Carbon patterns and processes in East Asian ecosystems: multi-scale approaches

Abstract

It has been argued that scale is the central problem in ecology (Levin, 1992). Studies on carbon cycles and global climate change, the current major themes in modern ecology, require the interfacing of phenomena that occur on different scales of space, time, and ecological organization. For several decades, tremendous efforts have been made to reveal the general patterns of, and the mechanisms for the global carbon cycles. However, many uncertainties remain, particularly on local to regional scales. To reduce these uncertainties, regional collaborations across the board of nations are required.