TOWAaD UNDERSTANDING ECOSYSTEBSS
3
genetics, plant biochemistry, and cellular phyeiology , each involving
information of use for understanding better the prooeeees within plant
communities. Advancea in instrumentation, such aa gaa chrometography, radiography, infrared gaa analyzers, radiometers, etc. make
it possible to meaaure with greater precision mme of the basic properties of plants and of the environment. The development of large digital
computers makes poeeible the manipulation and storage of vaat quantities of information. The large computer elm makes possible the statistical correlation and aesociation of significant emlogid events, e.g. the
outbreak of beetle infestation in a forest with climatic elementa. The
ability to formulate mathematical models of parts of an ecosystem is
only possible with the large digital computer. The analog computer is
particularly helpful for Understanding the relationships of various
trophic levels in the total food chain of an ecoaptem.
The vegetated surface of the land and the wafer surface of the oceans
are two highly significant features affecting intimately the climate and
weather of the earth. Yet man’s understanding of the processes of interaction between the vegetation and the atmosphere is very small. The
wind shear near the surface is influenced enormously by the roughness
of the surface as determined by the vegetation. The temperature of the
air is affected considerably by the vegetation. Usually the air is cooled
by passing over the large surfaces presented by vegetation, but the air
may be warmed if the plants are heated in sunshine. The oxygen in the
atmosphere is derived from plants &B a by-product of photosynthesis.
Much of the water cycle between soil and atmosphere is involved with
plant communities. The carbon dioxide exchange between plants and
the atmosphere is driven by photosynthesis and respiration in plants.
What about the plant terpenes and organic volatiles ending up as aerosols in the atmosphere and producing widespread blue hazes and the
attenuation of solar radiation? These are essentially ecological proceases
of the atmosphere-vegetation interface, each of importance to our
understanding of the dynamics of the earth’s atmosphere and of the
ecosystem. Yet relatively little has been done to greatly advance our
understanding of the plant-atmosphere interface. The geophysicist and
atmospheric scientist share the rcsponsibility with the ecologist for lack
of effort of research in this critical dual domain. The physical scientist
has been as unable to grasp the tremendous significance of the effects of
the organic surface on the atmosphere aa the ecologist has been to get
straight the proper physical relationships.
Plants grow in nearly constant gravitational fielda, but in widely
varying electric and magnetic fields. How many electrical engineers
or physicists working with the problems of atmospheric electricity
have concerned themselves with the abundant number of sharp points
3
genetics, plant biochemistry, and cellular phyeiology , each involving
information of use for understanding better the prooeeees within plant
communities. Advancea in instrumentation, such aa gaa chrometography, radiography, infrared gaa analyzers, radiometers, etc. make
it possible to meaaure with greater precision mme of the basic properties of plants and of the environment. The development of large digital
computers makes poeeible the manipulation and storage of vaat quantities of information. The large computer elm makes possible the statistical correlation and aesociation of significant emlogid events, e.g. the
outbreak of beetle infestation in a forest with climatic elementa. The
ability to formulate mathematical models of parts of an ecosystem is
only possible with the large digital computer. The analog computer is
particularly helpful for Understanding the relationships of various
trophic levels in the total food chain of an ecoaptem.
The vegetated surface of the land and the wafer surface of the oceans
are two highly significant features affecting intimately the climate and
weather of the earth. Yet man’s understanding of the processes of interaction between the vegetation and the atmosphere is very small. The
wind shear near the surface is influenced enormously by the roughness
of the surface as determined by the vegetation. The temperature of the
air is affected considerably by the vegetation. Usually the air is cooled
by passing over the large surfaces presented by vegetation, but the air
may be warmed if the plants are heated in sunshine. The oxygen in the
atmosphere is derived from plants &B a by-product of photosynthesis.
Much of the water cycle between soil and atmosphere is involved with
plant communities. The carbon dioxide exchange between plants and
the atmosphere is driven by photosynthesis and respiration in plants.
What about the plant terpenes and organic volatiles ending up as aerosols in the atmosphere and producing widespread blue hazes and the
attenuation of solar radiation? These are essentially ecological proceases
of the atmosphere-vegetation interface, each of importance to our
understanding of the dynamics of the earth’s atmosphere and of the
ecosystem. Yet relatively little has been done to greatly advance our
understanding of the plant-atmosphere interface. The geophysicist and
atmospheric scientist share the rcsponsibility with the ecologist for lack
of effort of research in this critical dual domain. The physical scientist
has been as unable to grasp the tremendous significance of the effects of
the organic surface on the atmosphere aa the ecologist has been to get
straight the proper physical relationships.
Plants grow in nearly constant gravitational fielda, but in widely
varying electric and magnetic fields. How many electrical engineers
or physicists working with the problems of atmospheric electricity
have concerned themselves with the abundant number of sharp points