Description
The Amazon basin is a large area of land in South America that is home to a great diversity of ecosystems. Scientists are interested in understanding the biogeochemistry of the basin, which includes questions about the fluxes of greenhouse gases, the storage of carbon in the biomass and soils, the transfer of elements from land to ocean, and the marine fate of elements. This book is a compilation of original chapters written by experts in chemical and biological oceanography, tropical agronomy and biology, and the atmospheric sciences.
With a complex assemblage of largely intact ecosystems that support the earth's greatest diversity of life, the Amazon basin is a focal point of international scientific interest. And, as development and colonization schemes transform the landscape in increasing measure, scientists from around the world are directing attention to questions of regional and global significance. Some of these qustions are: What are the fluxes of greenhouse gases across the atmospheric interface of ecosystems? How mush carbon is stored in the biomass and soils of the basin? How are elements from the land transferred to the basin's surface waters? What is the sum of elements transferred from land to ocean, and what is its marine "fate"? This book of original chapters by experts in chemical and biological oceanography, tropical agronomy and biology, and the atmospheric sciences will address these and other important questions, with the aim of synthesizing the current knowledge of biochemical processes operating within and between the various ecosystems in the Amazon basin.
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