Modelling Soil-biosphere Interactions


Book Description

Soils interact with the biological environment in a number of ways. Our understanding of these interactions can often be enhanced by computer modelling. The primary function of this book is to introduce basic modelling skills and to show how even complex problems in the relationship between soil and the biosphere can be solved using modelling packages. The author presents numerous examples using ModelMaker, an easily learnt software package. Only basic mathematical skills are expected of the reader. A demo of ModelMaker is available on CD from Cherwell Scientific.




Modelling Soil


Book Description




Climate Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling


Book Description

Provides an essential introduction to modeling terrestrial ecosystems in Earth system models for graduate students and researchers.







Interactions Between Biosphere, Atmosphere and Human Land Use in the Amazon Basin


Book Description

This book offers a panorama of recent scientific achievements produced through the framework of the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere programme (LBA) and other research programmes in the Brazilian Amazon. The content is highly interdisciplinary, with an overarching aim to contribute to the understanding of the dynamic biophysical and societal/socio-economic structure and functioning of Amazonia as a regional entity and its regional and global climatic teleconnections. The target readership includes advanced undergraduate and post-graduate students and researchers seeking to untangle the gamut of interactions that the Amazon’s complex biophysical and social system represent.




Terrestrial Biosphere-Atmosphere Fluxes


Book Description

Fluxes of trace gases, water and energy - the 'breathing of the biosphere' - are controlled by a large number of interacting physical, chemical, biological and ecological processes. In this interdisciplinary book, the authors provide the tools to understand and quantitatively analyse fluxes of energy, organic compounds such as terpenes, and trace gases including carbon dioxide, water vapour and methane. It first introduces the fundamental principles affecting the supply and demand for trace gas exchange at the leaf and soil scales: thermodynamics, diffusion, turbulence and physiology. It then builds on these principles to model the exchange of water, carbon dioxide, terpenes and stable isotopes at the ecosystem scale. Detailed mathematical derivations of commonly used relations in biosphere-atmosphere interactions are provided for reference in appendices. An accessible introduction for graduate students and a key resource for researchers in related fields, such as atmospheric science, hydrology, meteorology, climate science, biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology.




Mathematical Models in Agriculture


Book Description

Role of mathematical models; Dynamic deterministic models; Mathematical programming; Basic biological processes; Growth functions; Simple dynamic growth models; Simple ecological models; Envinment and weather; Plant and crop processes; Crop models; Crop husbandry; Plant diseases and pests; Animal processes; Animal organs; Whole-animal models; Animal products; Animal husbandry; Animal diseases; Solutions exercises; Mathematical glossary.




Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems


Book Description

Review of the principles and management implications related to nitrogen in the soil-plant-water system.




Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions


Book Description




Interactions at the Soil Colloid


Book Description

About 20 years ago the emphasis in soil chemistry research switched from studies of problems related to scarcities of plant nutrients to those arising from soil pollutants. The new problems have come about because of the excessive uses of fertilizers, the inputs from farm and industrial wastes, the widespread applications of anthropogenie xenobiotic chemicals, and the deterioration of soil structure resulting from certain modern agriculture practises. The International Society of Soil Science (ISSS) recognized these problems and challenges. A provisional Working Group was set up in 1978 to focus attention on soil colloids with a view to understanding better the interactions wh ich take place at their surfaces. It was recognized that these interactions are fundamental to problems of soil fertility, as weIl as to those of soil pollution. After the group had received the official support of ISSS at its 12th International Congress in New Delhi in 1982 it set as its priority the assembling and evaluation of information, relevant to the soil and environmental sciences, concerning the composition and structure of soil colloids. Prior to that aseries of Position Papers were published in the Bulletin of the International Society of Soil Science (Vol. 61, 1981) outlining the state of knowledge about the composition and properties of soil colloids.