Climate-Regulating Functions of Terrestrial Ecosystems and an 'Ecologocentric' Concept of Nature Management

摘要

The functioning of natural ecosystems supporting the most important biogeochemical cycles of the planet, including the carbon cycle, is considered. These cycles form the main greenhouse gas fluxes between the earth's surface and the atmosphere, and they determine the water, radiation, and temperature conditions of the land and the system of atmospheric circulation over the continents. Climate-regulating ecosystem functions are shown to change significantly due to large-scale anthropogenic transformations of natural ecosystems and current climate shifts. A new "ecologocentric" concept of nature management is needed to conserve the natural mechanisms of regulation of the environment and climate. This concept takes into consideration the priority valueof environment-forming functions of natural ecosystems, including their climate-regulating functions.