Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems. The operational plan

The Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems project was set up by the IGBP with the objectives of predicting the effects of changes in climate, atmospheric composition and land use on terrestrial ecosystems, as well as of feedbacks to the atmosphere and the physical climate system. The present document takes the previously laid-out strategic research plan and develops it into an operational plan, structured into a hierarchy of "foci', "activities' and "tasks'. The four foci are: ecosystem physiology; change in ecosystem structure; global change impact on agriculture and forestry; and a proposed focus on global change and ecological complexity. Each of these comprises sub-sections, which are research activities targeted at defined units of the terrestrial ecosystem and which are drawn together at the end of each section. There are concluding summaries on monitoring and detecting global change, the adopted research strategy, etc. -J.W.Cooper