Climate and Ecosystems

David Schimel

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780691151960, 9780691151953
• eBook ISBN: 9781400846030
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology

How does life on our planet respond to--and shape--climate? This question has never been more urgent than it is today, when humans are faced with the daunting task of guiding adaptation to an inexorably changing climate. This concise, accessible, and authoritative book provides an unmatched introduction to the most reliable current knowledge about the complex relationship between living things and climate.


Using an Earth System framework, David Schimel describes how organisms, communities of organisms, and the planetary biosphere itself react to and influence environmental change. While much about the biosphere and its interactions with the rest of the Earth System remains a mystery, this book explains what is known about how physical and chemical climate affect organisms, how those physical changes influence how organisms function as individuals and in communities of organisms, and ultimately how climate-triggered ecosystem changes feed back to the physical and chemical parts of the Earth System.


An essential introduction, Climate and Ecosystems shows how Earth's living systems profoundly shape the physical world.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Climate System
• 3 Climate Controls over Ecosystems
• 4 Ecosystem Feedbacks and Interactions with Climate
• 5 Modeling the Future
• 6 Summary and Concluding Thoughts
• Glossary
• References
• Index