WorldWideScience

Sample records for understanding ecosystem processes

  1. Process Network Approach to Understanding How Forest Ecosystems Adapt to Changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, J.; Yun, J.; Hong, J.; Kwon, H.; Chun, J.

    2011-12-01

    Sustainability challenges are transforming science and its role in society. Complex systems science has emerged as an inevitable field of education and research, which transcends disciplinary boundaries and focuses on understanding of the dynamics of complex social-ecological systems (SES). SES is a combined system of social and ecological components and drivers that interact and give rise to results, which could not be understood on the basis of sociological or ecological considerations alone. However, both systems may be viewed as a network of processes, and such a network hierarchy may serve as a hinge to bridge social and ecological systems. As a first step toward such effort, we attempted to delineate and interpret such process networks in forest ecosystems, which play a critical role in the cycles of carbon and water from local to global scales. These cycles and their variability, in turn, play an important role in the emergent and self-organizing interactions between forest ecosystems and their environment. Ruddell and Kumar (2009) define a process network as a network of feedback loops and the related time scales, which describe the magnitude and direction of the flow of energy, matter, and information between the different variables in a complex system. Observational evidence, based on micrometeorological eddy covariance measurements, suggests that heterogeneity and disturbances in forest ecosystems in monsoon East Asia may facilitate to build resilience for adaptation to change. Yet, the principles that characterize the role of variability in these interactions remain elusive. In this presentation, we report results from the analysis of multivariate ecohydrologic and biogeochemical time series data obtained from temperate forest ecosystems in East Asia based on information flow statistics.

  2. Process-Based Thinking in Ecosystem Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Rebecca C.; Gray, Steven A.; Brooks, Wesley R.; Honwad, Sameer; Hmelo-Silver, Cindy E.

    2013-01-01

    Understanding complex systems such as ecosystems is difficult for young K-12 students, and students' representations of ecosystems are often limited to nebulously defined relationships between macro-level structural components inherent to the ecosystem in focus (rainforest, desert, pond, etc.) instead of generalizing processes across ecosystems…

  3. Understanding system disturbance and ecosystem services in restored saltmarshes: Integrating physical and biogeochemical processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, K. L.; Harvey, G. L.

    2012-06-01

    Coastal saltmarsh ecosystems occupy only a small percentage of Earth's land surface, yet contribute a wide range of ecosystem services that have significant global economic and societal value. These environments currently face significant challenges associated with climate change, sea level rise, development and water quality deterioration and are consequently the focus of a range of management schemes. Increasingly, soft engineering techniques such as managed realignment (MR) are being employed to restore and recreate these environments, driven primarily by the need for habitat (re)creation and sustainable coastal flood defence. Such restoration schemes also have the potential to provide additional ecosystem services including climate regulation and waste processing. However, these sites have frequently been physically impacted by their previous land use and there is a lack of understanding of how this 'disturbance' impacts the delivery of ecosystem services or of the complex linkages between ecological, physical and biogeochemical processes in restored systems. Through the exploration of current data this paper determines that hydrological, geomorphological and hydrodynamic functioning of restored sites may be significantly impaired with respects to natural 'undisturbed' systems and that links between morphology, sediment structure, hydrology and solute transfer are poorly understood. This has consequences for the delivery of seeds, the provision of abiotic conditions suitable for plant growth, the development of microhabitats and the cycling of nutrients/contaminants and may impact the delivery of ecosystem services including biodiversity, climate regulation and waste processing. This calls for a change in our approach to research in these environments with a need for integrated, interdisciplinary studies over a range of spatial and temporal scales incorporating both intensive and extensive research design.

  4. Towards a Stochastic Predictive Understanding of Ecosystem Functioning and Resilience to Environmental Changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, C.

    2017-12-01

    Terrestrial ecosystem processes respond differently to hydrometeorological variability across timescales, and so does our scientific understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Process-based modeling of ecosystem functioning is therefore challenging, especially when long-term predictions are envisioned. Here we analyze the statistical properties of hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability, i.e., the variability of ecosystem process related to vegetation carbon dynamics, from hourly to decadal timescales. 23 extra-tropical forest sites, covering different climatic zones and vegetation characteristics, are examined. Micrometeorological and reanalysis data of precipitation, air temperature, shortwave radiation and vapor pressure deficit are used to describe hydrometeorological variability. Ecosystem variability is quantified using long-term eddy covariance flux data of hourly net ecosystem exchange of CO2 between land surface and atmosphere, monthly remote sensing vegetation indices, annual tree-ring widths and above-ground biomass increment estimates. We find that across sites and timescales ecosystem variability is confined within a hydrometeorological envelope that describes the range of variability of the available resources, i.e., water and energy. Furthermore, ecosystem variability demonstrates long-term persistence, highlighting ecological memory and slow ecosystem recovery rates after disturbances. We derive an analytical model, combining deterministic harmonics and stochastic processes, that represents major mechanisms and uncertainties and mimics the observed pattern of hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability. This stochastic framework offers a parsimonious and mathematically tractable approach for modelling ecosystem functioning and for understanding its response and resilience to environmental changes. Furthermore, this framework reflects well the observed ecological memory, an inherent property of ecosystem functioning that is currently not

  5. Ecosystem process interactions between central Chilean habitats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meredith Root-Bernstein

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Understanding ecosystem processes is vital for developing dynamic adaptive management of human-dominated landscapes. We focus on conservation and management of the central Chilean silvopastoral savanna habitat called “espinal”, which often occurs near matorral, a shrub habitat. Although matorral, espinal and native sclerophyllous forest are linked successionally, they are not jointly managed and conserved. Management goals in “espinal” include increasing woody cover, particularly of the dominant tree Acacia caven, improving herbaceous forage quality, and increasing soil fertility. We asked whether adjacent matorral areas contribute to espinal ecosystem processes related to the three main espinal management goals. We examined input and outcome ecosystem processes related to these goals in matorral and espinal with and without shrub understory. We found that matorral had the largest sets of inputs to ecosystem processes, and espinal with shrub understory had the largest sets of outcomes. Moreover, we found that these outcomes were broadly in the directions preferred by management goals. This supports our prediction that matorral acts as an ecosystem process bank for espinal. We recommend that management plans for landscape resilience consider espinal and matorral as a single landscape cover class that should be maintained as a dynamic mosaic. Joint management of espinal and matorral could create new management and policy opportunities.

  6. Business Ecosystem Definition in Built Environment Using a Stakeholder Assessment Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tuomas Lappi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Actors and their relationships are core elements of the business ecosystem concept, a trending model of business collaboration emphasizing organizational diversity, relationship dependency and joint evolution. This study approaches a built environment business ecosystem to structure the acknowledged complexity of ecosystem definition by applying a three-step stakeholder assessment process. The process is based on a stakeholder network diagram, Mitchell, Agle, and Wood’s (1997 well-recognized stakeholder salience model and a two-dimensional stakeholder matrix. The assessment process is applied to a school campus case study to define a built environment business ecosystem and the salience of the ecosystem actors. Results, including salience score calculation, validate the applicability of the proposed process. The findings provide novel insights for ecosystem researchers into how stakeholder theory concepts can be applied to broaden the understanding of business ecosystem dynamics.

  7. Ecosystem management via interacting models of political and ecological processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haas, T. C.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The decision to implement environmental protection options is a political one. Political realities may cause a country to not heed the most persuasive scientific analysis of an ecosystem's future health. A predictive understanding of the political processes that result in ecosystem management decisions may help guide ecosystem management policymaking. To this end, this article develops a stochastic, temporal model of how political processes influence and are influenced by ecosystem processes. This model is realized in a system of interacting influence diagrams that model the decision making of a country's political bodies. These decisions interact with a model of the ecosystem enclosed by the country. As an example, a model for Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus management in Kenya is constructed and fitted to decision and ecological data.

  8. Understanding the biological underpinnings of ecohydrological processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huxman, T. E.; Scott, R. L.; Barron-Gafford, G. A.; Hamerlynck, E. P.; Jenerette, D.; Tissue, D. T.; Breshears, D. D.; Saleska, S. R.

    2012-12-01

    Climate change presents a challenge for predicting ecosystem response, as multiple factors drive both the physical and life processes happening on the land surface and their interactions result in a complex, evolving coupled system. For example, changes in surface temperature and precipitation influence near-surface hydrology through impacts on system energy balance, affecting a range of physical processes. These changes in the salient features of the environment affect biological processes and elicit responses along the hierarchy of life (biochemistry to community composition). Many of these structural or process changes can alter patterns of soil water-use and influence land surface characteristics that affect local climate. Of the many features that affect our ability to predict the future dynamics of ecosystems, it is this hierarchical response of life that creates substantial complexity. Advances in the ability to predict or understand aspects of demography help describe thresholds in coupled ecohydrological system. Disentangling the physical and biological features that underlie land surface dynamics following disturbance are allowing a better understanding of the partitioning of water in the time-course of recovery. Better predicting the timing of phenology and key seasonal events allow for a more accurate description of the full functional response of the land surface to climate. In addition, explicitly considering the hierarchical structural features of life are helping to describe complex time-dependent behavior in ecosystems. However, despite this progress, we have yet to build an ability to fully account for the generalization of the main features of living systems into models that can describe ecohydrological processes, especially acclimation, assembly and adaptation. This is unfortunate, given that many key ecosystem services are functions of these coupled co-evolutionary processes. To date, both the lack of controlled measurements and experimentation

  9. Trophodynamics as a Tool for Understanding Coral Reef Ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stacy L. Bierwagen

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The increased frequency of publications concerning trophic ecology of coral reefs suggests a degree of interest in the role species and functional groups play in energy flow within these systems. Coral reef ecosystems are particularly complex, however, and assignment of trophic positions requires precise knowledge of mechanisms driving food webs and population dynamics. Competent analytical tools and empirical analysis are integral to defining ecosystem processes and avoiding misinterpretation of results. Here we examine the contribution of trophodynamics to informing ecological roles and understanding of coral reef ecology. Applied trophic studies of coral reefs were used to identify recent trends in methodology and analysis. Although research is increasing, clear definitions and scaling of studies is lacking. Trophodynamic studies will require more precise spatial and temporal data collection and analysis using multiple methods to fully explore the complex interactions within coral reef ecosystems.

  10. Microbes as engines of ecosystem function: when does community structure enhance predictions of ecosystem processes?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily B. Graham

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Microorganisms are vital in mediating the earth’s biogeochemical cycles; yet, despite our rapidly increasing ability to explore complex environmental microbial communities, the relationship between microbial community structure and ecosystem processes remains poorly understood. Here, we address a fundamental and unanswered question in microbial ecology: ‘When do we need to understand microbial community structure to accurately predict function?’ We present a statistical analysis investigating the value of environmental data and microbial community structure independently and in combination for explaining rates of carbon and nitrogen cycling processes within 82 global datasets. Environmental variables were the strongest predictors of process rates but left 44% of variation unexplained on average, suggesting the potential for microbial data to increase model accuracy. Although only 29% of our datasets were significantly improved by adding information on microbial community structure, we observed improvement in models of processes mediated by narrow phylogenetic guilds via functional gene data, and conversely, improvement in models of facultative microbial processes via community diversity metrics. Our results also suggest that microbial diversity can strengthen predictions of respiration rates beyond microbial biomass parameters, as 53% of models were improved by incorporating both sets of predictors compared to 35% by microbial biomass alone. Our analysis represents the first comprehensive analysis of research examining links between microbial community structure and ecosystem function. Taken together, our results indicate that a greater understanding of microbial communities informed by ecological principles may enhance our ability to predict ecosystem process rates relative to assessments based on environmental variables and microbial physiology.

  11. Ecosystem function in complex mountain terrain: Combining models and long-term observations to advance process-based understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wieder, William R.; Knowles, John F.; Blanken, Peter D.; Swenson, Sean C.; Suding, Katharine N.

    2017-04-01

    Abiotic factors structure plant community composition and ecosystem function across many different spatial scales. Often, such variation is considered at regional or global scales, but here we ask whether ecosystem-scale simulations can be used to better understand landscape-level variation that might be particularly important in complex terrain, such as high-elevation mountains. We performed ecosystem-scale simulations by using the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5 to better understand how the increased length of growing seasons may impact carbon, water, and energy fluxes in an alpine tundra landscape. The model was forced with meteorological data and validated with observations from the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research Program site. Our results demonstrate that CLM is capable of reproducing the observed carbon, water, and energy fluxes for discrete vegetation patches across this heterogeneous ecosystem. We subsequently accelerated snowmelt and increased spring and summer air temperatures in order to simulate potential effects of climate change in this region. We found that vegetation communities that were characterized by different snow accumulation dynamics showed divergent biogeochemical responses to a longer growing season. Contrary to expectations, wet meadow ecosystems showed the strongest decreases in plant productivity under extended summer scenarios because of disruptions in hydrologic connectivity. These findings illustrate how Earth system models such as CLM can be used to generate testable hypotheses about the shifting nature of energy, water, and nutrient limitations across space and through time in heterogeneous landscapes; these hypotheses may ultimately guide further experimental work and model development.

  12. Environmental mineralogy - Understanding element behavior in ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown Jr, G.E.; Calas, G.

