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Contributors
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- By Joanne R. Adler, David A. Alexander, Laurence Alison, Catherine C. Ayoub, Peter Banister, Anthony R. Beech, Amanda Biggs, Julian Boon, Adrian Bowers, Neil Brewer, Eric Broekaert, Paula Brough, Jennifer M. Brown, Kevin Browne, Elizabeth A. Campbell, David Canter, Michael Carlin, Shihning Chou, Martin A. Conway, Claire Cooke, David Cooke, Ilse Derluyn, Robert J. Edelmann, Vincent Egan, Tom Ellis, Marie Eyre, David P. Farrington, Seena Fazel, Daniel B. Fishman, Victoria Follette, Katarina Fritzon, Elizabeth Gilchrist, Nathan D. Gillard, Renée Gobeil, Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Lynsey Gozna, Don Grubin, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Helinä Häkkänen-Nyholm, Guy Hall, Nathan Hall, Roisin Hall, Sean Hammond, Leigh Harkins, Grant T. Harris, Camilla Herbert, Robert D. Hoge, Todd E. Hogue, Clive R. Hollin, Lorraine Hope, Miranda A. H. Horvath, Kevin Howells, Carol A. Ireland, Jane L. Ireland, Mark Kebbell, Michael King, Bruce D. Kirkcaldy, Heidi La Bash, Cara Laney, William R. Lindsay, Elizabeth F. Loftus, L. E. Marshall, W. L. Marshall, James McGuire, Neil McKeganey, T. M. McMillan, Mary McMurran, Joav Merrick, Becky Milne, Joanne M. Nadkarni, Claire Nee, M. D. O’Brien, William O’Donohue, Darragh O’Neill, Jane Palmer, Adria Pearson, Derek Perkins, Devon L. L. Polaschek, Louise E. Porter, Charlotte C. Powell, Graham E. Powell, Martine Powell, Christine Puckering, Ethel Quayle, Vernon L. Quinsey, Marnie E. Rice, Randall Richardson-Vejlgaard, Richard Rogers, Louis B Schlesinger, Carolyn Semmler, G. A. Serran, Ralph C. Serin, John L. Taylor, Max Taylor, Brian Thomas-Peter, Paul A. Tiffin, Graham Towl, Rosie Travers, Arlene Vetere, Graham Wagstaff, Helen Wakeling, Fiona Warren, Brandon C. Welsh, David Wexler, Margaret Wilson, Dan Yarmey, Susan Young
- Edited by Jennifer M. Brown, London School of Economics and Political Science, Elizabeth A. Campbell, University of Glasgow
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology
- Published online:
- 06 July 2010
- Print publication:
- 29 April 2010, pp xix-xxiii
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6 - Soils and the Global Carbon Cycle
- from II - THE MISSING CARBON SINK
- Edited by T. M. L. Wigley, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, D. S. Schimel, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
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- Book:
- The Carbon Cycle
- Published online:
- 04 December 2009
- Print publication:
- 08 May 2000, pp 93-101
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Summary
Abstract
Soils hold one of the largest near-surface pools in the global carbon cycle, containing at least 1,500 Pg C in organic forms, with a large proportion of this amount lying near the surface. Largely as a result of the human disturbance of soils, especially in cultivation, 36 Pg C was lost from soils between 1860 and 1960, with a current rate of loss of approximately 0.8 Pg C/yr. Thus, the loss of carbon from soils is a significant component of the biotic flux of CO2 to the atmosphere The soil carbon pool does not appear likely to house the missing sink. In fact, as a result of global warming, substantial amounts of CO2 are likely to be lost from soils.
Introduction
Soils hold one of the largest near-surface pools in the global carbon cycle, containing at least 1,500 Pg C in organic forms. Although some fractions of soil organic matter are very old, the global mean residence time for organic carbon in soils is approximately 30 years. The soil carbon pool is large and dynamic; increases or decreases in the amount of carbon in soils could have significant effects on the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (Trumbore et al., 1996). A large literature shows that human activities – especially cultivation – reduce the pool of carbon in soils and that most of this carbon is transferred to the atmosphere.
