Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010335481 | QC981.8.C5 C68 2013 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
The second edition of this acclaimed text has been fully updated and substantially expanded to include the considerable developments (since publication of the first edition) in our understanding of the science of climate change, its impacts on biological and human systems, and developments in climate policy. Written in an accessible style, it provides a broad review of past, present and likely future climate change from the viewpoints of biology, ecology, human ecology and Earth system science. It will again prove to be invaluable to a wide range of readers, from students in the life sciences who need a brief overview of the basics of climate science, to atmospheric science, geography, geoscience and environmental science students who need to understand the biological and human ecological implications of climate change. It is also a valuable reference text for those involved in environmental monitoring, conservation and policy making.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This is the second edition (1st ed., CH, Jan'08, 45-2588) of Cowie's comprehensive overview of climate science and the connections between climatic changes and ecological and human systems. Cowie (formerly, Institute of Biology, UK) documents his subject matter using scientific sources, making for a thorough, easy-to-understand treatment of the book's topics in eight chapters. Chapter 1 is an excellent primer on the causes of climate change; a chapter that describes the environmental data (tree rings, pollen, chemical isotopes, etc.) upon which climate reconstructions are based follows. The core of the volume is three chapters that ambitiously summarize climate changes from 4.6 billion years ago to the present. Cowie ties this summary of climate changes to biological responses and feedbacks and ultimately human evolution and history. The final chapters cover current warming patterns and likely future responses by biological systems to coming climate change (including potential "surprise responses" associated with uncertainties), the way climate change might lead to alterations in the ways humans live and use resources, and climate change policy. Chapter 8 contains five case studies of energy policy in the US, Canada, UK, China and India, and Australia and New Zealand. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals. D. Goldblum Northern Illinois University
Table of Contents
| 1 An introduction to climate change |
| 2 Principal indicators of past climates |
| 3 Past climate change |
| 4 The Oligocene to the Quaternary: climate and biology |
| 5 Present climate and biological change |
| 6 Current warming and likely future impacts |
| 7 The human ecology of climate change |
| 8 Sustainability and policy |
| Appendix 1 Glossary and abbreviations |
| Appendix 2 Bio-geological chronology |
| Appendix 3 Calculations of energy demand/supply and orders of magnitude |
| Appendix 4 Further thoughts for consideration |
| Index |