    2011-01-01

    Environmental Mineralogy has developed over the past decade in response to the recognition that minerals are linked in many important ways with the global ecosystem. Minerals are the main repositories of the chemical elements in Earth's crust and thus are the main sources of elements needed for the development of civilization, contaminant and pollutant elements that impact global and local ecosystems, and elements that are essential plant nutrients. These elements are released from minerals through natural processes, such as chemical weathering, and anthropogenic activities, such as mining and energy production, agriculture and industrial activities, and careless waste disposal. Minerals also play key roles in the biogeochemical cycling of the elements, sequestering elements and releasing them as the primary minerals in crustal rocks undergo various structural and compositional transformations in response to physical, chemical, and biological processes that produce secondary minerals and soils. These processes have resulted in the release of toxic elements such as arsenic in groundwater aquifers, which is having a major impact on the health of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia. The interfaces between mineral surfaces and aqueous solutions are the locations of most chemical reactions that control the composition of the natural environment, including the composition of natural waters. The nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to the disposition of high-level nuclear waste, is also intimately related to minerals. A fundamental understanding of these processes requires molecular-scale information about minerals, their bulk structures and properties such as solubility, their surfaces, and their interactions with aqueous solutions, atmospheric and soil gases, natural organic matter, and biological organisms. Gaining this understanding is further complicated by the presence of natural, incidental, and manufactured nano-particles in the environment, which

  13. Discontinuity in the responses of ecosystem processes and multifunctionality to altered soil community composition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradford, Mark A; Wood, Stephen A; Bardgett, Richard D; Black, Helaina I J; Bonkowski, Michael; Eggers, Till; Grayston, Susan J; Kandeler, Ellen; Manning, Peter; Setälä, Heikki; Jones, T Hefin

    2014-10-07

    Ecosystem management policies increasingly emphasize provision of multiple, as opposed to single, ecosystem services. Management for such "multifunctionality" has stimulated research into the role that biodiversity plays in providing desired rates of multiple ecosystem processes. Positive effects of biodiversity on indices of multifunctionality are consistently found, primarily because species that are redundant for one ecosystem process under a given set of environmental conditions play a distinct role under different conditions or in the provision of another ecosystem process. Here we show that the positive effects of diversity (specifically community composition) on multifunctionality indices can also arise from a statistical fallacy analogous to Simpson's paradox (where aggregating data obscures causal relationships). We manipulated soil faunal community composition in combination with nitrogen fertilization of model grassland ecosystems and repeatedly measured five ecosystem processes related to plant productivity, carbon storage, and nutrient turnover. We calculated three common multifunctionality indices based on these processes and found that the functional complexity of the soil communities had a consistent positive effect on the indices. However, only two of the five ecosystem processes also responded positively to increasing complexity, whereas the other three responded neutrally or negatively. Furthermore, none of the individual processes responded to both the complexity and the nitrogen manipulations in a manner consistent with the indices. Our data show that multifunctionality indices can obscure relationships that exist between communities and key ecosystem processes, leading us to question their use in advancing theoretical understanding--and in management decisions--about how biodiversity is related to the provision of multiple ecosystem services.

  14. Effects of fire on major forest ecosystem processes: an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhong

    2006-09-01

    Fire and fire ecology are among the best-studied topics in contemporary ecosystem ecology. The large body of existing literature on fire and fire ecology indicates an urgent need to synthesize the information on the pattern of fire effects on ecosystem composition, structure, and functions for application in fire and ecosystem management. Understanding fire effects and underlying principles are critical to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfires and for proper use of fire as an effective management tool toward management goals. This overview is a synthesis of current knowledge on major effects of fire on fire-prone ecosystems, particularly those in the boreal and temperate regions of the North America. Four closely related ecosystem processes in vegetation dynamics, nutrient cycling, soil and belowground process and water relations were discussed with emphases on fire as the driving force. Clearly, fire can shape ecosystem composition, structure and functions by selecting fire adapted species and removing other susceptible species, releasing nutrients from the biomass and improving nutrient cycling, affecting soil properties through changing soil microbial activities and water relations, and creating heterogeneous mosaics, which in turn, can further influence fire behavior and ecological processes. Fire as a destructive force can rapidly consume large amount of biomass and cause negative impacts such as post-fire soil erosion and water runoff, and air pollution; however, as a constructive force fire is also responsible for maintaining the health and perpetuity of certain fire-dependent ecosystems. Considering the unique ecological roles of fire in mediating and regulating ecosystems, fire should be incorporated as an integral component of ecosystems and management. However, the effects of fire on an ecosystem depend on the fire regime, vegetation type, climate, physical environments, and the scale of time and space of assessment. More ecosystem

  15. Water and Nitrogen Limitations of Ecosystem Processes Across Three Dryland Plant Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beltz, C.; Lauenroth, W. K.; Burke, I. C.

    2017-12-01

    The availability of water and nitrogen (N) play a major role in controlling the distribution of ecosystem types and the rates of ecosystem processes across the globe. Both these resources are being altered by human activity. Anthropogenic fixation of N has increased inputs into the biosphere from 0.5 kg N ha-1 yr-1 to upwards of 10 kg N ha-1 yr-1, while the amount and seasonality of precipitation are expected to continue to change. Within dryland environments, the relationships between increasingly available N and ecosystem processes are especially complex due to dryland's characteristic strong limitation by low and highly variable precipitation. Other experiments have shown that this interplay between N and water can cause temporally complex co-limitation and spatially complex responses with variable effects on ecosystems, such as those to net primary productivity, soil respiration, and plant community composition. Research spanning multiple dryland plant communities is critical for generalizing findings to the 40% of the Earth's terrestrial surface covered in dryland ecosystems. Given IPCC projections in which both N availability and precipitation are altered, examining their interactive effect across multiple plant communities is critical to increasing our understanding of the limitations to ecosystem process in drylands. We are studying a gradient of three plant communities representing a C4 grassland (shortgrass steppe), a C3/C4 grassland (mixed grass prairie), and a shrub-dominated ecosystem with C3 and C4 grasses (sagebrush steppe). We added two levels of N (10 kg N ha-1 and 100 kg N ha-1) and increased summer monthly precipitation by 20%. Sites responded differently to treatments, with the scale of effect varying by treatment. The high-level nitrogen increased soil N availability and soil respiration, while decreasing soil carbon in the labile pool in the upper soil layers. These results will allow for better understanding of increased N in combination with

  16. Microbial communities, processes and functions in acid mine drainage ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Lin-xing; Huang, Li-nan; Méndez-García, Celia; Kuang, Jia-liang; Hua, Zheng-shuang; Liu, Jun; Shu, Wen-sheng

    2016-04-01

    Acid mine drainage (AMD) is generated from the oxidative dissolution of metal sulfides when water and oxygen are available largely due to human mining activities. This process can be accelerated by indigenous microorganisms. In the last several decades, culture-dependent researches have uncovered and validated the roles of AMD microorganisms in metal sulfides oxidation and acid generation processes, and culture-independent studies have largely revealed the diversity and metabolic potentials and activities of AMD communities, leading towards a full understanding of the microbial diversity, functions and interactions in AMD ecosystems. This review describes the diversity of microorganisms and their functions in AMD ecosystems, and discusses their biotechnological applications in biomining and AMD bioremediation according to their capabilities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Towards Understanding of IoT Ecosystems in the Healthcare Sector

    OpenAIRE

    Pesonen, Ari; Sulin, Jussi

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to outline an ecosystem to IoT based health/elderly care solutions and to the needs of both single actors and the whole ecosystem. Moreover, the aim was to understand the relations and dynamics between different actors in this ecosystem. The research questions for this study were: 1. How do industry professionals perceive the current state of health care? 2. How do the digitalization and IoT affect the health sector, and what advancements are needed to speed up the proces...

  18. Preface: Ecosystem services, ecosystem health and human communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plag, Hans-Peter

    2018-04-01

    This special issue contains a collection of manuscripts that were originally intended to be included in the special issue on "Physics and Economics of Ecosystem Services Flows" (Volume 101, guest editors H. Su, J. Dong and S. Nagarajan) and "Biogeochemical Processes in the Changing Wetland Environment" (Volume 103, guest editors J. Bai, L. Huang and H. Gao). All of them are addressing issues related to ecosystem services in different settings. Ecosystem services are of high value for both the ecosystems and human communities, and understanding the impacts of environmental processes and human activities on ecosystems is of fundamental importance for the preservation of these services.

  19. Process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timothy J. Beechie; David A. Sear; Julian D. Olden; George R. Pess; John M. Buffington; Hamish Moir; Philip Roni; Michael M. Pollock

    2010-01-01

    Process-based restoration aims to reestablish normative rates and magnitudes of physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain river and floodplain ecosystems. Ecosystem conditions at any site are governed by hierarchical regional, watershed, and reach-scale processes controlling hydrologic and sediment regimes; floodplain and aquatic habitat...

  20. Radionuclide transport processes in terrestrial ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whicker, F.W.

    1983-01-01

    Some major principles and the status of knowledge concerning the transport of radionuclides through terrestrial ecosystems are reviewed. Fundamental processes which control the flow of radionuclides between ecosystem components such as air, soil, plants, and animals are described, with emphasis on deposition, resuspension, plant uptake, ingestion, and assimilation. Properties of radionuclides, organisms, and ecosystems are examined in relation to their influence on the accumulation of radioactive materials by plants and animals. The effects of the physicochemical nature of the radionuclide; morphology, physiology, and behavior of the organism; and soil, nutrient, and trophic characteristics of the ecosystem are highlighted. Observations in natural ecosystems on radionuclides such as 137 Cs, 90 Sr, 131 I, 3 H, and 239 Pu are used to illustrate current concepts. An assessment of the degree to which the processes controlling radionuclide behavior are understood and of our ability to simulate and predict such behavior with computerized models is offered. Finally, brief comments are made on research needs

  1. Same pattern, different mechanism: Locking onto the role of key species in seafloor ecosystem process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodin, Sarah Ann; Volkenborn, Nils; Pilditch, Conrad A; Lohrer, Andrew M; Wethey, David S; Hewitt, Judi E; Thrush, Simon F

    2016-05-27

    Seafloor biodiversity is a key mediator of ecosystem functioning, but its role is often excluded from global budgets or simplified to black boxes in models. New techniques allow quantification of the behavior of animals living below the sediment surface and assessment of the ecosystem consequences of complex interactions, yielding a better understanding of the role of seafloor animals in affecting key processes like primary productivity. Combining predictions based on natural history, behavior of key benthic species and environmental context allow assessment of differences in functioning and process, even when the measured ecosystem property in different systems is similar. Data from three sedimentary systems in New Zealand illustrate this. Analysis of the behaviors of the infaunal ecosystem engineers in each system revealed three very different mechanisms driving ecosystem function: density and excretion, sediment turnover and surface rugosity, and hydraulic activities and porewater bioadvection. Integrative metrics of ecosystem function in some cases differentiate among the systems (gross primary production) and in others do not (photosynthetic efficiency). Analyses based on behaviors and activities revealed important ecosystem functional differences and can dramatically improve our ability to model the impact of stressors on ecosystem and global processes.

  2. Nitrogen cycling process rates across urban ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reisinger, Alexander J; Groffman, Peter M; Rosi-Marshall, Emma J

    2016-09-21

    Nitrogen (N) pollution of freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems is widespread and has numerous environmental and economic impacts. A portion of this excess N comes from urban watersheds comprised of natural and engineered ecosystems which can alter downstream N export. Studies of urban N cycling have focused on either specific ecosystems or on watershed-scale mass balances. Comparisons of specific N transformations across ecosystems are required to contextualize rates from individual studies. Here we reviewed urban N cycling in terrestrial, aquatic, and engineered ecosystems, and compared N processing in these urban ecosystem types to native reference ecosystems. We found that net N mineralization and net nitrification rates were enhanced in urban forests and riparian zones relative to reference ecosystems. Denitrification was highly variable across urban ecosystem types, but no significant differences were found between urban and reference denitrification rates. When focusing on urban streams, ammonium uptake was more rapid than nitrate uptake in urban streams. Additionally, reduction of stormwater runoff coupled with potential decreases in N concentration suggests that green infrastructure may reduce downstream N export. Despite multiple environmental stressors in urban environments, ecosystems within urban watersheds can process and transform N at rates similar to or higher than reference ecosystems. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Parasites as drivers of key processes in aquatic ecosystems: Facts and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sures, B; Nachev, M; Pahl, M; Grabner, D; Selbach, C

    2017-09-01

    Despite the advances in our understanding of the ecological importance of parasites that we have made in recent years, we are still far away from having a complete picture of the ecological implications connected to parasitism. In the present paper we highlight key issues that illustrate (1) important contributions of parasites to biodiversity, (2) their integral role in ecosystems, (3) as well as their ecological effects as keystone species (4) and in biological invasion processes. By using selected examples from aquatic ecosystems we want to provide an insight and generate interest into the topic, and want to show directions for future research in the field of ecological parasitology. This may help to convince more parasitologists and ecologists contributing and advancing our understanding of the complex and fascinating interplay of parasites, hosts and ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Ecosystem services in ECOCLIM

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Lise Lotte; Boegh, Eva; Bendtsen, J

    that actions initiated to reduce anthropogenic GHG emissions are sustainable and not destructive to existing ecosystem services. Therefore it is important to address i.e. land use change in relation to the regulating services of the ecosystems, such as carbon sequestration and climate regulation. At present...... a thorough understanding of the ecosystem processes controlling the uptake or emissions of GHG is fundamental. Here we present ECOCLIM in the context of ecosystem services and the experimental studies within ECOCLIM which will lead to an enhanced understanding of Danish ecosystems....

  5. Carbon-water Cycling in the Critical Zone: Understanding Ecosystem Process Variability Across Complex Terrain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnard, Holly [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Brooks, Paul [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2016-06-16

    One of the largest knowledge gaps in environmental science is the ability to understand and predict how ecosystems will respond to future climate variability. The links between vegetation, hydrology, and climate that control carbon sequestration in plant biomass and soils remain poorly understood. Soil respiration is the second largest carbon flux of terrestrial ecosystems, yet there is no consensus on how respiration will change as water availability and temperature co-vary. To address this knowledge gap, we use the variation in soil development and topography across an elevation and climate gradient on the Front Range of Colorado to conduct a natural experiment that enables us to examine the co-evolution of soil carbon, vegetation, hydrology, and climate in an accessible field laboratory. The goal of this project is to further our ability to combine plant water availability, carbon flux and storage, and topographically driven hydrometrics into a watershed scale predictive model of carbon balance. We hypothesize: (i) landscape structure and hydrology are important controls on soil respiration as a result of spatial variability in both physical and biological drivers: (ii) variation in rates of soil respiration during the growing season is due to corresponding shifts in belowground carbon inputs from vegetation; and (iii) aboveground carbon storage (biomass) and species composition are directly correlated with soil moisture and therefore, can be directly related to subsurface drainage patterns.

  6. Climate Extremes and Land-Use Change: Effects on Ecosystem Processes and Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahn, Michael; Erb, Karlheinz; Hasibeder, Roland; Mayr, Stefan; Niedertscheider, Maria; Oberhuber, Walter; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Tasser, Erich; Viovy, Nicolas; Wieser, Gerhard

    2016-04-01

    Extreme climatic events, in particular droughts and heatwaves, have significant impacts on ecosystem carbon and water cycles and a range of related ecosystem services. It is expected that in the coming decades the return intervals and severities of extreme droughts will increase substantially and may result in the passing of thresholds of ecosystem functioning, potentially causing legacy effects, which are so far poorly understood. Observational evidence suggests that different land cover types (forest, grassland) are differently influenced by extreme drought, but there is a lack of knowledge whether and how future, increasingly severe climate extremes will affect their concurrent and lagged responses, as well as land-use decisions determining future shifts in land cover. The ClimLUC project aims to understand how extreme summer drought affects carbon and water dynamics of mountain ecosystems under different land uses, and to analyse implications for ecosystem service provisioning. Overall, we hypothesize that land-use change alters the effects of extreme summer drought on ecosystem processes and the related services, grassland responding more rapidly and strongly but being more resilient to extreme drought than forest. To address the aims and hypotheses, we will 1) test experimentally how (a) a managed, (b) an abandoned mountain grassland and (c) an adjacent subalpine forest respond to a progressive extreme drought and will analyse threshold responses of carbon and water dynamics and their implications for ecosystem services (timber and fodder production, carbon sequestration, water provisioning); 2) quantify carry-over effects of the extreme event on ecosystem processes and services; 3) project and attribute future carbon and water cycle responses to extreme drought and related socio-economic changes, based on a process-based dynamic general vegetation model; 4) analyse the interrelation between land-use changes and the occurrence and severity of past and future

  7. Incorporating historical ecosystem diversity into conservation planning efforts in grass and shrub ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amy C. Ganguli; Johathan B. Haufler; Carolyn A. Mehl; Jimmie D. Chew

    2011-01-01

    Understanding historical ecosystem diversity and wildlife habitat quality can provide a useful reference for managing and restoring rangeland ecosystems. We characterized historical ecosystem diversity using available empirical data, expert opinion, and the spatially explicit vegetation dynamics model SIMPPLLE (SIMulating Vegetative Patterns and Processes at Landscape...

  8. Ecosystem services capacity across heterogeneous forest types: understanding the interactions and suggesting pathways for sustaining multiple ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alamgir, Mohammed; Turton, Stephen M; Macgregor, Colin J; Pert, Petina L

    2016-10-01

    As ecosystem services supply from tropical forests is declining due to deforestation and forest degradation, much effort is essential to sustain ecosystem services supply from tropical forested landscapes, because tropical forests provide the largest flow of multiple ecosystem services among the terrestrial ecosystems. In order to sustain multiple ecosystem services, understanding ecosystem services capacity across heterogeneous forest types and identifying certain ecosystem services that could be managed to leverage positive effects across the wider bundle of ecosystem services are required. We sampled three forest types, tropical rainforests, sclerophyll forests, and rehabilitated plantation forests, over an area of 32,000m(2) from Wet Tropics bioregion, Australia, aiming to compare supply and evaluate interactions and patterns of eight ecosystem services (global climate regulation, air quality regulation, erosion regulation, nutrient regulation, cyclone protection, habitat provision, energy provision, and timber provision). On average, multiple ecosystem services were highest in the rainforests, lowest in sclerophyll forests, and intermediate in rehabilitated plantation forests. However, a wide variation was apparent among the plots across the three forest types. Global climate regulation service had a synergistic impact on the supply of multiple ecosystem services, while nutrient regulation service was found to have a trade-off impact. Considering multiple ecosystem services, most of the rehabilitated plantation forest plots shared the same ordination space with rainforest plots in the ordination analysis, indicating that rehabilitated plantation forests may supply certain ecosystem services nearly equivalent to rainforests. Two synergy groups and one trade-off group were identified. Apart from conserving rainforests and sclerophyll forests, our findings suggest two additional integrated pathways to sustain the supply of multiple ecosystem services from a

  9. Semantic eScience for Ecosystem Understanding and Monitoring: The Jefferson Project Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuinness, D. L.; Pinheiro da Silva, P.; Patton, E. W.; Chastain, K.

    2014-12-01

    Monitoring and understanding ecosystems such as lakes and their watersheds is becoming increasingly important. Accelerated eutrophication threatens our drinking water sources. Many believe that the use of nutrients (e.g., road salts, fertilizers, etc.) near these sources may have negative impacts on animal and plant populations and water quality although it is unclear how to best balance broad community needs. The Jefferson Project is a joint effort between RPI, IBM and the Fund for Lake George aimed at creating an instrumented water ecosystem along with an appropriate cyberinfrastructure that can serve as a global model for ecosystem monitoring, exploration, understanding, and prediction. One goal is to help communities understand the potential impacts of actions such as road salting strategies so that they can make appropriate informed recommendations that serve broad community needs. Our semantic eScience team is creating a semantic infrastructure to support data integration and analysis to help trained scientists as well as the general public to better understand the lake today, and explore potential future scenarios. We are leveraging our RPI Tetherless World Semantic Web methodology that provides an agile process for describing use cases, identification of appropriate background ontologies and technologies, implementation, and evaluation. IBM is providing a state-of-the-art sensor network infrastructure along with a collection of tools to share, maintain, analyze and visualize the network data. In the context of this sensor infrastructure, we will discuss our semantic approach's contributions in three knowledge representation and reasoning areas: (a) human interventions on the deployment and maintenance of local sensor networks including the scientific knowledge to decide how and where sensors are deployed; (b) integration, interpretation and management of data coming from external sources used to complement the project's models; and (c) knowledge about

  10. The functional value of Caribbean coral reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats to ecosystem processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harborne, Alastair R; Mumby, Peter J; Micheli, Fiorenza; Perry, Christopher T; Dahlgren, Craig P; Holmes, Katherine E; Brumbaugh, Daniel R

    2006-01-01

    Caribbean coral reef habitats, seagrass beds and mangroves provide important goods and services both individually and through functional linkages. A range of anthropogenic factors are threatening the ecological and economic importance of these habitats and it is vital to understand how ecosystem processes vary across seascapes. A greater understanding of processes will facilitate further insight into the effects of disturbances and assist with assessing management options. Despite the need to study processes across whole seascapes, few spatially explicit ecosystem-scale assessments exist. We review the empirical literature to examine the role of different habitat types for a range of processes. The importance of each of 10 generic habitats to each process is defined as its "functional value" (none, low, medium or high), quantitatively derived from published data wherever possible and summarised in a single figure. This summary represents the first time the importance of habitats across an entire Caribbean seascape has been assessed for a range of processes. Furthermore, we review the susceptibility of each habitat to disturbances to investigate spatial patterns that might affect functional values. Habitat types are considered at the scale discriminated by remotely-sensed imagery and we envisage that functional values can be combined with habitat maps to provide spatially explicit information on processes across ecosystems. We provide examples of mapping the functional values of habitats for populations of three commercially important species. The resulting data layers were then used to generate seascape-scale assessments of "hot spots" of functional value that might be considered priorities for conservation. We also provide an example of how the literature reviewed here can be used to parameterise a habitat-specific model investigating reef resilience under different scenarios of herbivory. Finally, we use multidimensional scaling to provide a basic analysis of the

  11. Technical Report: Investigation of Carbon Cycle Processes within a Managed Landscape: An Ecosystem Manipulation and Isotope Tracer Approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Griffis, Timothy J; Baker, John M; Billmark, Kaycie

    2009-06-01

    The goal of this research is to provide a better scientific understanding of carbon cycle processes within an agricultural landscape characteristic of the Upper Midwest. This project recognizes the need to study processes at multiple spatial and temporal scales to reduce uncertainty in ecosystem and landscape-scale carbon budgets to provide a sound basis for shaping future policy related to carbon management. Specifically, this project has attempted to answer the following questions: 1. Would the use of cover crops result in a shift from carbon neutral to significant carbon gain in corn-soybean rotation ecosystems of the Upper Midwest? 2. Can stable carbon isotope analyses be used to partition ecosystem respiration into its autotrophic and heterotrophic components? 3. Can this partitioning be used to better understand the fate of crop residues to project changes in the soil carbon reservoir? 4. Are agricultural ecosystems of the Upper Midwest carbon neutral, sinks, or sources? Can the proposed measurement and modeling framework help address landscape-scale carbon budget uncertainties and help guide future carbon management policy?

  12. Revisiting the Holy Grail: using plant functional traits to understand ecological processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funk, Jennifer L; Larson, Julie E; Ames, Gregory M; Butterfield, Bradley J; Cavender-Bares, Jeannine; Firn, Jennifer; Laughlin, Daniel C; Sutton-Grier, Ariana E; Williams, Laura; Wright, Justin

    2017-05-01

    One of ecology's grand challenges is developing general rules to explain and predict highly complex systems. Understanding and predicting ecological processes from species' traits has been considered a 'Holy Grail' in ecology. Plant functional traits are increasingly being used to develop mechanistic models that can predict how ecological communities will respond to abiotic and biotic perturbations and how species will affect ecosystem function and services in a rapidly changing world; however, significant challenges remain. In this review, we highlight recent work and outstanding questions in three areas: (i) selecting relevant traits; (ii) describing intraspecific trait variation and incorporating this variation into models; and (iii) scaling trait data to community- and ecosystem-level processes. Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in the characterization of plant strategies based on traits and trait relationships, and the integration of traits into multivariate indices and models of community and ecosystem function. However, the utility of trait-based approaches in ecology will benefit from efforts that demonstrate how these traits and indices influence organismal, community, and ecosystem processes across vegetation types, which may be achieved through meta-analysis and enhancement of trait databases. Additionally, intraspecific trait variation and species interactions need to be incorporated into predictive models using tools such as Bayesian hierarchical modelling. Finally, existing models linking traits to community and ecosystem processes need to be empirically tested for their applicability to be realized. © 2016 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

  13. Multicompartment Ecosystem Mass Balances as a Tool for Understanding and Managing the Biogeochemical Cycles of Human Ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lawrence A. Baker

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Nitrogen remains a ubiquitous pollutant in surface and groundwater throughout the United States, despite 30 years of pollution control efforts. A detailed multicompartment N balance for the Central Arizona-Phoenix ecosystem is used to illustrate how an ecosystem-level approach can be used to develop improved N management strategies. The N balance is used to demonstrate how nitrate in pumped groundwater used for crop irrigation could be used to reduce inputs of commercial fertilizer and decrease N leaching to aquifers. Effectively managing N pollution also will require an understanding of the complex factors that control the N balance, including targeted regulations, individual human behavior, land-use conversion, and other ecosystem management practices that affect the N balance. These sometimes countervailing factors are illustrated with several scenarios of wastewater treatment technology and population growth in the Phoenix area. Management of N eventually must be coupled to management of other elements, notably carbon, phosphorus, and salts. We postulate that an ecosystem framework for pollution management will result in strategies that are more effective, fairer, and less expensive than current approaches.

  14. Understanding the mobile money ecosystem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tobbin, P.

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses the structure of the new mobile money ecosystem and the roles of its key players. Mobile money is an evolving sector both in volume and in economic impact especially in the developing world. The paper is an exploratory study that investigates the structure of the ecosystem, p...

  15. Understanding variation in ecosystem pulse responses to wetting: Benefits of data-model coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenerette, D.

    2011-12-01

    activity is higher. Scenario analyses of precipitation regimes suggested increased uptake with increasing total precipitation while more complex NEE responses to increasing number of events and interval between events. Pulse dynamics provides a general framework for understanding ecosystem responses to intermittent wetting projected to occur more frequently in future climates. Pulse dynamics also provides an opportunity to evaluate processes spanning cellular upregulation to global change.

  16. Ecosystemic Complexity Theory of Conflict: Understanding the Fog of Conflict

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brack, Greg; Lassiter, Pamela S.; Hill, Michele B.; Moore, Sarah A.

    2011-01-01

    Counselors often engage in conflict mediation in professional practice. A model for understanding the complex and subtle nature of conflict resolution is presented. The ecosystemic complexity theory of conflict is offered to assist practitioners in navigating the fog of conflict. Theoretical assumptions are discussed with implications for clinical…

  17. Supplementing forest ecosystem health projects on the ground

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cathy Barbouletos; Lynette Z. Morelan

    1995-01-01

    Understanding the functions and processes of ecosystems is critical before implementing forest ecosystem health projects on the landscape. Silvicultural treatments such as thinning, prescribed fire, and reforestation can simulate disturbance regimes and landscape patterns that have regulated forest ecosystems for centuries. As land managers we need to understand these...

