Modeling Interactions of Carbon Dioxide, Forests, and Climate

Abstract Atmospheric CO2 levels are rising, forests are responding, and climate is changing. This combination of facts and premises may be evaluated on a range of temporal and spatial scales with the aid of computer simulators describing the interrelationships among forest vegetation, litter and soil characteristics, and meteorological variables. In this chapter, some insights into the effects of climate on the transfer of carbon and the converse, effects of carbon transfer on climate, are offered as a basis for assessing the significance of feedbacks between vegetation and climate under conditions of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration.