The IUFRO RG8.04 friend and mentor Prof. William J. (Bill) Manning authored an inspiring book on the role of forests in cooling and warming the atmosphere. Global warming is the main issue of the anthropocene epoch and is interlinked with cleaner air. The overall impact of global forests on warming is still a matter of scientific debate. The book brilliantly summarizes our main knowledge and understanding on such complex issue, and presents greenhouse gases and the mechanisms of the greenhouse effect, with a strong focus on the carbon cycling. Potential drivers of the tree impacts on global warming, e.g. evapotranspiration, albedo, volatile organic compound emission, land-use changes, carbon sinks/sources, ozone pollution, forest degradation, are reviewed. Methodological approaches are discussed, including manipulative experiments, satellite remote sensing, modeling. Most of what we know about the role of forests in cooling and warming the atmosphere comes from the results of simulation models and satellite imagery. From these, it has been concluded that tropical forests are the major source of carbon capture and atmospheric cooling. Boreal forests are more likely to warm the atmosphere. Temperate forests may cool in summer, but this is uncertain. Cooling generally prevails over warming, but this may change. A combination of reduction of emissions and the mitigating influence of forests is the only effective strategy to prevent global warming increase above 2 °C. The book is well written and easy to read. It provides an excellent set of references as state-of-the-art source of information for experts, but is also useful and clear to anyone interested in climate change, forests, ecology, including practitioners, decision makers and students. It is a must-read book.
Citation:
William J. Manning (2020) Trees and Global Warming - the role of forests in cooling and warming the atmosphere. Cambridge University Press isbn: 9781108471787