  18. Environmental mineralogy - Understanding element behavior in ecosystems; Mineralogie environnementale: comprendre le comportement des elements dans les ecosystemes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown Jr, G.E. [Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2115 (United States); Department of Photon Science and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Calas, G. [Institut de mineralogie et de physique des milieux condenses (IMPMC), universite Paris-6 - universite Paris-7, IPGP, CNRS, case 115, 75252 Paris (France)

    2011-02-15

    Environmental Mineralogy has developed over the past decade in response to the recognition that minerals are linked in many important ways with the global ecosystem. Minerals are the main repositories of the chemical elements in Earth's crust and thus are the main sources of elements needed for the development of civilization, contaminant and pollutant elements that impact global and local ecosystems, and elements that are essential plant nutrients. These elements are released from minerals through natural processes, such as chemical weathering, and anthropogenic activities, such as mining and energy production, agriculture and industrial activities, and careless waste disposal. Minerals also play key roles in the biogeochemical cycling of the elements, sequestering elements and releasing them as the primary minerals in crustal rocks undergo various structural and compositional transformations in response to physical, chemical, and biological processes that produce secondary minerals and soils. These processes have resulted in the release of toxic elements such as arsenic in groundwater aquifers, which is having a major impact on the health of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia. The interfaces between mineral surfaces and aqueous solutions are the locations of most chemical reactions that control the composition of the natural environment, including the composition of natural waters. The nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to the disposition of high-level nuclear waste, is also intimately related to minerals. A fundamental understanding of these processes requires molecular-scale information about minerals, their bulk structures and properties such as solubility, their surfaces, and their interactions with aqueous solutions, atmospheric and soil gases, natural organic matter, and biological organisms. Gaining this understanding is further complicated by the presence of natural, incidental, and manufactured nano-particles in the environment

  19. Understanding Cellular Respiration in Terms of Matter & Energy within Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Joshua S.; Maskiewicz, April C.

    2014-01-01

    Using a design-based research approach, we developed a data-rich problem (DRP) set to improve student understanding of cellular respiration at the ecosystem level. The problem tasks engage students in data analysis to develop biological explanations. Several of the tasks and their implementation are described. Quantitative results suggest that…

  20. A Practical Decision-Analysis Process for Forest Ecosystem Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    H. Michael Rauscher; F. Thomas Lloyd; David L. Loftis; Mark J. Twery

    2000-01-01

    Many authors have pointed out the need to firm up the 'fuzzy' ecosystem management paradigm and develop operationally practical processes to allow forest managers to accommodate more effectively the continuing rapid change in societal perspectives and goals. There are three spatial scales where clear, precise, practical ecosystem management processes are...

  1. Ecohydrological processes and ecosystem services in the Anthropocene: a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge Sun; Dennis Hallema; Heidi Asbjornsen

    2017-01-01

    The framework for ecosystem services has been increasingly used in integrated watershed ecosystem management practices that involve scientists, engineers, managers, and policy makers. The objective of this review is to explore the intimate connections between ecohydrological processes and water-related ecosystem services in human-dominated ecosystems in the...

  2. Understanding the structure of Exmoor's peatland ecosystems using laser-scanning technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luscombe, D. J.; Anderson, K.; Wetherelt, A.; Grand-Clement, E.; Le-Feuvre, N.; Smith, D.; Brazier, R. E.

    2012-04-01

    Upland blanket peatlands in the UK are of high conservation value and in an intact state, provide important landscape services, such as carbon sequestration and flood attenuation. The drainage of many such wetlands for agricultural reclamation has resulted in changes to upland blanket mire topography, ecology, hydrological processes and carbon fluxes. There is a need for spatially explicit monitoring approaches at peatland sites in the UK as although there has been a national effort to restore drained peat uplands, baseline and post restoration monitoring of changes to ecosystem structure and function is largely absent. Climate change policy and the emerging carbon markets also necessitate the need for enhanced system understanding to inform carbon targets and understand the impacts of restoration. Exmoor is the focus of this research because many areas of upland peat have, in the past, been extensively drained through government "moorland reclamation" programs. A large restoration project funded by South West Water is currently underway in association with Exmoor National Park, The Environment Agency and Natural England. Exmoor also provides an analogue for other westerly peatlands in the British Isles in terms of its climate, ecology and drainage characteristics. Our approach employed airborne LiDAR data gathered by the Environment Agency Geomatics Group coupled with Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) surveys. LiDAR data were processed to produce digital surface models (DSM) of the peatland surface at a 0.5m resolution. These data were further interrogated to separate vegetation structures and geomorphic features such as man-made drainage channels which have damaged the peatland. Over small extents the LiDAR derived DSM surface was then compared to a TLS derived DSM to examine the ability of these models to describe fine scale vegetation and geomorphic structure, which could then be extrapolated to larger spatial extents. Exploration of the data has shown that

  3. The evolving role of science in wilderness to our understanding of ecosystems and landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norman L. Christensen

    2000-01-01

    Research in wilderness areas (areas with minimal human activity and of large spatial extent) formed the foundation for ecological models and theories that continue to shape our understanding how ecosystems change through time, how ecological communities are structured and how ecosystems function. By the middle of this century, large expanses of wilderness had become...

  4. Understanding complexity in managing agro-pastoral dams ecosystem services in Northern Benin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kpera, G.N.

    2015-01-01

    Key words: conflict, water quality, crocodile, fish diversity, vegetable, watershed management, institutional changes, innovation system.

    Understanding complexity in managing agro-pastoral dams ecosystem services in Northern Benin

    Gnanki

  5. Adaptive management for ecosystem services (j/a) | Science ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Management of natural resources for the production of ecosystem services, which are vital for human well-being, is necessary even when there is uncertainty regarding system response to management action. This uncertainty is the result of incomplete controllability, complex internal feedbacks, and non-linearity that often interferes with desired management outcomes, and insufficient understanding of nature and people. Adaptive management was developed to reduce such uncertainty. We present a framework for the application of adaptive management for ecosystem services that explicitly accounts for cross-scale tradeoffs in the production of ecosystem services. Our framework focuses on identifying key spatiotemporal scales (plot, patch, ecosystem, landscape, and region) that encompass dominant structures and processes in the system, and includes within- and cross-scale dynamics, ecosystem service tradeoffs, and management controllability within and across scales. Resilience theory recognizes that a limited set of ecological processes in a given system regulate ecosystem services, yet our understanding of these processes is poorly understood. If management actions erode or remove these processes, the system may shift into an alternative state unlikely to support the production of desired services. Adaptive management provides a process to assess the underlying within and cross-scale tradeoffs associated with production of ecosystem services while proceeding with manage

  6. Simulations of ecosystem hydrological processes using a unified multi-scale model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Xiaofan; Liu, Chongxuan; Fang, Yilin; Hinkle, Ross; Li, Hong-Yi; Bailey, Vanessa; Bond-Lamberty, Ben

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a unified multi-scale model (UMSM) that we developed to simulate hydrological processes in an ecosystem containing both surface water and groundwater. The UMSM approach modifies the Navier–Stokes equation by adding a Darcy force term to formulate a single set of equations to describe fluid momentum and uses a generalized equation to describe fluid mass balance. The advantage of the approach is that the single set of the equations can describe hydrological processes in both surface water and groundwater where different models are traditionally required to simulate fluid flow. This feature of the UMSM significantly facilitates modelling of hydrological processes in ecosystems, especially at locations where soil/sediment may be frequently inundated and drained in response to precipitation, regional hydrological and climate changes. In this paper, the UMSM was benchmarked using WASH123D, a model commonly used for simulating coupled surface water and groundwater flow. Disney Wilderness Preserve (DWP) site at the Kissimmee, Florida, where active field monitoring and measurements are ongoing to understand hydrological and biogeochemical processes, was then used as an example to illustrate the UMSM modelling approach. The simulations results demonstrated that the DWP site is subject to the frequent changes in soil saturation, the geometry and volume of surface water bodies, and groundwater and surface water exchange. All the hydrological phenomena in surface water and groundwater components including inundation and draining, river bank flow, groundwater table change, soil saturation, hydrological interactions between groundwater and surface water, and the migration of surface water and groundwater interfaces can be simultaneously simulated using the UMSM. Overall, the UMSM offers a cross-scale approach that is particularly suitable to simulate coupled surface and ground water flow in ecosystems with strong surface water and groundwater interactions.

  7. Functional traits in agriculture: agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Stephen A; Karp, Daniel S; DeClerck, Fabrice; Kremen, Claire; Naeem, Shahid; Palm, Cheryl A

    2015-09-01

    Functional trait research has led to greater understanding of the impacts of biodiversity in ecosystems. Yet, functional trait approaches have not been widely applied to agroecosystems and understanding of the importance of agrobiodiversity remains limited to a few ecosystem processes and services. To improve this understanding, we argue here for a functional trait approach to agroecology that adopts recent advances in trait research for multitrophic and spatially heterogeneous ecosystems. We suggest that trait values should be measured across environmental conditions and agricultural management regimes to predict how ecosystem services vary with farm practices and environment. This knowledge should be used to develop management strategies that can be easily implemented by farmers to manage agriculture to provide multiple ecosystem services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Asymmetrical Responses of Ecosystem Processes to Positive Versus Negative Precipitation Extremes: a Replicated Regression Experimental Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felton, A. J.; Smith, M. D.

    2016-12-01

    Heightened climatic variability due to atmospheric warming is forecast to increase the frequency and severity of climate extremes. In particular, changes to interannual variability in precipitation, characterized by increases in extreme wet and dry years, are likely to impact virtually all terrestrial ecosystem processes. However, to date experimental approaches have yet to explicitly test how ecosystem processes respond to multiple levels of climatic extremity, limiting our understanding of how ecosystems will respond to forecast increases in the magnitude of climate extremes. Here we report the results of a replicated regression experimental approach, in which we imposed 9 and 11 levels of growing season precipitation amount and extremity in mesic grassland during 2015 and 2016, respectively. Each level corresponded to a specific percentile of the long-term record, which produced a large gradient of soil moisture conditions that ranged from extreme wet to extreme dry. In both 2015 and 2016, asymptotic responses to water availability were observed for soil respiration. This asymmetry was driven in part by transitions between soil moisture versus temperature constraints on respiration as conditions became increasingly dry versus increasingly wet. In 2015, aboveground net primary production (ANPP) exhibited asymmetric responses to precipitation that largely mirrored those of soil respiration. In total, our results suggest that in this mesic ecosystem, these two carbon cycle processes were more sensitive to extreme drought than to extreme wet years. Future work will assess ANPP responses for 2016, soil nutrient supply and physiological responses of the dominant plant species. Future efforts are needed to compare our findings across a diverse array of ecosystem types, and in particular how the timing and magnitude of precipitation events may modify the response of ecosystem processes to increasing magnitudes of precipitation extremes.

  9. Understanding the influence of nutrients on stream ecosystems in agricultural landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munn, Mark D.; Frey, Jeffrey W.; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Black, Robert W.; Duff, John H.; Lee, Kathy E.; Maret, Terry R.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Waite, Ian R.; Zelt, Ronald B.

    2018-06-06

    Sustaining the quality of the Nation’s water resources and the health of our diverse ecosystems depends on the availability of sound water-resources data and information to develop effective, science-based policies. Effective management of water resources also brings more certainty and efficiency to important economic sectors. Taken together, these actions lead to immediate and long-term economic, social, and environmental benefits that make a difference to the lives of the almost 400 million people projected to live in the United States by 2050.In 1991, Congress established the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) to address where, when, why, and how the Nation’s water quality has changed, or is likely to change in the future, in response to human activities and natural factors. Since then, NAWQA has been a leading source of scientific data and knowledge used by national, regional, State, and local agencies to develop science-based policies and management strategies to improve and protect water resources used for drinking water, recreation, irrigation, energy development, and ecosystem needs (https://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/applications/). Plans for the third decade of NAWQA (2013–23) address priority water-quality issues and science needs identified by NAWQA stakeholders, such as the Advisory Committee on Water Information and the National Research Council, and are designed to meet increasing challenges related to population growth, increasing needs for clean water, and changing land-use and weather patterns.Excess nutrients are a pervasive problem of streams, lakes, and coastal waters. The current report, “The Quality of Our Nation’s Waters—Understanding the Effects of Nutrients on Stream Ecosystems in Agricultural Landscapes,” presents a summary of results from USGS investigations conducted from 2003 to 2011 on processes that influence nutrients and how nutrient enrichment can alter biological components of

  10. Ecosystem approach in education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nabiullin, Iskander

    2017-04-01

    biological relationships some complicated chemical and physical processes occur in ecosystems, so the ecosystem approach also involves interdisciplinary connection between biology, chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, and others. Therefore, our schoolteachers of these subjects work together on environmental education of students. Ecosystem approach allows students to achieve a deeper understanding of how ecosystems work. This may help them to find keys for understanding and solving environmental problems such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution, waste, energy efficiency etc.

  11. An individual-based process model to simulate landscape-scale forest ecosystem dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rupert Seidl; Werner Rammer; Robert M. Scheller; Thomas Spies

    2012-01-01

    Forest ecosystem dynamics emerges from nonlinear interactions between adaptive biotic agents (i.e., individual trees) and their relationship with a spatially and temporally heterogeneous abiotic environment. Understanding and predicting the dynamics resulting from these complex interactions is crucial for the sustainable stewardship of ecosystems, particularly in the...

  12. Ecosystem services: developing sustainable management paradigms based on wetland functions and processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Euliss, Ned H.; Mushet, David M.; Smith, Loren M.; Conner, William H.; Burkett, Virginia R.; Wilcox, Douglas A.; Hester, Mark W.; Zheng, Haochi

    2013-01-01

    In the late nineteenth century and twentieth century, there was considerable interest and activity to develop the United States for agricultural, mining, and many other purposes to improve the quality of human life standards and prosperity. Most of the work to support this development was focused along disciplinary lines with little attention focused on ecosystem service trade-offs or synergisms, especially those that transcended boundaries of scientific disciplines and specific interest groups. Concurrently, human population size has increased substantially and its use of ecosystem services has increased more than five-fold over just the past century. Consequently, the contemporary landscape has been highly modified for human use, leaving behind a fragmented landscape where basic ecosystem functions and processes have been broadly altered. Over this period, climate change also interacted with other anthropogenic effects, resulting in modern environmental problems having a complexity that is without historical precedent. The challenge before the scientific community is to develop new science paradigms that integrate relevant scientific disciplines to properly frame and evaluate modern environmental problems in a systems-type approach to better inform the decision-making process. Wetland science is a relatively new discipline that grew out of the conservation movement of the early twentieth century. In the United States, most of the conservation attention in the earlier days was on wildlife, but a growing human awareness of the importance of the environment led to the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969. Concurrently, there was a broadening interest in conservation science, and the scientific study of wetlands gradually gained acceptance as a scientific discipline. Pioneering wetland scientists became formally organized when they formed The Society of Wetland Scientists in 1980 and established a publication outlet to share wetland research

  13. Climate change impacts on ecosystems and ecosystem services in the United States: Process and prospects for sustained assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grimm, Nancy B.; Groffman, Peter M; Staudinger, Michelle D.; Tallis, Heather

    2016-01-01

    The third United States National Climate Assessment emphasized an evaluation of not just the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems, but also the impacts of climate change on the benefits that people derive from nature, known as ecosystem services. The ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services component of the assessment largely drew upon the findings of a transdisciplinary workshop aimed at developing technical input for the assessment, involving participants from diverse sectors. A small author team distilled and synthesized this and hundreds of other technical input to develop the key findings of the assessment. The process of developing and ranking key findings hinged on identifying impacts that had particular, demonstrable effects on the U.S. public via changes in national ecosystem services. Findings showed that ecosystem services are threatened by the impacts of climate change on water supplies, species distributions and phenology, as well as multiple assaults on ecosystem integrity that, when compounded by climate change, reduce the capacity of ecosystems to buffer against extreme events. As ecosystems change, such benefits as water sustainability and protection from storms that are afforded by intact ecosystems are projected to decline across the continent due to climate change. An ongoing, sustained assessment that focuses on the co-production of actionable climate science will allow scientists from a range of disciplines to ascertain the capability of their forecasting models to project environmental and ecological change and link it to ecosystem services; additionally, an iterative process of evaluation, development of management strategies, monitoring, and reevaluation will increase the applicability and usability of the science by the U.S. public.

  14. [Effects and mechanism of freeze-thawing cycles on key processes of nitrogen cycle in terrestrial ecosystem].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Li-qin; Qi, Yu-chun; Dong, Yun-she; Peng, Qin; Guo, Shu-fang; He, Yun-long; Yan, Zhong-qing

    2015-11-01

    As a widespread natural phenomenon in the soil of middle and high latitude as well as high altitude, freeze-thawing cycles have a great influence on the nitrogen cycle of terrestrial ecosystem in non-growing season. Freeze-thawing cycles can alter the physicochemical and biological properties of the soil, which thereby affect the migration and transformation of soil nitrogen. The impacts of freeze-thawing cycles on key processes of nitrogen cycle in terrestrial ecosystem found in available studies remain inconsistent, the mechanism is still not clear, and the research methods also need to be further explored and innovated. So it is necessary to sum up and analyze the existing achievements in order to better understand the processes of soil nitrogen cycle subjected to freeze-thawing cycles. This paper reviewed the research progress in China and abroad about the effects and mechanisms of freeze-thawing cycles on key processes of nitrogen cycle in terrestrial ecosystem, including mineralization, immobilization, nitrification and denitrification, N leakage and gaseous loss, and analyzed the deficiencies of extant research. The possible key research topics that should be urgently paid more attention to in the future were also discussed.

  15. Disturbance, Functional Diversity and Ecosystem Processes: Does Species Identity Matter?

    OpenAIRE

    Emrick III, Verl Roy

    2013-01-01

    The role of disturbance is widely recognized as a fundamental driver of ecological organization from individual species to entire landscapes. Anthropogenic disturbances from military training provide a unique opportunity to examine effects of disturbance on vegetation dynamics, physicochemical soil properties, and ecosystem processes. Additionally, plant functional diversity has been suggested as the key to ecosystem processes such as productivity and nutrient dynamics. I investigated how dis...

  16. How can integrated valuation of ecosystem services help understanding and steering agroecological transitions?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Dendoncker

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Agroecology has been proposed as a promising concept to foster the resilience and sustainability of agroecosystems and rural territories. Agroecological practices are based on optimizing ecosystem services (ES at the landscape, farm, and parcel scales. Recent progress in research on designing agroecological transitions highlights the necessity for coconstructed processes that draw on various sources of knowledge based on shared concepts. But despite the sense of urgency linked to agroecological transitions, feedbacks from real-world implementation remain patchy. The ability of integrated and participatory ES assessments to support this transition remains largely underexplored, although their potential to enhance learning processes and to build a shared territorial perspective is widely recognized. The overarching question that will be asked in this paper is thus: what is the potential of the ES framework to support the understanding and steering of agroecological transitions? We argue that conducting collaborative and integrated assessments of ES bundles can (i increase our understanding of the ecological and social drivers that support a transition toward agroecological systems, and (ii help design agroecological systems based on ES delivery and effectively accompany transition management based on shared knowledge, codesigned future objectives, and actual on-the-ground implementation. In this paper, we discuss this question and propose a four-step integrated ES assessment framework specifically targeted at understanding and steering agricultural transitions that is generic enough to be applied in different contexts.

  17. From Process Understanding Via Soil Functions to Sustainable Soil Management - A Systemic Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wollschlaeger, U.; Bartke, S.; Bartkowski, B.; Daedlow, K.; Helming, K.; Kogel-Knabner, I.; Lang, B.; Rabot, E.; Russell, D.; Stößel, B.; Weller, U.; Wiesmeier, M.; Rabot, E.; Vogel, H. J.

    2017-12-01

    Fertile soils are central resources for the production of biomass and the provision of food and energy. A growing world population and latest climate targets lead to an increasing demand for both, food and bio-energy, which requires preserving and improving the long-term productivity of soils as a bio-economic resource. At the same time, other soil functions and ecosystem services need to be maintained: filter for clean water, carbon sequestration, provision and recycling of nutrients, and habitat for biological activity. All these soil functions result from the interaction of a multitude of physical, chemical and biological processes that are not yet sufficiently understood. In addition, we lack understanding about the interplay between the socio-economic system and the soil system and how soil functions benefit human wellbeing. Hence, a solid and integrated assessment of soil quality requires the consideration of the ensemble of soil functions and its relation to soil management to finally be able to develop site-specific options for sustainable soil management. We present an integrated modeling approach that investigates the influence of soil management on the ensemble of soil functions. It is based on the mechanistic relationships between soil functional attributes, each explained by a network of interacting processes as derived from scientific evidence. As the evidence base required for feeding the model is for the most part stored in the existing scientific literature, another central component of our work is to set up a public "knowledge-portal" providing the infrastructure for a community effort towards a comprehensive knowledge base on soil processes as a basis for model developments. The connection to the socio-economic system is established using the Drivers-Pressures-Impacts-States-Responses (DPSIR) framework where our improved understanding about soil ecosystem processes is linked to ecosystem services and resource efficiency via the soil functions.

  18. Consumer-driven nutrient dynamics in freshwater ecosystems: from individuals to ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Carla L; Capps, Krista A; Rugenski, Amanda T; Vanni, Michael J

    2017-11-01

    The role of animals in modulating nutrient cycling [hereafter, consumer-driven nutrient dynamics (CND)] has been accepted as an important influence on both community structure and ecosystem function in aquatic systems. Yet there is great variability in the influence of CND across species and ecosystems, and the causes of this variation are not well understood. Here, we review and synthesize the mechanisms behind CND in fresh waters. We reviewed 131 articles on CND published between 1973 and 1 June 2015. The rate of new publications in CND has increased from 1.4 papers per year during 1973-2002 to 7.3 per year during 2003-2015. The majority of investigations are in North America with many concentrating on fish. More recent studies have focused on animal-mediated nutrient excretion rates relative to nutrient demand and indirect impacts (e.g. decomposition). We identified several mechanisms that influence CND across levels of biological organization. Factors affecting the stoichiometric plasticity of consumers, including body size, feeding history and ontogeny, play an important role in determining the impact of individual consumers on nutrient dynamics and underlie the stoichiometry of CND across time and space. The abiotic characteristics of an ecosystem affect the net impact of consumers on ecosystem processes by influencing consumer metabolic processes (e.g. consumption and excretion/egestion rates), non-CND supply of nutrients and ecosystem nutrient demand. Furthermore, the transformation and transport of elements by populations and communities of consumers also influences the flow of energy and nutrients across ecosystem boundaries. This review highlights that shifts in community composition or biomass of consumers and eco-evolutionary underpinnings can have strong effects on the functional role of consumers in ecosystem processes, yet these are relatively unexplored aspects of CND. Future research should evaluate the value of using species traits and abiotic

  19. A multi-biome gap in understanding of crop and ecosystem responses to elevated CO2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leakey, Andrew D B; Bishop, Kristen A; Ainsworth, Elizabeth A

    2012-06-01

    A key finding from elevated [CO(2)] field experiments is that the impact of elevated [CO(2)] on plant and ecosystem function is highly dependent upon other environmental conditions, namely temperature and the availability of nutrients and soil moisture. In addition, there is significant variation in the response to elevated [CO(2)] among plant functional types, species and crop varieties. However, experimental data on plant and ecosystem responses to elevated [CO(2)] are strongly biased to economically and ecologically important systems in the temperate zone. There is a multi-biome gap in experimental data that is most severe in the tropics and subtropics, but also includes high latitudes. Physiological understanding of the environmental conditions and species found at high and low latitudes suggest they may respond differently to elevated [CO(2)] than well-studied temperate systems. Addressing this knowledge gap should be a high priority as it is vital to understanding 21st century food supply and ecosystem feedbacks on climate change. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Understanding the individual to implement the ecosystem approach to fisheries management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Taylor D; Algera, Dirk A; Gallagher, Austin J; Hawkins, Emily; Horodysky, Andrij; Jørgensen, Christian; Killen, Shaun S; McKenzie, David J; Metcalfe, Julian D; Peck, Myron A; Vu, Maria; Cooke, Steven J

    2016-01-01

    Ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management (EAFMs) have emerged as requisite for sustainable use of fisheries resources. At the same time, however, there is a growing recognition of the degree of variation among individuals within a population, as well as the ecological consequences of this variation. Managing resources at an ecosystem level calls on practitioners to consider evolutionary processes, and ample evidence from the realm of fisheries science indicates that anthropogenic disturbance can drive changes in predominant character traits (e.g. size at maturity). Eco-evolutionary theory suggests that human-induced trait change and the modification of selective regimens might contribute to ecosystem dynamics at a similar magnitude to species extirpation, extinction and ecological dysfunction. Given the dynamic interaction between fisheries and target species via harvest and subsequent ecosystem consequences, we argue that individual diversity in genetic, physiological and behavioural traits are important considerations under EAFMs. Here, we examine the role of individual variation in a number of contexts relevant to fisheries management, including the potential ecological effects of rapid trait change. Using select examples, we highlight the extent of phenotypic diversity of individuals, as well as the ecological constraints on such diversity. We conclude that individual phenotypic diversity is a complex phenomenon that needs to be considered in EAFMs, with the ultimate realization that maintaining or increasing individual trait diversity may afford not only species, but also entire ecosystems, with enhanced resilience to environmental perturbations. Put simply, individuals are the foundation from which population- and ecosystem-level traits emerge and are therefore of central importance for the ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management.

  1. Integration of coral reef ecosystem process studies and remote sensing: Chapter 5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brook, John; Yates, Kimberly; Halley, Robert

    2006-01-01

    anthropogenic causes (Brown, 1988). Models of coral reef ecosystems, parameterized by process measurements and scaled in time-space using remote sensing, have the potential to address pressing research questions that are central to devising valid management strategies (Grigg el al., 1984; Hatcher, 1997b). To attain this goal, ecosystem-level models that integrate studies of physical and chemical forcing with observed biological and geological responses are required. This interdisciplinary approach to understanding reef biogeochemical dynamics can allow investigations that integrate the scales of time and space (Hatcher, 1997a), thereby enabling prediction of coral reef change (Andréfouët and Payri, 2001). In turn, prediction of holistic ecosystem function within various environmental focusing scenarios has substantial promise in mitigating future disturbance. Indeed, management of coral reefs at the ecosystem level has been suggested as the only meaningful approach to preserving coral reefs (Bohnsack and Ault, 1996; Christensen et al., 1996).

  2. Introduction to the special issue on “Understanding and predicting change in the coastal ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico”

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, John C.; Barras, John A.; Williams, S. Jeffress

    2013-01-01

    The coastal region of the northern Gulf of Mexico owes its current landscape structure to an array of tectonic, erosional and depositional, climatic, geochemical, hydrological, ecological, and human processes that have resulted in some of the world's most complex, dynamic, productive, and threatened ecosystems. Catastrophic hurricane landfalls, ongoing subsidence and erosion exacerbated by sea-level rise, disintegration of barrier island chains, and high rates of wetland loss have called attention to the vulnerability of northern Gulf coast ecosystems, habitats, built infrastructure, and economy to natural and anthropogenic threats. The devastating hurricanes of 2005 (Katrina and Rita) motivated the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program and partnering researchers to pursue studies aimed at understanding and predicting landscape change and the associated storm hazard vulnerability of northern Gulf coast region ecosystems and human communities. Attaining this science goal requires increased knowledge of landscape evolution on geologic, historical, and human time scales, and analysis of the implications of such changes in the natural and built components of the landscape for hurricane impact susceptibility. This Special Issue of the Journal of Coastal Research communicates northern Gulf of Mexico research results that (1) improve knowledge of prior climates and depositional environments, (2) assess broad regional ecosystem structure and change over Holocene to human time scales, (3) undertake process studies and change analyses of dynamic landscape components, and (4) integrate framework, climate, variable time and spatial scale mapping, monitoring, and discipline-specific process investigations within interdisciplinary studies.