9 - Human Impacts on the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles
- Edited by R. Socolow, Princeton University, New Jersey, C. Andrews, Princeton University, New Jersey, F. Berkhout, University of Sussex, V. Thomas, Princeton University, New Jersey
- Foreword by William R. Moomaw
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- Book:
- Industrial Ecology and Global Change
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 24 November 1994, pp 121-156
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Summary
Abstract
Human activities are substantially modifying the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. The global carbon cycle is being modified principally by the burning of fossil fuels, and also by deforestation; these activities are increasing the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere and changing global climate. The nitrogen cycle is being modified principally by the production of nitrogen fertilizer, and also by the planting of legumes and the combustion of fossil fuels; these activities are more than doubling the rate of fixation of nitrogen and contributing to the unbalanced productivity and acidification of ecosystems. With the aim of quantifying these disruptions, the principal flows among reservoirs in preindustrial times and today are estimated in the framework of simplified models. The methane subcycle of the carbon cycle and the nitrous oxide subcycle of the nitrogen cycle are also discussed from this viewpoint.
The Grand Cycles
Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), and phosphorus (P), the important biochemical building blocks of life, find their way to plants and animals, thanks to the interplay of biological and geochemical processes. Each of the four elements moves from one chemical state to another and from one physical location to another on the earth's surface in a closed loop, or “cycle.” In view of their central role in life on this planet, the four cycles are here termed the “grand nutrient cycles.”
The cycles are powered by solar energy, in conjunction with the earth's gravity and geothermal energy. The nutrients flow among “reservoirs.” The reservoirs of interest are life forms (living and dead plants and animals), the soil, the oceans and other water bodies, the atmosphere, and rocks. The quantity of nutrient stored in a reservoir (the reservoir's “stock” of nutrient) changes whenever the total nutrient flows in and out of the reservoir are not equal.
17 - The Vulnerability of Biotic Diversity
- Edited by R. Socolow, Princeton University, New Jersey, C. Andrews, Princeton University, New Jersey, F. Berkhout, University of Sussex, V. Thomas, Princeton University, New Jersey
- Foreword by William R. Moomaw
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- Book:
- Industrial Ecology and Global Change
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 24 November 1994, pp 245-260
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Summary
Abstract
The presence or absence of a single species can cause a dramatic change in ecosystems, but our ability to predict which species can cause such change is limited. The disappearance of species can indicate changes in the ability of an ecosystem to sustain life over a long period of time. While there is an enormous literature on the losses of species associated with various industrial activities, the focus here is on changes in the earth's atmosphere that may cause biotic impoverishment. These include nitrogen deposition from fossil fuel combustion, increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and increased exposure to ultraviolet light due to a decrease in stratospheric ozone, all of which can be expected to result in changes in ecosystem function and species diversity.
Introduction
There are probably close to ten million species on earth. They are the products of long-term evolution in a variety of natural ecosystems, or biomes, that extend from the Arctic tundra to the tropics and from high mountains to the deepest sea. The presence of life on earth has profoundly affected the basic environmental conditions on the surface of this planet. Preservation of the biosphere is essential for the preservation of those conditions in which the human species has evolved and flourished on earth.
Humans must now assume a stewardship role for the biotic diversity of the planet. Barring a catastrophic geologic event, we have the power to determine our own success in this role. That is, will humans allow the resources of the planet to be fully usurped to support our own growing population and its material desires? Or will we allow a diversity of other living things to persist in nature?
19. Commission de la Variation des Latitudes
- M. Kimura, M. H. Spencer Jones, M. Carnera, MM. G. Bemporad, Berg, Bianchi, H. E. Burton, H. Castro, da Gama, Dodwell, Esclangon, W. D. Lambert, Matukuma, Niethammer, Orlov, Peres, Schlesinger, Schumann, Sollenberger, Stetson, Stoyko, M. Subbotin, Vocea, E. L. Williams
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- Journal:
- Transactions of the International Astronomical Union / Volume 6 / 1939
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 April 2016, pp. 123-148
- Print publication:
- 1939
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In consequence of the decision made by the Fifth General Assembly of the I.A.U. I have been entrusted, from January 1936, with the direction of the Central Bureau for the International Service of Latitudes.
I am much indebted to Prof. Kimura, who preceded me as Director and to Prof. Kohlschütter, Director of the Geodetic Institute of Potsdam, for information and advice, which has been of great assistance to me; therefore I desire to acknowledge to them my deep gratitude.