The boreal forest is one of the world's great ecosystems, stretching across North America and Eurasia in an unbroken band and containing about 25% of the world's closed canopy forests. The Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project was a 10-year study by nine of Canada's leading ecologists to unravel the impact of the snowshoe hare cycle on the plants and the other vertebrate species in the boreal forest. In much of the boreal forest, the snowshoe hare acts as a keystone herbivore, fluctuating in 9-10 year cycles, and dragging along secondary cycles in predators such as lynx and great-horned owls. By manipulating the ecosystem on a large scale from the bottom via fertilizer additions and from the top by predator exclosures, they have traced the plant-herbivore relationships and the predator-prey relationships in this ecosystem to try to answer the question of what drives small mammal population cycles. This study is unique in being large scale and experimental on a relatively simple ecosystem, with the overall goal of defining what determines community structure in the boreal forest. Ecosystem Dynamics of the Boreal Forest: The Kluane Project summarizes these findings, weaving new discoveries of the role of herbivores-turned-predators, compensatory plant growth, and predators-eating-predators with an ecological story rich in details and clear in its findings of a community where predation plays a key role in determining the fate of individuals and populations. The study of the Kluane boreal forest raises key questions about the scale of conservation required for boreal forest communities and the many mammals and birds that live there.

Forest Ecosystem Management. A management approach that aims to maintain healthy and resilient forest ecosystems by focusing on a reduction of differences between natural and managed landscapes to ensure long-term maintenance of ecosystem functions and thereby retain the social and economic benefits they provide to society.That is the definition of forest ecosystem management proposed in this book, which provides a summary of key ecological concepts supporting this approach. The book includes a review of major disturbance regimes that shape the natural dynamics of the boreal forest and gives examples from different Canadian boreal regions. Several projects implementing the forest ecosystem management approach are presented to illustrate the challenges created by current forestry practices and the solutions that this new approach can provide. In short, knowledge and understanding of forest dynamics can serve as a guide for forest management. Planning interventions based on natural dynamics can facilitate reconciliation between forest harvesting needs and the interests of other forest users.

The boreal forest is one of the world's great ecosystems, stretching across North America and Eurasia in an unbroken band and containing about 25% of the world's closed canopy forests. The Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project was a 10-year study by nine of Canada's leading ecologists to unravel the impact of the snowshoe hare cycle on the plants and the other vertebrate species in the boreal forest. In much of the boreal forest, the snowshoe hare acts as a keystone herbivore, fluctuating in 9-10 year cycles, and dragging along secondary cycles in predators such as lynx and great-horned owls. By manipulating the ecosystem on a large scale from the bottom via fertilizer additions and from the top by predator exclosures, they have traced the plant-herbivore relationships and the predator-prey relationships in this ecosystem to try to answer the question of what drives small mammal population cycles. This study is unique in being large scale and experimental on a relatively simple ecosystem, with the overall goal of defining what determines community structure in the boreal forest. Ecosystem Dynamics of the Boreal Forest: The Kluane Project summarizes these findings, weaving new discoveries of the role of herbivores-turned-predators, compensatory plant growth, and predators-eating-predators with an ecological story rich in details and clear in its findings of a community where predation plays a key role in determining the fate of individuals and populations. The study of the Kluane boreal forest raises key questions about the scale of conservation required for boreal forest communities and the many mammals and birds that live there.

The world's boreal forests, which lie to the south of the Arctic, are considered to be the Earth's most significant terrestrial ecosystems. A panel of ecologists here provide a synthesis of the important patterns and processes which occur in boreal forests and review the principal mechanisms which control the forest's patterns.

Most large herbivores require some type of management within their habitats. Some populations of large herbivores are at the brink of extinction, some are under discussion for reintroduction, whilst others already occur in dense populations causing conflicts with other land use. Large herbivores are the major drivers for forming the shape and function of terrestrial ecosystems. This 2006 book addresses the scientifically based action plans to manage both the large herbivore populations and their habitats worldwide. It covers the processes by which large herbivores not only affect their environment (e.g. grazing) but are affected by it (e.g. nutrient cycling) and the management strategies required. Also discussed are new modeling techniques, which help assess integration processes in a landscape context, as well as assessing the consequences of new developments in the processes of conservation. This book will be essential reading for all involved in the management of both large herbivores and natural resources.

In many places in the world, forests dominate landscapes and provide various products. Future climate change could profoundly alter the productivity of forest ecosystems and species composition. Until now, climate impact research has primarily focused on the likely impacts of rise in temperature, increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, and varying precipitation on unmanaged forests. The issue that now needs to be addressed is how to sustainably manage climate change for timber production and biomass. Though climate change is a global issue, impacts on forests depend on local environmental conditions and management methods, so this book will look at the issue under varying local contexts.

Drawing from a decade-long collaboration between Japan and Russia, this important volume presents the first major synthesis of current knowledge on the ecophysiology of the coniferous forests growing on permafrost at high latitudes. It presents ecological data for a region long inaccessible to most scientists, and raises important questions about the global carbon balance as these systems are affected by the changing climate. Making up around 20% of the entire boreal forests of the northern hemisphere, these ‘permafrost forest ecosystems’ are subject to particular constraints in terms of temperature, nutrient availability, and root space, creating exceptional ecosystem characteristics not known elsewhere. This authoritative text explores their diversity, structure, dynamics and physiology. It provides a comparison of these forests in relation to boreal forests elsewhere, and concludes with an assessment of the potential responses of this unique biome to climate change. The book will be invaluable to advanced students and researchers interested in boreal vegetation, forest ecology, silviculture and forest soils, as well as to researchers into climate change and the global carbon balance.