The discovery of large petroleum reserves in northern Alaska prompted the US National Research Council to recommend priorities for ecological research on disturbance effects in the Arctic. Subsequently, this led to the implementation of a field study by the Department of Energy, based in a small watershed on the North Slope of Alaska. This volume describes results by a research team charged with seeking answers to a number of questions related to disturbance in tundra regions: Will short-term disturbances have long-term ecological consequences? Will localized effects be transferred to adjacent systems, e.g., from terrestrial to aquatic? Is it possible to extrapolate understanding of impacts from one landscape to another? The results reported in this volume are an important contribution towards the goal of implementing ecosystem-based management in arctic tundra landscapes.
Landscape Function and Disturbance in Arctic Tundra covers a broad array of topics, from ecosystem physiology to landscape modeling. It is an important resource for researchers and students interested in arctic ecology, as well as for environmental managers concerned with practical issues of disturbance.
