2 results
8 - Peatlands and climate change
- from Part I - Peatland ecosystems services
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- By Angela V. Gallego-Sala, University of Exeter, Robert K. Booth, Lehigh University, Dan J. Charman, University of Exeter, I. Colin Prentice, Charles Darwin University, Zicheng Yu, Lehigh University
- Edited by Aletta Bonn, Tim Allott, University of Manchester, Martin Evans, University of Manchester, Hans Joosten, Rob Stoneman
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- Book:
- Peatland Restoration and Ecosystem Services
- Published online:
- 05 June 2016
- Print publication:
- 23 June 2016, pp 129-150
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Summary
Introduction
The fundamental reason for the presence of peatlands is a positive balance between plant production and decomposition of organic matter. Organic matter accumulates in these systems because prolonged waterlogged conditions result in soil anoxia (i.e. exclusion of oxygen), and under these conditions decomposition rates can be lower than those of primary production, as seen in Figure 8.1. Climate therefore plays an important role in peat accumulation, both directly by affecting plant productivity and decomposition of organic matter, and indirectly through its effects on hydrology, water balance and vegetation composition (for a summary, refer to Yu, Beilman and Jones (2009)). Climate provides broad-scale controls on peatland extent, types and vegetation, and ultimately, ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and storage, as well as water and hazard regulation (Chapters 4 and 5). Peatlands can therefore play a vital role in ecosystem-based adaptation in helping society mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Future climate change is likely to alter the hydrology and soil temperature of peatlands, with far-reaching consequences for their biodiversity, ecology and biogeochemistry, and interactions with the Earth system. For example, the possibility of drier conditions allowing peat erosion and increases in CO2 emissions that would result in a positive feedback to climate change (Turetsky 2010). Peatlands that have been damaged by human activity are more vulnerable to climate-induced changes in hydrology and temperature, but suitable management strategies may make them more resilient to changes and help to stabilise the delivery of ecosystem services (Chapter 1).
This chapter describes the interactions between climate and peatlands in three sections. The first section explains how present climate influences peatlands, by documenting how climate limits peatland geographical extent globally, and how bioclimatic envelope models can predict peatland extent. We indicate how each type of peatland is linked to a specific climate range, and introduce the concept of how climate controls peatland ecosystem function and services. The second section looks into the past. It describes how peat preserves a record of past climates and environmental conditions that can be deciphered to reveal the history of peatland vegetation, hydrology and carbon accumulation changes in relation to past changes in climate. We highlight lessons that can be learned from the palaeo-record preserved in peat.
16 - Some aspects of capital maintenance law in the UK
- from PART 1 - Perspectives in company law, SECTION 2: Corporate governance, shareholders' rights and auditing
- Edited by Michel Tison, Universiteit Gent, Belgium, Hans De Wulf, Universiteit Gent, Belgium, Christoph Van der Elst, Universiteit Gent, Belgium, Reinhard Steennot, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
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- Book:
- Perspectives in Company Law and Financial Regulation
- Published online:
- 04 August 2010
- Print publication:
- 18 June 2009, pp 276-301
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Summary
Introduction
The corporate form is used pervasively in the United Kingdom. In 2005 there were 1,968,000 private companies (‘Ltd’) and 11,600 public companies (‘Plc’) on the companies' register. In the year 2004–2005 there were 332,700 new private companies incorporated and 1,100 public companies. In 2005, 43,600 companies were struck off the register and 4,200 were wound up. The rate of new incorporations has been significant: it is estimated that since 1997 new incorporations have risen by over 60% and the number of foreign firms incorporating in the UK has more than quadrupled. A salient feature of UK company law is ease of access to the corporate form. No barriers of any substance are placed in the way of obtaining corporate status. There is a ‘free market’ rationale for ease of incorporation – provided parties are aware that they are dealing with a limited liability company they can protect their own interests. To the extent that the corporate form can be abused, control of abusive practices is by means of a liability rule applied ex post and by an ex ante rule that is designed, for example, to ensure economic viability. Occasionally, UK company law will use a property rule to protect the interests of the dramatis personae of company law. One example of this are the provisions on shareholder pre-emption rights, which use a property protection rule, the conferral of a right of pre-emption, rather than a liability rule, that is, an ex post legal remedy where a shareholder has been unfairly treated by a particularallotment.