  3. Controls on winter ecosystem respiration in temperate and boreal ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    T. Wang; P. Ciais; S.L. Piao; C. Ottle; P. Brender; F. Maignan; A. Arain; A. Cescatti; D. Gianelle; C. Gough; L Gu; P. Lafleur; T. Laurila; B. Marcolla; H. Margolis; L. Montagnani; E. Moors; N. Saigusa; T. Vesala; G. Wohlfahrt; C. Koven; A. Black; E. Dellwik; A. Don; D. Hollinger; A. Knohl; R. Monson; J. Munger; A. Suyker; A. Varlagin; S. Verma

    2011-01-01

    Winter CO2 fluxes represent an important component of the annual carbon budget in northern ecosystems. Understanding winter respiration processes and their responses to climate change is also central to our ability to assess terrestrial carbon cycle and climate feedbacks in the future. However, the factors influencing the spatial and temporal...

  4. A dynamic ecosystem process model for understanding interactions between permafrost thawing and vegetation responses in the arctic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, C.; Travis, B. J.; Fisher, R. A.; Wilson, C. J.; McDowell, N.

    2010-12-01

    The arctic is expected to play an important role in the Earth’s future climate due to the large carbon stocks that are stored in permafrost and peatlands, a substantial proportion of which may be released to the atmosphere due to permafrost thawing. There may be positive feedbacks of permafrost thawing on plant growth by releasing stored nitrogen and increasing rooting depth; however, vegetation response to other changing variables such as CO2 and temperature can also modify soil hydrology and energy fluxes, leading to either positive or negative feedbacks on permafrost thawing. Disentangling the interactions between permafrost thawing and vegetation growth is critical for assessing the potential role of arctic regions on current and future global carbon cycling. We have developed a mechanistic, regional, and spatially explicit dynamic ecosystem process model through the integration of a 3-D soil hydrology and biogeochemistry model (Arctic Hydrology, ARCHY) and a dynamic vegetation model (Ecosystem Demography, ED), to quantify the importance of plant-permafrost interactions to soil and plant carbon storage. This model integrates important processes including photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration, 3-D competition for light, 3-D soil hydrology, energy fluxes (ice melting in the soil and solar radiation interception by canopy), nitrogen cycles (microbial decomposition, nitrogen transportation in soil, passive and active nitrogen uptake by plants), species migration, and drought-related mortality. A sensitivity analysis has been implemented to assess the importance of the hydrological cycle, the nitrogen cycle and energy fluxes in regulating the above and below-ground carbon cycles in arctic regions. Our model can fill an important gap between field and global land surface models for assessing plot and regional level hypotheses in the context of global climate.

  5. Species effects on ecosystem processes are modified by faunal responses to habitat composition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bulling, Mark T; Solan, Martin; Dyson, Kirstie E; Hernandez-Milian, Gema; Luque, Patricia; Pierce, Graham J; Raffaelli, Dave; Paterson, David M; White, Piran C L

    2008-12-01

    Heterogeneity is a well-recognized feature of natural environments, and the spatial distribution and movement of individual species is primarily driven by resource requirements. In laboratory experiments designed to explore how different species drive ecosystem processes, such as nutrient release, habitat heterogeneity is often seen as something which must be rigorously controlled for. Most small experimental systems are therefore spatially homogeneous, and the link between environmental heterogeneity and its effects on the redistribution of individuals and species, and on ecosystem processes, has not been fully explored. In this paper, we used a mesocosm system to investigate the relationship between habitat composition, species movement and sediment nutrient release for each of four functionally contrasting species of marine benthic invertebrate macrofauna. For each species, various habitat configurations were generated by selectively enriching patches of sediment with macroalgae, a natural source of spatial variability in intertidal mudflats. We found that the direction and extent of faunal movement between patches differs with species identity, density and habitat composition. Combinations of these factors lead to concomitant changes in nutrient release, such that habitat composition effects are modified by species identity (in the case of NH4-N) and by species density (in the case of PO4-P). It is clear that failure to accommodate natural patterns of spatial heterogeneity in such studies may result in an incomplete understanding of system behaviour. This will be particularly important for future experiments designed to explore the effects of species richness on ecosystem processes, where the complex interactions reported here for single species may be compounded when species are brought together in multi-species combinations.

  6. Integrating landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks to advance the understanding of ecosystem function in heterogeneous landscapes: An analysis on the carbon fluxes in the Northern Highlands Lake District (NHLD) of Wisconsin and Michigan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Haile; Chen, Jiakuan

    2018-01-01

    The successful integration of ecosystem ecology with landscape ecology would be conducive to understanding how landscapes function. There have been several attempts at this, with two main approaches: (1) an ecosystem-based approach, such as the meta-ecosystem framework and (2) a landscape-based approach, such as the landscape system framework. These two frameworks are currently disconnected. To integrate these two frameworks, we introduce a protocol, and then demonstrate application of the protocol using a case study. The protocol includes four steps: 1) delineating landscape systems; 2) classifying landscape systems; 3) adjusting landscape systems to meta-ecosystems and 4) integrating landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks through meta-ecosystems. The case study is the analyzing of the carbon fluxes in the Northern Highlands Lake District (NHLD) of Wisconsin and Michigan using this protocol. The application of this protocol revealed that one could follow this protocol to construct a meta-ecosystem and analyze it using the integrative framework of landscape system and meta-ecosystem frameworks. That is, one could (1) appropriately describe and analyze the spatial heterogeneity of the meta-ecosystem; (2) understand the emergent properties arising from spatial coupling of local ecosystems in the meta-ecosystem. In conclusion, this protocol is a useful approach for integrating the meta-ecosystem framework and the landscape system framework, which advances the describing and analyzing of the spatial heterogeneity and ecosystem function of interconnected ecosystems.

  7. Community and ecosystem responses to elevational gradients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sundqvist, Maja K.; Sanders, Nate; Wardle, David A.

    2013-01-01

    Community structure and ecosystem processes often vary along elevational gradients. Their responses to elevation are commonly driven by changes in temperature, and many community- and ecosystem-level variables therefore frequently respond similarly to elevation across contrasting gradients...... elevational gradients for understanding community and ecosystem responses to global climate change at much larger spatial and temporal scales than is possible through conventional ecological experiments. However, future studies that integrate elevational gradient approaches with experimental manipulations...... will provide powerful information that can improve predictions of climate change impacts within and across ecosystems....

  8. Biomass is the main driver of changes in ecosystem process rates during tropical forest succession.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohbeck, Madelon; Poorter, Lourens; Martínez-Ramos, Miguel; Bongers, Frans

    2015-05-01

    Over half of the world's forests are disturbed, and the rate at which ecosystem processes recover after disturbance is important for the services these forests can provide. We analyze the drivers' underlying changes in rates of key ecosystem processes (biomass productivity, litter productivity, actual litter decomposition, and potential litter decomposition) during secondary succession after shifting cultivation in wet tropical forest of Mexico. We test the importance of three alternative drivers of ecosystem processes: vegetation biomass (vegetation quantity hypothesis), community-weighted trait mean (mass ratio hypothesis), and functional diversity (niche complementarity hypothesis) using structural equation modeling. This allows us to infer the relative importance of different mechanisms underlying ecosystem process recovery. Ecosystem process rates changed during succession, and the strongest driver was aboveground biomass for each of the processes. Productivity of aboveground stem biomass and leaf litter as well as actual litter decomposition increased with initial standing vegetation biomass, whereas potential litter decomposition decreased with standing biomass. Additionally, biomass productivity was positively affected by community-weighted mean of specific leaf area, and potential decomposition was positively affected by functional divergence, and negatively by community-weighted mean of leaf dry matter content. Our empirical results show that functional diversity and community-weighted means are of secondary importance for explaining changes in ecosystem process rates during tropical forest succession. Instead, simply, the amount of vegetation in a site is the major driver of changes, perhaps because there is a steep biomass buildup during succession that overrides more subtle effects of community functional properties on ecosystem processes. We recommend future studies in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to separate the effects of

  9. Practice Alignment and intent as distinctions for understanding cross-boundary knowledge creation practices in knowledge ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aaen, Mathias

    This paper explores how practice alignment and intent across organizational boundaries may serve as an explanation for collaborative knowledge creation in a knowledge ecosystem. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of a large multinational knowledge ecosystem consisting of many...... communities of practices and organisations. By applying a practice theory approach to five data sets collected over a five-year period, the study investigates how two distinctions may serve as a potential gateway into understanding knowledge creation across boundaries. The two distinctions – practice...... are identified and discussed. Potential implications for organisational and knowledge ecosystem conceptions are identified and discussed for further research....

  10. Understanding of Grassland Ecosystems under Climate Change and Economic Development Pressures in the Mongolia Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, J.; Chen, J.; Shan, P.; Pan, X.; Wei, Y.; Wang, M.; Xin, X.

    2011-12-01

    The land use and land cover change, especially in the form of grassland degradation, in the Mongolian Plateau, exhibited a unique spatio-temporal pattern that is a characteristic of a mixed stress from economic development and climate change of the region. The social dimension of the region played a key role in shaping the landscape and land use change, including the cultural clashes with economic development, conflicts between indigenous people and business ventures, and exogenous international influences. Various research projects have been conducted in the region to focus on physical degradation of grasslands and/or on economic development but there is a lack of understanding how the social and economic dimensions interact with grassland ecosystems and changes. In this talk, a synthesis report was made based on the most recent workshop held in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, of China, that specifically focused on climate change and grassland ecosystems. The report analyzed the degree of grassland degradation, its climate and social drivers, and coupling nature of economic development and conservation of traditional grassland values. The goal is to fully understand the socio-ecological-economic interactions that together shape the trajectory of the grassland ecosystems in the Mongolia Plateau.

  11. Comparison of seasonal soil microbial process in snow-covered temperate ecosystems of northern China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinyue Zhang

    Full Text Available More than half of the earth's terrestrial surface currently experiences seasonal snow cover and soil frost. Winter compositional and functional investigations in soil microbial community are frequently conducted in alpine tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, little information on winter microbial biogeochemistry is known from seasonally snow-covered temperate ecosystems. As decomposer microbes may differ in their ability/strategy to efficiently use soil organic carbon (SOC within different phases of the year, understanding seasonal microbial process will increase our knowledge of biogeochemical cycling from the aspect of decomposition rates and corresponding nutrient dynamics. In this study, we measured soil microbial biomass, community composition and potential SOC mineralization rates in winter and summer, from six temperate ecosystems in northern China. Our results showed a clear pattern of increased microbial biomass C to nitrogen (N ratio in most winter soils. Concurrently, a shift in soil microbial community composition occurred with higher fungal to bacterial biomass ratio and gram negative (G- to gram positive (G+ bacterial biomass ratio in winter than in summer. Furthermore, potential SOC mineralization rate was higher in winter than in summer. Our study demonstrated a distinct transition of microbial community structure and function from winter to summer in temperate snow-covered ecosystems. Microbial N immobilization in winter may not be the major contributor for plant growth in the following spring.

  12. Ecosystem functioning is enveloped by hydrometeorological variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Christoforos; Mahecha, Miguel D; Frank, David C; Babst, Flurin; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris

    2017-09-01

    Terrestrial ecosystem processes, and the associated vegetation carbon dynamics, respond differently to hydrometeorological variability across timescales, and so does our scientific understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Long-term variability of the terrestrial carbon cycle is not yet well constrained and the resulting climate-biosphere feedbacks are highly uncertain. Here we present a comprehensive overview of hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability from hourly to decadal timescales integrating multiple in situ and remote-sensing datasets characterizing extra-tropical forest sites. We find that ecosystem variability at all sites is confined within a hydrometeorological envelope across sites and timescales. Furthermore, ecosystem variability demonstrates long-term persistence, highlighting ecological memory and slow ecosystem recovery rates after disturbances. However, simulation results with state-of-the-art process-based models do not reflect this long-term persistent behaviour in ecosystem functioning. Accordingly, we develop a cross-time-scale stochastic framework that captures hydrometeorological and ecosystem variability. Our analysis offers a perspective for terrestrial ecosystem modelling and paves the way for new model-data integration opportunities in Earth system sciences.

  13. A review of impacts by invasive exotic plants on forest ecosystem services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kevin Devine; Songlin. Fei

    2011-01-01

    Many of our forest ecosystems are at risk due to the invasion of exotic invasive plant species. Invasive plant species pose numerous threats to ecosystems by decreasing biodiversity, deteriorating ecosystem processes, and degrading ecosystem services. Literature on Kentucky's most invasive exotic plant species was examined to understand their potential impacts on...

  14. Investigating point zero: The artificial catchment 'Chicken Creek' as an observatory to study critical zone structures and processes of the critical zone in an initial ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hüttl, Reinhard F.; Gerwin, Werner

    2010-05-01

    Recently, earth surface structures reaching from vegetation to the groundwater in the near underground have been termed "critical zone". This zone is "critical" to supporting life on Earth and, thus, the understanding of processes within this zone is of great importance in environmental sciences. Investigating the critical zone requires interdisciplinary and integrative research approaches across the fields of geomorphology, ecology, biology, soil science, hydrology and environmental modeling. A central motivation of the critical zone concept is the need for moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries to a more holistic and integrated study of the Earth surface system. However, the critical zone is characterized by complex interactions between abiotic and biotic structures and processes which need to be analyzed for improving our understanding of ecosystem functioning as well as of ecosystem development. To gain a better understanding of these fundamental questions it might be helpful to look at initial ecosystems, i.e. at ecosystems in the initial phase of development. It can be hypothesized that the complexity of a very young ecosystem is lower compared to mature systems and, therefore, structure-process interactions might become more obvious at early than at later stages of development. In this context, an artificial watershed was constructed with well known boundary conditions to investigate the initial ecosystem phase. The catchment ‘Chicken Creek' in Lusatia (Germany; 150 km SE from Berlin) has an area of 6 ha. It was set up with a layer of post-glacial sandy sediments overlying an aquiclude made of clay at the base. These hydrological starting conditions allowed for the formation of a groundwater body within the sandy layer of the experimental catchment. Further, after completion of the construction works in September 2005 the site was left to natural succession and no measures like planting or fertilization were carried out. As the initial phase of

  15. Adventures in holistic ecosystem modelling: the cumberland basin ecosystem model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, D. C.; Keizer, P. D.; Daborn, G. R.; Schwinghamer, P.; Silvert, W. L.

    A holistic ecosystem model has been developed for the Cumberland Basin, a turbid macrotidal estuary at the head of Canada's Bay of Fundy. The model was constructed as a group exercise involving several dozen scientists. Philosophy of approach and methods were patterned after the BOEDE Ems-Dollard modelling project. The model is one-dimensional, has 3 compartments and 3 boundaries, and is composed of 3 separate submodels (physical, pelagic and benthic). The 28 biological state variables cover the complete estuarine ecosystem and represent broad functional groups of organisms based on trophic relationships. Although still under development and not yet validated, the model has been verified and has reached the stage where most state variables provide reasonable output. The modelling process has stimulated interdisciplinary discussion, identified important data gaps and produced a quantitative tool which can be used to examine ecological hypotheses and determine critical environmental processes. As a result, Canadian scientists have a much better understanding of the Cumberland Basin ecosystem and are better able to provide competent advice on environmental management.

  16. Forest-land conversion, ecosystem services, and economic issues for policy: a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert A. Smail; David J. Lewis

    2009-01-01

    The continued conversion and development of forest land pose a serious threat to the ecosystem services derived from forested landscapes. We argue that developing an understanding of the full range of consequences from forest conversion requires understanding the effects of such conversion on both components of ecosystem services: products and processes....

  17. A terrestrial ecosystem model (SOLVEG) coupled with atmospheric gas and aerosol exchange processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katata, Genki; Ota, Masakazu

    2017-01-01

    In order to predict the impact of atmospheric pollutants (gases and aerosols) to the terrestrial ecosystem, new schemes for calculating the processes of dry deposition of gases and aerosols, and water and carbon cycles in terrestrial ecosystems were implemented in the one-dimensional atmosphere-SOiL-VEGetation model, SOLVEG. We made performance tests at various vegetation areas to validate the newly developed schemes. In this report, the detail in each modeled process is described with an instruction how to use the modified SOLVEG. The framework of 'terrestrial ecosystem model' was developed for investigation of a change in water, energy, and carbon cycles associated with global warming and air pollution and its impact on terrestrial ecosystems. (author)

  18. Implementing ecosystem-based marine management as a process of regionalisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hegland, Troels Jacob; Raakjær, Jesper; van Tatenhove, Jan

    2015-01-01

    and the Baltic Sea Fisheries Forum, both examples of regionalisation processes in order to implement ecosystem-based marine management. The Helsinki Commission Group for implementation of the ecosystem approach is a joint management body for the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the European Union......This article deals with the implementation of ecosystem-based marine management in the Baltic Sea. It explores and documents in particular the preliminary lessons from environmental and fisheries management with reference to the Helsinki Commission Group for implementation of the ecosystem approach......'s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The Baltic Sea Fisheries Forum is a new governing body to facilitate regional cooperation in fisheries management. The aim of the article is twofold: a) to describe and discuss two different pathways of regionalisation in the Baltic Sea and b) to explore how...

  19. What does it mean to put caribou knowledge into an ecosystem context?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fred H. Harrington

    1998-03-01

    Full Text Available Ecosystems are envisioned as integrated, complex systems with both living and non-living components, that are linked through processes of energy flow and nutrient cycling (Bowen, 1971; Ricklefs, 1979. The ecosystem approach seeks to describe the components of this system, the pathways through which energy and nutrients move, and the processes that govern that movement. The goal is a better understanding of the role or effect of each component (abiotic or biotic within the system. Theorerically, the more we know, the better we can predict the future behaviour of the ecosystem and therefore manage the system on whatever sustainable basis we deem appropriate. Caribou (Rangifer tarandus presently inhabit two ecosystems, tundra (arctic and alpine and taiga (or boreal forest, both characterized by relatively low productivity and diversity (Bowen, 1971; Bliss, 1981; Bonan, 1992a. As increased anthropogenic impacts are expected in these ecosystems through the next century, our ability to ensure the continued survival of caribou requires that we pay increasing attention to the processes that drive these systems. In this endeavour, an awareness of the effects of both spatial and temporal scale, in both ecosystem processes and our research programs to understand those processes, is critical.

  20. Ecosystems science: Genes to landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,

    2018-05-09

    Bountiful fisheries, healthy and resilient wildlife, flourishing forests and vibrant grasslands are coveted resources that benefit all Americans. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science supports the conservation and management of the Nation’s fish and wildlife, and the landscapes they inhabit. Our biological resources—ecosystems and the wild things that live in them—are the foundation of our conservation heritage and an economic asset to current and future generations of Americans.The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, the biological research arm of the Department of the Interior (DOI), provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of its biological resources. This work is done within the broader mission of the USGS—to serve the Nation with science that advances understanding of our natural resources, informs land and water stewardship, and helps safeguard communities from natural and environmental hazards. The Ecosystems Mission Area provides research, technical assistance, and education conducted by Cooperative Research Units and Science Centers located in nearly every State.The quality of life and economic strength in America hinges on healthy ecosystems that support living things and natural processes. Ecosystem science better enables society to understand how and why ecosystems change and to guide actions that can prevent damage to, and restore and sustain ecosystems. It is through this knowledge that informed decisions are made about natural resources that can enhance our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being.

  1. Mapping and modelling ecosystem services for science, policy and practice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Burkhard, B.; Crossman, N.; Nedkov, S.; Petz, K.; Alkemade, R.

    2013-01-01

    Ecosystem services are a significant research and policy topic and there are many modelling and mapping approaches aimed at understanding the stocks, demands and flows of ecosystem services on different spatial and temporal scales. The integration of geo-biophysical processes and structure

  2. Photodegradation processes in arid ecosystems: controlling factors and potential application in land restoration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Luna-Ramos, Lourdes; Oyonarte, Cecilio; Sole Benet, Albert

    2017-04-01

    Water availability plays a fundamental part in controlling biotic processes in arid ecosystems. However, recent evidence suggests that other decisive drivers take part in these processes. Despite low annual rainfall and microbial activity, unexplained high rates of litter decomposition, net nitrogen mineralization, soil enzymatic activity and carbon turnover have been observed in arid ecosystems. These observations have been partly explained by photodegradation, a process that consists of the breakdown of organic matter via solar radiation (UV) and that can increase decomposition rates and lead to changes in the balance of carbon and nutrients between plants, soil and atmosphere. A complete understanding of these mechanisms and its drivers in arid ecosystems remains a critical challenge for the scientific community at the global level. In this research, we conducted a multi-site field experiment to test the effects of photodegradation on decomposition of organic amendments used in ecosystem restoration. The study was carried out during 12 months in two study areas: the Pilbara region in Western Australia (Southern Hemisphere) and the Cabo de Gata Nijar Natural Park, South Spain (Northern Hemisphere). In both sites, four treatments were applied in replicated plots (1x1 m, n=4) that included a control (C) with no soil amendment; organic amendment covering the soil surface (AS); organic amendment incorporated into the soil (AI); and a combination of both techniques, both covering the surface and incorporated into the soil (AS-AI). Different organic amendments (native mulch versus compost) and soil substrates were used at each site according to local practices, but in both sites these were applied to increase soil organic matter up to 2%. At the two locations, a radiometer and a logger with a soil temperature and soil moisture probe were installed to monitor UV radiation and soil conditions for the duration of the trial. Soil microbial activity, soil CO2 efflux, and

  3. Dominance, biomass and extinction resistance determine the consequences of biodiversity loss for multiple coastal ecosystem processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Thomas W; Jenkins, Stuart R; Kingham, Rachel; Kenworthy, Joseph; Hawkins, Stephen J; Hiddink, Jan G

    2011-01-01

    Key ecosystem processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling could be deteriorating as a result of biodiversity loss. However, currently we lack the ability to predict the consequences of realistic species loss on ecosystem processes. The aim of this study was to test whether species contributions to community biomass can be used as surrogate measures of their contribution to ecosystem processes. These were gross community productivity in a salt marsh plant assemblage and an intertidal macroalgae assemblage; community clearance of microalgae in sessile suspension feeding invertebrate assemblage; and nutrient uptake in an intertidal macroalgae assemblage. We conducted a series of biodiversity manipulations that represented realistic species extinction sequences in each of the three contrasting assemblages. Species were removed in a subtractive fashion so that biomass was allowed to vary with each species removal, and key ecosystem processes were measured at each stage of community disassembly. The functional contribution of species was directly proportional to their contribution to community biomass in a 1:1 ratio, a relationship that was consistent across three contrasting marine ecosystems and three ecosystem processes. This suggests that the biomass contributed by a species to an assemblage can be used to approximately predict the proportional decline in an ecosystem process when that species is lost. Such predictions represent "worst case scenarios" because, over time, extinction resilient species can offset the loss of biomass associated with the extinction of competitors. We also modelled a "best case scenario" that accounts for compensatory responses by the extant species with the highest per capita contribution to ecosystem processes. These worst and best case scenarios could be used to predict the minimum and maximum species required to sustain threshold values of ecosystem processes in the future.

  4. Dominance, biomass and extinction resistance determine the consequences of biodiversity loss for multiple coastal ecosystem processes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas W Davies

    Full Text Available Key ecosystem processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling could be deteriorating as a result of biodiversity loss. However, currently we lack the ability to predict the consequences of realistic species loss on ecosystem processes. The aim of this study was to test whether species contributions to community biomass can be used as surrogate measures of their contribution to ecosystem processes. These were gross community productivity in a salt marsh plant assemblage and an intertidal macroalgae assemblage; community clearance of microalgae in sessile suspension feeding invertebrate assemblage; and nutrient uptake in an intertidal macroalgae assemblage. We conducted a series of biodiversity manipulations that represented realistic species extinction sequences in each of the three contrasting assemblages. Species were removed in a subtractive fashion so that biomass was allowed to vary with each species removal, and key ecosystem processes were measured at each stage of community disassembly. The functional contribution of species was directly proportional to their contribution to community biomass in a 1:1 ratio, a relationship that was consistent across three contrasting marine ecosystems and three ecosystem processes. This suggests that the biomass contributed by a species to an assemblage can be used to approximately predict the proportional decline in an ecosystem process when that species is lost. Such predictions represent "worst case scenarios" because, over time, extinction resilient species can offset the loss of biomass associated with the extinction of competitors. We also modelled a "best case scenario" that accounts for compensatory responses by the extant species with the highest per capita contribution to ecosystem processes. These worst and best case scenarios could be used to predict the minimum and maximum species required to sustain threshold values of ecosystem processes in the future.

  5. Impaired ecosystem process despite little effects on populations: modeling combined effects of warming and toxicants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galic, Nika; Grimm, Volker; Forbes, Valery E

    2017-08-01

    Freshwater ecosystems are exposed to many stressors, including toxic chemicals and global warming, which can impair, separately or in combination, important processes in organisms and hence higher levels of organization. Investigating combined effects of warming and toxicants has been a topic of little research, but neglecting their combined effects may seriously misguide management efforts. To explore how toxic chemicals and warming, alone and in combination, propagate across levels of biological organization, including a key ecosystem process, we developed an individual-based model (IBM) of a freshwater amphipod detritivore, Gammarus pseudolimnaeus, feeding on leaf litter. In this IBM, life history emerges from the individuals' energy budgets. We quantified, in different warming scenarios (+1-+4 °C), the effects of hypothetical toxicants on suborganismal processes, including feeding, somatic and maturity maintenance, growth, and reproduction. Warming reduced mean adult body sizes and population abundance and biomass, but only in the warmest scenarios. Leaf litter processing, a key contributor to ecosystem functioning and service delivery in streams, was consistently enhanced by warming, through strengthened interaction between the detritivorous consumer and its resource. Toxicant effects on feeding and maintenance resulted in initially small adverse effects on consumers, but ultimately led to population extinction and loss of ecosystem process. Warming in combination with toxicants had little effect at the individual and population levels, but ecosystem process was impaired in the warmer scenarios. Our results suggest that exposure to the same amount of toxicants can disproportionately compromise ecosystem processing depending on global warming scenarios; for example, reducing organismal feeding rates by 50% will reduce resource processing by 50% in current temperature conditions, but by up to 200% with warming of 4 °C. Our study has implications for

  6. How lichens impact on terrestrial community and ecosystem properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asplund, Johan; Wardle, David A

    2017-08-01

    Lichens occur in most terrestrial ecosystems; they are often present as minor contributors, but in some forests, drylands and tundras they can make up most of the ground layer biomass. As such, lichens dominate approximately 8% of the Earth's land surface. Despite their potential importance in driving ecosystem biogeochemistry, the influence of lichens on community processes and ecosystem functioning have attracted relatively little attention. Here, we review the role of lichens in terrestrial ecosystems and draw attention to the important, but often overlooked role of lichens as determinants of ecological processes. We start by assessing characteristics that vary among lichens and that may be important in determining their ecological role; these include their growth form, the types of photobionts that they contain, their key functional traits, their water-holding capacity, their colour, and the levels of secondary compounds in their thalli. We then assess how these differences among lichens influence their impacts on ecosystem and community processes. As such, we consider the consequences of these differences for determining the impacts of lichens on ecosystem nutrient inputs and fluxes, on the loss of mass and nutrients during lichen thallus decomposition, and on the role of lichenivorous invertebrates in moderating decomposition. We then consider how differences among lichens impact on their interactions with consumer organisms that utilize lichen thalli, and that range in size from microfauna (for which the primary role of lichens is habitat provision) to large mammals (for which lichens are primarily a food source). We then address how differences among lichens impact on plants, through for example increasing nutrient inputs and availability during primary succession, and serving as a filter for plant seedling establishment. Finally we identify areas in need of further work for better understanding the role of lichens in terrestrial ecosystems. These include

  7. Soil Heat Flow. Physical Processes in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems, Transport Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, James R.

