Alaska's Changing Arctic

In this latest edition of the Long Term Ecological Research Network series, John Hobbie and George Kling synthesize the findings from the NSF-funded Arctic LTER project based in Toolik Lake, Alaska, a site that has been active since the mid 1970's. The book presents research concerning the core issues of climate-change science, and addresses the treeless regions of arctic Alaska, as well as the adjoining boreal forests. As a whole, the book examines both terrestrialand freshwater-aquatic ecosystems, and their three typical habitats: tundra, streams and lakes.The book provides a history of the Toolik Lake LTER site, and discusses its present condition and future outlook. It features contributions from top ecologists, biologists, and environmental scientists, creating a multidisciplinary survey of the Alaskan arctic ecosystem. Chapter topics include glacial history, climatology, land-water interactions, mercury found in the Alaskan arctic, and the response of lakes to environmental change. The final chapter brings together these findings in order tomake predictions regarding the consequences that arctic Alaska faces due to global warming and climate change, and discusses the future of the LTER site in the region. Alaska's Changing Arctic is the definitive scientific survey of the past, present, and future of the ecology of the Alaskan arctic, and the comprehensive source for the findings from the LTER site in the region.

Useful for students and researchers seeking a concise summary of this project., Alaska's Changing Arctic is a must-read for both scientists and non-scientists interested in Arctic ecology and the impacts of global change. ... [T]his book will serve as a milestone reference for those interested in understanding how ecological interactions in tundra ecosystems will control and modulate the impact of climate change on the Arctic, and assessing how this huge area of our planet might influence the climate at lower latitudes over the next decades.

John Hobbie is the Director of The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory. He is the former Lead Principal Investigator of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Arctic Site. George W. Kling is the Robert G. Wetzel Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan.