Coastal East and Southeast Asia are characterized by wet growing
seasons, and species-rich forest ecosystems develop throughout the
latitudinal and altitudinal gradients. In this region, the Global
Change Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems in Monsoon Asia (TEMA)
project was carried out as a unique contribution to the
international project Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems.
TEMA aimed to integrate forest ecosystem processes, from leaf
physiology to meteorological budget and prediction of long-term
change of vegetation composition and architecture through
demographic processes. Special attention was given to watershed
processes, where forest ecosystem metabolism affects the properties
and biogeochemical budgets of freshwater ecosystems, and where
rivers, wetlands, and lakes are subject to direct and indirect
effects of environmental change. This volume presents the
scaling-up concept for better understanding of ecosystem
functioning.
