Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change

by William H. Schlesinger

For the past 4 billion years, the chemistry of the Earth's surface, where all life exists, has changed remarkably. Historically, these changes have occurred slowly enough to allow life to adapt and evolve. In more recent times, the chemistry of the Earth is being altered at a staggering rate, fueled by industrialization and an ever-growing human population. Human activities, from the rapid consumption of resources to the destruction of the rainforests and the expansion of smog-covered cities, are all leading to rapid changes in the basic chemistry of the Earth.
The Second Edition of Biogeochemistry considers the effects of life on the Earth's chemistry on a global level. This expansive text employs current technology to help students extrapolate small-scale examples to the global level, and also discusses the instrumentation being used by NASA and its role in studies of global change. With the Earth's changing chemistry as the focus, this text pulls together the many disparate fields that are encompassed by the broad reach of biogeochemistry. With extensive cross-referencing of chapters, figures, and tables, and an interdisciplinary coverage of the topic at hand, this text will provide an excellent framework for courses examining global change and environmental chemistry, and will also be a useful self-study guide. * Emphasizes the effects of life on the basic chemistry of the atmosphere, the soils, and seawaters of the Earth
* Calculates and compares the effects of industrial emissions, land clearing, agriculture, and rising population on Earths chemistry
* Synthesizes the global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur, and suggests the best current budgets for atmospheric gases such as ammonia, nitrous oxide, dimethyl sulfide, and carbonyl sulfide
* Includes an extensive review and up-to-date synthesis of the current literature on the Earths biogeochemistry

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Textbooks

608 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

William H. Schlesinger (b. April 30, 1950) is a biogeochemist and the retired president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, an independent not-for-profit environmental research organization in Millbrook, New York. He assumed that position after 27 years on the faculty of Duke University, where he served as the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry.
Schlesinger began his college education at Dartmouth College where he received his A.B. in biology in 1972. He earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ecology and Systematics in 1976.

Schlesinger’s teaching career began at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he was an assistant professor of biology for four years. Afterwards, he moved to Duke University, becoming a full professor and teaching for over 20 years. In 2001, Schlesinger was promoted as the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. Schlesinger retired as the dean on June 1, 2007, when he became the president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Schlesinger was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and was President of the Ecological Society of America from 2003 to 2004. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), The Ecological Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Currently he also serves on the Science Advisory Board (SAB) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Schlesinger has testified before U.S. House and Senate Committees on the importance of habitat preservation and the impacts of air pollution and climate change on humans and the natural environment. In addition to his 200+ scientific publications, he has authored more than 100 editorials and features on environmental subjects, appearing in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Albany Times Union, and the Raleigh News and Observer.

Schlesinger has a long research career studying the circulation of the chemical elements in natural ecosystems—now widely known as biogeochemistry. Most of his work has focused on soils, especially on the carbon stored in soils, which contain a major pool in the global carbon cycle. His early work provided estimates of the storage of organic carbon (humus) and inorganic carbon (largely calcium carbonate) in soils, losses of soil carbon to runoff, changes in soil carbon with conversion of land to agriculture, and accumulations of carbon during soil development. More recently, he has examined changes in soil processes and soil carbon storage that accompany plant growth at elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, as simulated in the Duke Forest Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment. His work also evaluates recommendations for carbon sequestration as a means to control the accumulation of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere and to mitigate the potential for global warming.

In addition to studies of soil carbon, Schlesinger has provided global budgets summarizing the sources of atmospheric ammonia, the fate of human-derived nitrogen on land, and the global boron cycle. He has shown that biology leaves its imprint on global geochemical cycles, and that earth system function cannot be fully understood without considering the impacts of biology. His approach, philosophy, and much of his other work is summarized in a textbook, Biogeochemistry: an analysis of global change in its third edition and coauthored with Emily S. Bernhardt of Duke University, available through Academic Press/Elsevier, San Diego.

Schlesinger served as the co-principal investigator for the Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) located in the Chihuahu

Reviews

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found you at the Goodwill bin, next to all the Fifty Shades and Ayn Rand -- discarded after someone's graduate class in the early 2000s, likely. You were too depressing, but great for getting my nerd on. Maybe I'll pick you up again when I need to teach someone about methane hydrates.

[Wetbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has long been hailed as the bible of biogeochemistry, but when I try to pair this with other ecosystem~y textbooks, this one always loses with the students. It's a strong reference book, and introduces the many areas of major nutrient and water cycling that scientists address, but it's really not straightforward to read. Lots of good stuff in here, but could be improved as a student-accessible textbook. I wonder if EB really was given much of a hand in updating WS's writing.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

a classic for my field

[Lauren Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best biogeochemistry book out there.

[Xi Xi · Rating 4 out of 5]

good intro to biogeochem. but lack depth.