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Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- 1. An introduction to climate change -- 1.1. Weather or climate -- 1.2. The greenhouse effect -- 1.3. The carbon cycle -- 1.4. Natural changes in the carbon cycle -- 1.5. Pacemaker of the glacial-interglacial cycles -- 1.6. Non-greenhouse influences on climate -- 1.7. The water cycle, climate change and biology -- 1.8. From theory to reality -- 1.9. References -- 2. Principal indicators of past climates -- 2.1. Terrestrial biotic climatic proxies -- 2.1.1. Tree-ring analysis (dendrochronology) -- 2.1.2. Isotopic dendrochronology -- 2.1.3. Leaf shape (morphology) -- 2.1.4. Leaf physiology -- 2.1.5. Pollen and spore analysis -- 2.1.6. Species as climate proxies -- 2.2. Marine biotic climatic proxies -- 2.2.1. ¹⁸O isotope analysis of forams and corals -- 2.2.2. Alkenone analysis -- 2.3. Non-biotic indicators -- 2.3.1. Isotopic analysis of water -- 2.3.2. Boreholes -- 2.3.3. Carbon dioxide and methane records as palaeoclimatic forcing agents -- 2.3.4. Dust as an indicator of dry-wet hemispheric climates -- 2.4. Other indicators -- 2.5. Interpreting indicators -- 2.6. Conclusions -- 2.7. References --

8.3. Energy policy and carbon -- 8.3.1. Case history : USA -- 8.3.2. Case history : UK -- 8.3.3. Case history : China and India -- 8.4. Possible future energy options -- 8.4.1. Managing fossil-carbon emissions, the scale of the problem -- 8.4.2. Fossil futures -- 8.4.3. Nuclear futures -- 8.4.4. Renewable futures -- 8.4.5. Low-energy futures -- 8.4.6. Possible future energy options and greenhouse gases -- 8.5. Future human and biological change -- 8.5.1. The ease and difficulty of adapting to future impacts -- 8.5.2. Future climate change and human health -- 8.5.3. Future climate and human-ecology implications for wildlife -- 8.5.4. Reducing future anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions -- 8.5.5. A final conclusion -- 8.6. References -- Appendix 1 : Glossary and abbreviations -- Glossary -- Abbreviations -- Appendix 2 : Bio-geological chronology -- Appendix 3 : Calculations of energy demand/supply and orders of magnitude -- Calculations of energy demand/supply -- Orders of magnitude -- Sources -- Appendix 4 : The IPCC 2007 report.

8. Sustainability and policy -- 8.1. Key developments of sustainability policy -- 8.1.1. UN Conference on the Human Environment (1972) -- 8.1.2. The Club of Rome's Limits to Growth (1972) -- 8.1.3. World Climate Conference (1979) -- 8.1.4. The World Conservation Strategy (1980 ) -- 8.1.5. The Brandt Report, Common Crisis North-South (1980) -- 8.1.6. The Brundtland, World Commission on Environment and Development Report (1987) -- 8.1.7. United Nations' Conference on the Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro (1992) -- 8.1.8. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) -- 8.1.9. Johannesburg Summit, UNCED+10 (2002) -- 8.1.10. Post 2002 -- 8.2. Energy sustainability and carbon (global) -- 8.2.1. Prospects for savings from changes in land use -- 8.2.2. Prospects for savings from improvements in energy efficiency -- 8.2.3. Prospects for fossil-carbon savings from renewable energy -- 8.2.4. Prospects for carbon-capture technology -- 8.2.5. Prospects for nuclear options -- 8.2.6. Overall prospects for fossil-carbon savings to 2025 --

7. The human ecology of climate change -- 7.1. Population (past, present and future) and its environmental impact -- 7.1.1. Population and environmental impact -- 7.1.2. Past and present population -- 7.1.3. Future population -- 7.1.4. Food -- 7.1.5. Impact on other species -- 7.2. Energy supply -- 7.2.1. Energy supply, the historical context -- 7.2.2. Future energy supply -- 7.3. Human health and climate change -- 7.3.1. Health and weather extremes -- 7.3.2. Climate change and disease -- 7.3.3. Flooding and health -- 7.3.4. Droughts -- 7.4. Climate change and food security -- 7.4.1. Past and present food security -- 7.4.2. Future food security and climate change -- 7.5. The biology of reducing anthropogenic climate change -- 7.5.1. Terrestrial photosynthesis and soil carbon -- 7.5.2. Manipulating marine photosynthesis -- 7.5.3. Biofuels -- 7.6. Summary and conclusions -- 7.7. References --

