Following the discovery of large petroleum reserves in northern Alaska, the US Department of Energy implemented an integrated field and modeling study to help define potential impacts of energy-related disturbances on tundra ecosystems. This volume presents major findings from this study. A broad range of basic and applied research topics are examined, ranging from ecosystem physiology and biogeochemistry to landscape models that quantify the impact of road-building on tundra hydrology and ecosystem structure.
It is an important resource for researchers and students interested in arctic ecology, as well as for environmental managers concerned with practical issues of disturbances.

Zusammenfassung
"..a very important contribution to arctic ecology...The book will soon be a classic and is indispensable for everyone interested in the ecology of the Arctic tundra." Entomologia Generalis

Inhalt
I Introduction.- 1 Ecosystem Response, Resistance, Resilience, and Recovery in Arctic Landscapes: Introduction.- 2 Integrated Ecosystem Research in Northern Alaska, 19471994.- 3 Disturbance and Recovery of Arctic Alaskan Vegetation.- 4 Terrain and Vegetation of the Imnavait Creek Watershed.- 5 Vegetation Structure and Aboveground Carbon and Nutrient Pools in the Imnavait Creek Watershed.- II Physical Environment, Hydrology, and Transport.- 6 Energy Balance and Hydrological Processes in an Arctic Watershed.- 7 Shortwave Reflectance Properties of Arctic Tundra Landscapes.- 8 Isotopic Tracers for Investigating Hydrological Processes.- III Nutrient and Carbon Fluxes.- 9 Surface Water Chemistry and Hydrology of a Small Arctic Drainage Basin.- 10 Nutrient Availability and Uptake by Tundra Plants.- 11 Landscape Patterns of Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Tundra Ecosytems.- 12 Control of Tundra Methane Emission by Microbial Oxidation.- 13 Dynamics of Dissolved and Particulate Carbon in an Arctic Stream.- IV Modeling Landscape Function.- 14. Patch and Landscape Models of Arctic Tundra: Potentials and Limitations.- 15 Modeling Dry Deposition of Dust Along the Dalton Highway.- 16 Modeling Decomposition in Arctic Ecosystems.- 17 Hydrological Controls on Ecosystem Gas Exchange in an Arctic Landscape.- 18 Road-Related Disturbances in an Arctic Watershed: Analyses by a Spatially Explicit Model of Vegetation and Ecosystem Processes.- V Summary.- 19 Ecosystem Response, Resistance, Resilience, and Recovery in Arctic Landscapes: Progress and Prospects.