, an essay on geophysiology and what is needed to protect the global environment by James Lovelock, an up-to-date report on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by Philip Fearnside, and a review of the importance of the Tropics to atmospheric chemistry by Paul Crutzen. This book had its origin in the International Conference on Climatic, Biotic and H u m a n Interactions in the Humid Tropics with Emphasis on the Vegetation and Climate Interactions in Amazonia, held in Brazil in the Spring of 1985. This was the first meeting of a United Nations University project addressing ecology and human interactions in the Humid Tropics.
Climate and Plant Distribution. F.I. Woodward, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, ix+ 174 pp., price not given (softcover). The central thesis for plant ecology is that climate exerts the dominant control on the distribution of the major vegetation types of the world. This book sets out to examine this often neglected area in two ways. In the first part the author analyses the distribution of species in relation to climate over different scales of time and place. In the second, he reviews the various approaches to explaining observed correlation between plant distribution and climate, and to establishing the mechanisms of control in physiological and biochemical terms. This book provides a modern text on this basic problem of plant ecology, encompassing the techniques of palaeoecology, climatology, ecology, physiology, biochemistry and genetics.
258
The Greenhouse Effect, Climatic Change, and Ecosystems. B. Bolin et al. (Editors), Scope Number 29. Wiley, Chichester, 1987, xxxi + 541 pp., £56.00. This is the result of the first international scientific assessment of the consequences of the continuing increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which modify the radiative balance of the atmosphere. It addresses a number of questions which have been a major concern in recent years. These include the projection of energy use and increased emission of carbon dioxide by fossil fuel burning; the natural sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and their modification by deforestation and changing land use; the expected increase in the level of other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; possible climatic change and its detection; sea level change and its detection and the overall response of terrestrial ecosystems.
Modelling of Agricultural Production: Weather, Soils and Crops. H. van Keulen and J. Wolf, Pudoc, P.O. Box 4, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1986, x + 479 pp., Dfl. 110.00. This book introduces the reader to the quantitative aspects of agricultural production, as influenced by environmental conditions and management practices. The aim is to familiarize the reader with the subjects in such a way that first estimates of agricultural production potentials in situations relevant to him can be made. For that purpose many exercises and examples have been included in the text to facilitate direct application of the theory presented. The approach presented in this book is developed by the Centre for World Foods Studies (SOW), an interdisciplinary research group working on problems related to world food supply and agricultural production potentials and limitations. In this textbook four hierarchically ordered production situations are treated quantitatively. Exercises are provided, and answers are given. The book can be used for courses.
Boundary Layer Climates. T.R. Oke, second edition, Methuen, London, xvi+435 pp., 1987, £14.95 (softcover). This modern climatology textbook explains the climates formed near the ground in terms of the cycling of energy and mass through systems. It begins with a discussion of atmospheric processes, and how they interact with the physical properties of surfaces to produce distinctive climates. This provides the conceptual framework for the subsequent analysis of the climates of a wide range of natural and man-modified environments, extending from the microscale of insects and leaves up to the local scale of cities and regional air pollution. In this second and expanded edition, Professor Oke provides a fuller de-
259 scription of atmospheric layers, and gives more emphasis to the whole planetary boundary layer. There are nearly 50 new figures and new material on radiation geometry, thermals, convective cloud, leaf-air exchange, evapotranspiration from crops and forests, effects of topography on airflow, and the energy balance of cities.
Topics in Micrometeorology. A Festschrift for Arch Dyer. B.B. Hicks (Editor), reprinted from Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 42. Reidel, Dordrecht, 152 pp., 1988, Dfl. 125.00. Environmental management in Agriculture. European Perspectives. J.R. Park (Editor), Pinter Publishers, 25 Floral Street, London, xiii+ 260 pp., 1988 £25.00. Proceedings of a workshop held at Bristol, July 1987. This book provides an overview of the achievements and objectives of environmental conservation and management in European agriculture. It presents national state-of-theart reports from seven European nations and discusses conservation issues in the following important ecological settings: field margins, grasslands, and wetlands.
Interactions Between Energy Transformations and Atmospheric Phenomena. A Survey of Recent Research. M. Beniston and R.A. Pielke (Editors), reprinted from Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 41. Reidel, Dordrecht, 426 pp., 1987, Dfl. 270.00.