6. Current warming and likely future impacts -- 6.1. Current biological symptoms of warming -- 6.1.1. Current boreal dendrochronological response -- 6.1.2. Current tropical-rainforest response -- 6.1.3. Some biological dimensions of the climatic-change fingerprint -- 6.1.4. Phenology -- 6.1.5. Biological communities and species shift -- 6.2. Case study : climate and natural systems in the USA -- 6.3. Case study : climate and natural systems in the UK -- 6.4. Biological response to greenhouse trends beyond the twenty-first century -- 6.5. Possible surprise responses to greenhouse trends in the twenty-first century and beyond -- 6.5.1. Extreme weather events -- 6.5.2. Greenhouse gases -- 6.5.3. Sea-level rise -- 6.5.4. Methane hydrates (methane clathrates) -- 6.5.5. Volcanoes -- 6.5.6. Oceanic and atmospheric circulation -- 6.5.7. Ocean acidity -- 6.5.8. The probability of surprises -- 6.6. References --

5. Present climate and biological change -- 5.1. Recent climate change -- 5.1.1. The latter half of the Little Ice Age -- 5.1.2. Twentieth-century climate -- 5.1.3. Twenty-first-century climate -- 5.1.4. The Holocene interglacial beyond the twenty-first century -- 5.1.5. Holocene summary -- 5.2. Human change arising from the Holocene climate -- 5.2.1. Climatic impacts on early human civilisations -- 5.2.2. The Little Ice Age's human impact -- 5.2.3. Increasing twentieth-century human climatic insulation -- 5.3. Climate and business as usual in the twenty-first century -- 5.3.1. IPCC business as usual -- 5.3.2. Uncertainties and the IPCC's conclusions -- 5.4. Current human influences on the carbon cycle -- 5.4.1. Carbon dioxide -- 5.4.2. Methane -- 5.4.3. Halocarbons -- 5.4.4. Nitrous oxide -- 5.5. References --

4. The Oligocene to the Quaternary : climate and biology -- 4.1. The Oligocene (33.9-23.03 mya) -- 4.2. The end Miocene (9-5.3 mya) -- 4.3. The Pliocene (5.3-1.8 mya) -- 4.4. The current ice age -- 4.5. The last glacial -- 4.5.1. Overview of temperature, carbon dioxide and timing -- 4.5.2. Ice and sea level -- 4.5.3. Temperature changes within the glacial -- 4.5.4. Biological and environmental impacts of the last glacial -- 4.6. Interglacials and the present climate -- 4.6.1. Previous interglacials -- 4.6.2. The Allerød, Bølling and Younger Dryas (14 600-11 600 years ago) -- 4.6.3. The Holocene (11 500 years ago, the Industrial Revolution) -- 4.6.4. Biological response to the last glacial, LGM and Holocene transition -- 4.7. Summary -- 4.8. References --

3. Past climate change -- 3.1. Early biology and climate of the Hadean and Archeaen eons (4.6-2.5 billion years ago, bya) -- 3.1.1. The pre-biotic Earth (4.6-3.8 bya) -- 3.1.2. The early biotic Earth (3.8-2.3 bya) -- 3.2. Major bio-climatic events of the Proterozoic eon (2.5-0.542 bya) -- 3.2.1. Earth in the anaerobic-aerobic transition (2.6-1.7 bya) -- 3.2.2. The aerobic Earth (from 1.7 bya) -- 3.3. Major bio-climatic events of the pre-Quaternary Phanerozoic (540-2 mya) -- 3.3.1. Late-Ordovician extinction (455-435 mya) -- 3.3.2. Late-Devonian extinction (365-363.5 mya) -- 3.3.3. Vascular plants and the atmospheric depletion of carbon dioxide (350-275 mya) -- 3.3.4. Permo-Carboniferous glaciation (330-250 mya) -- 3.3.5. End-Permian extinction (251 mya) -- 3.3.6. End-Triassic extinction (205 mya) -- 3.3.7. Toarcian (early (late lower) Jurassic) extinction (183 mya) -- 3.3.8. Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction (65.5 mya) -- 3.3.9. Eocene climatic maximum (55-54.8 mya) -- 3.3.10. Eocene-Oligocene extinction (approximately 35 mya ; or 33.9 mya?) -- 3.3.11. Late Miocene expansion of C₄ grasses (14-9 mya) -- 3.4. Summary -- 3.5. References --

In recent years climate change has become recognised as the foremost environmental problem of the twenty-first century. Not only will climate change potentially affect the multibillion dollar energy strategies of countries worldwide, but it also could seriously affect many species, including our own. A fascinating introduction to the subject, this textbook provides a broad review of past, present and likely future climate change from the viewpoints of biology, ecology and human ecology. It will be of interest to a wide range of people, from students in the life sciences who need a brief overview of the basics of climate science, to atmospheric science, geography, and environmental science students who need to understand the biological and human ecological implications of climate change. It will also be a valuable reference for those involved in environmental monitoring, conservation, policy-making and policy lobbying.