The Global Carbon Cycle and Climate Change: Scaling Ecological Energetics from Organism to the Biosphere, Second Edition examines the global carbon cycle and energy balance of the biosphere, following carbon and energy through increasingly complex levels of metabolism—from cells to ecosystems. Utilizing scientific explanations, analyses of ecosystem functions, extensive references, and cutting-edge examples of energy flow in ecosystems, this is an essential resource to aid in understanding the scientific basis of the role of ecological systems in climate change. Includes new chapters on dynamic properties of the global carbon cycle, climate models and projections, and managing carbon in the global biogeochemical cycle.

1. An Introduction to ecological energetics and the global carbon cycle
2. The physical and chemical bases of energy
3. Energy relationships between organisms and their environment
4. Biological energy transformations by plants
5. Energy processing by animals
6. Species adaptations to their energy environment
7. Food chains and trophic level transfers
8. Energy flow in ecosystems
9. Ecosystem productivity
10. The global carbon cycle and the biosphere
11. Anthropogenic alterations to the global carbon cycle and climate change
12. Dynamic Properties of the Global Carbon Cycle
13. Climate Models and Projections
14. Managing Carbon in the Global Biogeochemical Cycle
15. Carbon, climate change, and public policy

Subject Areas: Climate change [RNPG], Conservation of the environment [RNK], The environment [RN], Atmospheric physics [PHVJ]