Climate Change, Glacier Response, and Vegetation Dynamics in the Himalaya: Contributions Toward Future Earth Initiatives

By: and and

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Synopsis
This book provides information essential for anyoneinterested in climate and environmental change of the Himalayan region,including land and resource managers, environmental planners, conservationists,environmentalists, geographers, climatologists, ecologists, and students. Thebook is unique in its coverage of the current understanding of the science ofclimate change in the Himalayan mountain system and of the major impacts onphysical systems and ecosystems. The book gives an overview of the physicalscience basis of climate change and explains drivers and processes of glacierand vegetation dynamics. The book covers relevant aspects of accelerated climatechange observed in the Himalayan mountain system, and highlights the regionaldifferentiation of climatic changes and associated environmental modifications. The focus is on climate variability and change, and how physical systems andecosystems respond to climate change impacts. Consequences include impacts onphysical systems such as glacier shrinkage, glacial lake outburst floods,altered hydrological characteristics, permafrost warming and thawing, and massmovements on slopes. Climate change is also a powerful stressor on ecosystemsand induces range shifts of plant and animal species and alterations in termsof phenology, biomass, plant cover, plant group dominance and speciescomposition. Thus, ecosystem structure and functioning will be stronglyaffected. The book has an introductory chapter followed by a sectionon climate change, a section on impacts on glaciers and hydrology, and asection on vegetation dynamics. Each section has several chapters presentingkey concepts, major drivers and key processes of environmental change in the Himalayan region from different perspectives. Climate change impacts inthe Himalaya have not been studied in much detail, and respective findings werenot presented so far in a comprehensive overview. This book summarizes thecurrent knowledge of interactions between climate change and the dynamics ofglaciers, hydrology, and vegetation.
Copyright:
2016

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9783319289779
Related ISBNs:
9783319289755
Publisher:
Springer International Publishing, Cham
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Springer
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Outdoors and Nature, Earth Sciences
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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