Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment

Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment
Nieder, R., Benbi, D.K.
2008, XII, 432 p. 74 illus., 1 in color., Hardcover

Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary description of C and N fluxes between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere; issues related to C and N management in different ecosystems and their implications for the environment and global climate change; and the approaches to mitigate emission of greenhouse gases.
Drawing upon the most up-to-date books, journals, bulletins, reports, symposia proceedings and internet sources documenting interrelationships between different aspects of C and N cycling in the terrestrial environment, Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment fills the gap left by most of the currently available books on C and N cycling. They either deal with a single element of an ecosystem, or are related to one or a few selected aspects like soil organic matter (SOM) and agricultural or forest management, emission of greenhouse gases, global climate change or modeling of SOM dynamics.

Contents

Introduction.-
1. Carbon and Nitrogen Pools in Terrestrial Ecosystems.- 1.1 Forms and quantities of carbon and nitrogen on earth.- 1.2 Carbon and nitrogen in terrestrial phytomass.- 1.3 Carbon and nitrogen in soils.- 1.4 Global vegetation-soil organic matter interrelationships.-
2. Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in Terrestrial Ecosystems.- 2.1 The global carbon cycle.- 2.2 The global nitrogen cycle.- 2.3 Carbon and nitrogen cycling in soils.- 2.4 Global climate change and C and N cycling.-
3. Soil Organic Matter Characterization.- 3.1 Chemical characterization of soil organic matter.- 3.2 Physical characterization of soil organic matter.- 3.3 Morphological characterization of soil organic matter.-
4. Organic Matter and Soil Quality.- 4.1 Soil quality.- 4.2 Impact of SOM on soil physical, chemical and biological properties.- 4.3 Evaluation of organic components as soil quality indicators.- 4.4 Use of combined biological parameters for soil quality estimation.-
5. Carbon and Nitrogen Transformations in Soils.- 5.1 Transformations of organic components.- 5.2 Transformations of inorganic components.-
6. Anthropogenic Activities and Soil Carbon and Nitrogen.- 6.1 Land use changes.- 6.2 Agricultural management.- 6.3 Ecosystem disturbance.-
7. Leaching Losses and Groundwater Pollution.- 7.1 Dissolved organic carbon.- 7.2 Dissolved organic nitrogen.- 7.3 Nitrate leaching.-
8. Bidirectional Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions.- 8.1 Atmospheric Nitrogen Depositions.- 8.2 Carbon fixation via photosynthesis.- 8.3 Biological N2 fixation.- 8.4 Carbon dioxide emission.- 8.5 Methane emission.- 8.6 Emission of oxides of nitrogen: N2O and NO.- 8.7 Ammonia emission.- 8.8 Global climate change and crop yields.- 8.9 Economics of carbon sequestration.-
9. Modelling Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System.- 9.1 Carbon dioxide exchange from soils.- 9.2 Methane emission from rice fields and natural wetlands.- 9.3 Nitrogen trace gas emission.- 9.4 Modelling nitrogen dynamics in soils.- 9.5 Modelling organic matter dynamics in soils.-
References.- Index.