• Wet season and dry season aerosol concentrations and their effects on diffuse radiation and photosynthesis
• Increasing greenhouse gas concentration, deforestation, widespread biomass burning and changes in the Amazonian water cycle
• Drought effects and simulated drought through rainfall exclusion experiments
• The net flux of carbon between Amazonia and the atmosphere
• Floodplains as an important regulator of the basin carbon balance including serving as a major source of methane to the troposphere
• The impact of the likely increased profitability of cattle ranching.

The book will serve a broad community of scientists and policy makers interested in global change and environmental issues with high-quality scientific syntheses accessible to nonspecialists in a wide community of social scientists, ecologists, atmospheric chemists, climatologists, and hydrologists.