The latest volume in the LTER series, this book presents the results and finding of the Long-Term Ecological Research site in the Alaskan Arctic, discussing Arctic ecology from a variety of perspectives and disciplines.

In this edition of the Long Term Ecological Research Network series, editors John Hobbie and George Kling and 58 co-authors synthesize the findings from the NSF-funded Arctic LTER project based at Toolik Lake, Alaska, a site that has been active since the mid-1970s. The book presents research on the core issues of climate-change science in the treeless arctic region of Alaska. As a whole, it examines both terrestrial and freshwater-aquatic ecosystems, and their three typical habitats: tundra, streams, and lakes. The book provides a history of the Toolik Lake LTER site, and discusses its present condition and future outlook. It features contributions from top scientists from many fields, creating a multidisciplinary survey of the Alaskan arctic ecosystem. Chapter topics include glacial history, climatology, land-water interactions, mercury found in the Alaskan arctic, and the response of these habitats to environmental change. The final chapter predicts the consequences that arctic Alaska faces due to global warming and climate change, and discusses the future ecology of the LTER site in the region. Alaska's Changing Arctic is the definitive scientific survey of the past, present, and future of the ecology of the Alaskan arctic.

Alaska's Changing Arctic is a must-read for both scientists and non-scientists interested in Arctic ecology and the impacts of global change. ... [T]his book will serve as a milestone reference for those interested in understanding how ecological interactions in tundra ecosystems will control and modulate the impact of climate change on the Arctic, and assessing how this huge area of our planet might influence the climate at lower latitudes over the next decades.