Note: Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- Overview -- The geological timescale -- Ice age Earth -- Greenhouse Earth -- Catastrophic climatic change: the end-Cretaceous mass extinction -- Conclusions -- 2 Investigating the past from the present -- Introduction -- Rubisco -- Rubisco characteristics -- Photorespiration -- Rubisco evolution -- Stomata -- Stable isotopes of carbon -- Conclusions -- 3 Climate and terrestrial vegetation -- Introduction -- The climatic limits of vegetation -- 500 million years of changing global climate -- 500 million years of terrestrial photosynthesis -- Testing the predictions of the photosynthetic models -- Conclusions -- 4 Climate and terrestrial vegetation of the present -- Introduction -- General Circulation Model description -- GCM initialisation and operation -- GCM simulations of palaeoclimates -- GCM reliability and accuracy -- The basic operational flow of the vegetation model -- Module descriptions -- Leaf responses -- Canopy responses -- Soil interactions -- Defining vegetation structure -- Defining functional types -- Model runs of LAI and NPP for the present day -- Global patterns of LAI for the year 1988 -- Global patterns of NPP for the year 1988 -- Predicting the present-day distribution of dominant functional types -- Conclusions -- 5 The late Carboniferous -- Introduction -- Effects of the late Carboniferous atmosphere on photorespiration -- Effects of the late Carboniferous atmosphere on leaf gas exchange -- Photosynthesis and plant growth in the late Carboniferous -- The late Carboniferous global climate -- Global terrestrial productivity in the late Carboniferous -- Comparison of model results with the geological record -- The impact of O2 on global terrestrial productivity and C storage. , Decomposition rates and C storage in terrestrial ecosystems -- C3 and C4 plant distribution in the Carboniferous -- Fire and late Carboniferous terrestrial ecosystems -- Conclusions -- 6 The Jurassic -- Introduction -- Atmospheric CO2 and climatic change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary -- Consequences for plant adaptation and survival -- Plant acclimation to high CO2 concentration -- The late Jurassic global climate -- Global patterns of photosynthesis in the late Jurassic -- Comparison of modelled vegetation activity with palaeodata -- Global terrestrial productivity in the late Jurassic -- CO2 impacts on vegetation function -- Distribution of plant functional types in the late Jurassic -- Comparison with the Jurassic geological record -- Conclusions -- 7 The Cretaceous -- Introduction -- The global mid-and late Cretaceous environment -- Post-K/T boundary impact environments -- Short-term post-impact environment… -- Long-term post-impact environment… -- Global vegetation productivity and structure in the Cretaceous -- Global carbon storage by terrestrial ecosystems in the Cretaceous -- Loss of carbon by global wildfire at the K/T boundary -- Post-K/T boundary changes in ecosystem properties and the geological record -- Stable carbon isotope constraints on modelled Cretaceous vegetation activity -- Vegetation diversity in the Cretaceous -- Global-scale distribution of plant functional types -- Changes in plant family diversity through the Cretaceous -- Conclusions -- 8 The Eocene -- Introduction -- Global climates of the Eocene and the future -- Comparison of Eocene GCM climate with geological data -- Structure and productivity of terrestrial vegetation in the Eocene -- Feedbacks of Eocene vegetation on climate -- Terrestrial productivity of early Tertiary fossil forests -- Global vegetation distribution in the Eocene and in the future. , Carbon storage by terrestrial ecosystems in the Eocene and the future -- Conclusions -- 9 The Quaternary -- Introduction -- Gas exchange responses of C3 plants to a glacial-interglacial cycle of environmental change -- Global climate change since the LGM -- Changes in global primary productivity and vegetation structure since the LGM -- Distribution of plant functional types since the LGM -- The changing distribution of C4 plants since the LGM -- Changes in terrestrial carbon storage since the LGM -- Global C discrimination by the terrestrial biosphere in the late Quaternary: implications for land carbon storage -- Vegetation and the oxygen isotope composition of atmospheric O2 -- Conclusions -- 10 Climate and terrestrial vegetation in the future -- Introduction -- The climatic scenarios -- Global totals of terrestrial responses -- Net primary productivity -- Net ecosystem production -- Runoff -- Carbon sequestration -- Changes in the distributions of dominant functional types -- Conclusions -- 11 The end view -- General issues -- The carbon cycle -- Plant species -- Contemporary and future timescales -- Conclusions -- References -- Index.