Gordon Bonan is senior scientist and head of the Terrestrial Sciences Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. His research focuses on the interactions of terrestrial ecosystems with climate using models of the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles on land-atmosphere coupling and how changes in vegetation alter climate. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and Ecological Society of America. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and has served on advisory boards for numerous national and international organizations and as an editor for several journals.

1. Ecosystems and climate; Part I. The Earth System: 2. Components of the Earth system; 3. Global cycles; Part II. Global Physical Climatology: 4. Atmospheric radiation; 5. Atmospheric general circulation and climate; 6. Earth's climates; 7. Climate variability; 8. Climate change; Part III. Hydrometeorology: 9. Soil physics; 10. Water balance; 11. Watershed hydrology; 12. Surface energy fluxes; 13. Turbulent fluxes; 14. Soil moisture and the atmospheric boundary layer; Part IV. Biometeorology: 15. Leaf temperature and energy fluxes; 16. Leaf photosynthesis and stomatal conductance; 17. Plant canopies; Part V. Terrestrial Plant Ecology: 18. Plant strategies; 19. Populations and communities; 20. Ecosystems; 21. Soil biogeochemistry; 22. Vegetation dynamics; 23. Landscapes and disturbances; 24. Global biogeography; Part VI. Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks: 25. Terrestrial ecosystems and earth system models; 26. Seasonal-to-interannual variability; 27. Biogeophyscial climate-vegetation dynamics; 28. Anthropogenic land use and land-cover change; 29. Carbon cycle-climate feedbacks; 30. Nitrogen, chemistry, and climate; 31. Aerosols, chemistry, and climate; 32. Urbanization; 33. Climate intervention and geoengineering; 34. Co-evolution of climate and life; References; Index.