    These materials were designed to be used by life science students for instruction in the application of physical theory to ecosystem operation. Most modules contain computer programs which are built around a particular application of a physical process. Soil heat flow and the resulting soil temperature distributions have ecological consequences…

  8. An experiment framework to identify community functional components driving ecosystem processes and services delivery.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dias, A.; Berg, M.P.; de Bello, F.; van Oosten, A.R.; Bila, K.; Moretti, M.

    2013-01-01

    There is a growing consensus that the distribution of species trait values in a community can greatly determine ecosystem processes and services delivery. Two distinct components of community trait composition are hypothesized to chiefly affect ecosystem processes: (i) the average trait value of the

  9. Terrestrial Ecosystem Responses to Global Change: A Research Strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ecosystems Working Group,

    1998-09-23

    Uncertainty about the magnitude of global change effects on terrestrial ecosystems and consequent feedbacks to the atmosphere impedes sound policy planning at regional, national, and global scales. A strategy to reduce these uncertainties must include a substantial increase in funding for large-scale ecosystem experiments and a careful prioritization of research efforts. Prioritization criteria should be based on the magnitude of potential changes in environmental properties of concern to society, including productivity; biodiversity; the storage and cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients; and sensitivity of specific ecosystems to environmental change. A research strategy is proposed that builds on existing knowledge of ecosystem responses to global change by (1) expanding the spatial and temporal scale of experimental ecosystem manipulations to include processes known to occur at large scales and over long time periods; (2) quantifying poorly understood linkages among processes through the use of experiments that manipulate multiple interacting environmental factors over a broader range of relevant conditions than did past experiments; and (3) prioritizing ecosystems for major experimental manipulations on the basis of potential positive and negative impacts on ecosystem properties and processes of intrinsic and/or utilitarian value to humans and on feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. Models and experiments are equally important for developing process-level understanding into a predictive capability. To support both the development and testing of mechanistic ecosystem models, a two-tiered design of ecosystem experiments should be used. This design should include both (1) large-scale manipulative experiments for comprehensive testing of integrated ecosystem models and (2) multifactor, multilevel experiments for parameterization of process models across the critical range of interacting environmental factors (CO{sub 2}, temperature, water

  10. Shifts in ecosystem services in deprived urban areas: understanding people's responses and consequences for well-being

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marthe L. Derkzen

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Urban commons are under pressure. City development has led to the encroachment and ecological degradation of urban open space. Although there is growing insight that urban ecosystems need to be protected, there is hardly any attention for the consequences (of both pressures and protection efforts for vulnerable human population groups. We aim to understand how urban development affects the well-being of the urban poor, through shifts in ecosystem services (ES and people's responses to these shifts. We performed household interviews and group mapping sessions in seven urban lake communities in Bangalore, India. Changes at Bangalore's lakes can be summarized by three trends: privatization followed by conversion, pollution followed by degradation, and restoration followed by gentrification. Over time, this resulted in a shift in the types of ES supplied and demanded, the nature of use, and de facto governance: from provisioning, communal and public; to cultural, individual, and private. Lake dwellers responded by finding (other sources of income, accepting lower quality or less accessible ES, and/or completely stopping the use of certain ES. The consequences of ecosystem change for people's well-being differ depending on a household's ability to adapt and on individual circumstances, land tenure and financial capital in particular. To guarantee a future for Bangalore's lakes, restoration seems the only viable option. Although beautiful lake parks may be a solution for the well-off and not-too-poor, leaving the very poor without options to adapt to the new circumstances puts them at risk of becoming even more marginalized. We show that ecosystem degradation and restoration alike can impact the well-being of the urban poor. People's experiences allowed us to couple ecosystem change to well-being through ES and adaptation strategies. Hence, we revealed multiple cause-effect relations. Understanding these relations contributes to sustainable urban

  11. Marine ecosystem acoustics (MEA): Quantifying processes in the sea at the spatio-temporal scales on which they occur

    KAUST Repository

    Godøl, Olav Rune

    2014-07-22

    Sustainable management of fisheries resources requires quantitative knowledge and understanding of species distribution, abundance, and productivity-determining processes. Conventional sampling by physical capture is inconsistent with the spatial and temporal scales on which many of these processes occur. In contrast, acoustic observations can be obtained on spatial scales from centimetres to ocean basins, and temporal scales from seconds to seasons. The concept of marine ecosystem acoustics (MEA) is founded on the basic capability of acoustics to detect, classify, and quantify organisms and biological and physical heterogeneities in the water column. Acoustics observations integrate operational technologies, platforms, and models and can generate information by taxon at the relevant scales. The gaps between single-species assessment and ecosystem-based management, as well as between fisheries oceanography and ecology, are thereby bridged. The MEA concept combines state-of-the-art acoustic technology with advanced operational capabilities and tailored modelling integrated into a flexible tool for ecosystem research and monitoring. Case studies are presented to illustrate application of the MEA concept in quantification of biophysical coupling, patchiness of organisms, predator-prey interactions, and fish stock recruitment processes. Widespread implementation of MEA will have a large impact on marine monitoring and assessment practices and it is to be hoped that they also promote and facilitate interaction among disciplines within the marine sciences.

  12. Incorporating Ecosystem Experiments and Observations into Process Models of Forest Carbon and Water Cycles: Challenges and Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, E. J.; Thomas, R. Q.; Sun, G.; McNulty, S. G.; Domec, J. C.; Noormets, A.; King, J. S.

    2015-12-01

    Numerous studies, both experimental and observational, have been conducted over the past two decades in an attempt to understand how water and carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems may respond to changes in climatic conditions. These studies have produced a wealth of detailed data on key processes driving these cycles. In parallel, sophisticated models of these processes have been formulated to answer a variety of questions relevant to natural resource management. Recent advances in data assimilation techniques offer exciting new possibilities to combine this wealth of ecosystem data with process models of ecosystem function to improve prediction and quantify associated uncertainty. Using forests of the southeastern United States as our focus, we will specify how fine-scale physiological (e.g. half-hourly sap flux) can be scaled up with quantified error for use in models of stand growth and hydrology. This approach represents an opportunity to leverage current and past research from experiments including throughfall displacement × fertilization (PINEMAP), irrigation × fertilization (SETRES), elevated CO­2­ (Duke and ORNL FACE) and a variety of observational studies in both conifer and hardwood forests throughout the region, using a common platform for data assimilation and prediction. As part of this discussion, we will address variation in dominant species, stand structure, site age, management practices, soils and climate that represent both challenges to the development of a common analytical approach and opportunities to address questions of interest to policy makers and natural resource managers.

  13. How can we identify and communicate the ecological value of deep-sea ecosystem services?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jobstvogt, Niels; Townsend, Michael; Witte, Ursula; Hanley, Nick

    2014-01-01

    Submarine canyons are considered biodiversity hotspots which have been identified for their important roles in connecting the deep sea with shallower waters. To date, a huge gap exists between the high importance that scientists associate with deep-sea ecosystem services and the communication of this knowledge to decision makers and to the wider public, who remain largely ignorant of the importance of these services. The connectivity and complexity of marine ecosystems makes knowledge transfer very challenging, and new communication tools are necessary to increase understanding of ecological values beyond the science community. We show how the Ecosystem Principles Approach, a method that explains the importance of ocean processes via easily understandable ecological principles, might overcome this challenge for deep-sea ecosystem services. Scientists were asked to help develop a list of clear and concise ecosystem principles for the functioning of submarine canyons through a Delphi process to facilitate future transfers of ecological knowledge. These ecosystem principles describe ecosystem processes, link such processes to ecosystem services, and provide spatial and temporal information on the connectivity between deep and shallow waters. They also elucidate unique characteristics of submarine canyons. Our Ecosystem Principles Approach was successful in integrating ecological information into the ecosystem services assessment process. It therefore has a high potential to be the next step towards a wider implementation of ecological values in marine planning. We believe that successful communication of ecological knowledge is the key to a wider public support for ocean conservation, and that this endeavour has to be driven by scientists in their own interest as major deep-sea stakeholders.

  14. Effects of acidic deposition on nutrient uptake, nutrient cycling and growth processes of vegetation in the spruce-fir ecosystem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McLaughlin, S.B.; Garten, C.T.; Wullschleger, S.D. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)] [and others

    1996-10-16

    This report summarizes progress in three years of field research designed to evaluate biological and chemical indicators of the current and future health of the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir ecosystem. The emphasis of this research has been on the identification and understanding of mechanisms through which current levels of acidic deposition are impacting ecosystem processes. The identification of these principal mechanisms and key biological indicators of change was designed to improve our capabilities to detect, monitor, and assess the effects of air quality regulations and attendant future air quality changes on ecosystem response. Individual research tasks focused on the following research areas: (1) the significance of foliar uptake of atmospheric sources of nitrogen in relationship to plant utilization of N from available soil reserves; (2) linkages between atmospheric inputs to the soil surface, solution chemistry, and decomposition in the upper organic soil horizons; (3) effects of soil solution chemistry on uptake of cations and aluminum by fine roots; and (4) the effects of varying rates of calcium supply on carbon metabolism of Fraser fir and red spruce, and the relationship between calcium levels in wood cells and integrity of wood formed in bole and branches. Each of the individual tasks was designed to focus upon a mechanism or process that we consider critical to understanding chemical and biological linkages. These linkages will be important determinants in understanding the basis of past and potential future responses of the high elevation Southern Appalachian Forest to acidic deposition and other co-occurring environmental stresses. This report contains (1) background and rationale for the research undertaken in 1992-94; (2) a summary of principal research findings; (3) publications from this research; and (4) characterization of data sets produced by this research which will be the basis of future research, analyses and/or publications.

  15. Anomalous CO2 Emissions in Different Ecosystems Around the World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez-Canete, E. P.; Moya Jiménez, M. R.; Kowalski, A. S.; Serrano-Ortiz, P.; López-Ballesteros, A.; Oyonarte, C.; Domingo, F.

    2016-12-01

    As an important tool for understanding and monitoring ecosystem dynamics at ecosystem level, the eddy covariance (EC) technique allows the assessment of the diurnal and seasonal variation of the net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Despite the high temporal resolution data available, there are still many processes (in addition to photosynthesis and respiration) that, although they are being monitored, have been neglected. Only a few authors have studied anomalous CO2 emissions (non biological), and have related them to soil ventilation, photodegradation or geochemical processes. The aim of this study is: 1) to identify anomalous short term CO2 emissions in different ecosystems distributed around the world, 2) to determine the meteorological variables that are influencing these emissions, and 3) to explore the potential processes that can be involved. We have studied EC data together with other meteorological ancillary variables obtained from the FLUXNET database (version 2015) and have found more than 50 sites with anomalous CO2 emissions in different ecosystem types such as grasslands, croplands or savannas. Data were filtered according to the FLUXNET quality control flags (only data with quality control flag equal to 0 was used) and correlation analysis were performed with NEE and ancillary data. Preliminary results showed strong and highly significant correlations between meteorological variables and anomalous CO2 emissions. Correlation results showed clear differing behaviors between ecosystems types, which could be related to the different processes involved in the anomalous CO2 emissions. We suggest that anomalous CO2 emissions are happening globally and therefore, their contribution to the global net ecosystem carbon balance requires further investigation in order to better understand its drivers.

  16. Transdisciplinary science: a path to understanding the interactions among ocean acidification, ecosystems, and society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yates, Kimberly K.; Turley, Carol; Hopkinson, Brian M.; Todgham, Anne E.; Cross, Jessica N.; Greening, Holly; Williamson, Phillip; Van Hooidonk, Ruben; Deheyn, Dimitri D.; Johnson, Zachary

    2015-01-01

    The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observational, and modeling approaches from many disciplines over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Such transdisciplinary science is the next step in providing relevant, meaningful results and optimal guidance to policymakers and coastal managers. We discuss the challenges associated with integrating ocean acidification science across funding agencies, institutions, disciplines, topical areas, and regions, and the value of unifying science objectives and activities to deliver insights into local, regional, and global scale impacts. We identify guiding principles and strategies for developing transdisciplinary research in the ocean acidification science community.

  17. Biomass is the main driver of changes in ecosystem process rates during tropical forest succession

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lohbeck, M.W.M.; Poorter, L.; Martinez-Ramos, M.; Bongers, F.

    2015-01-01

    Over half of the world's forests are disturbed, and the rate at which ecosystem processes recover after disturbance is important for the services these forests can provide. We analyze the drivers' underlying changes in rates of key ecosystem processes (biomass productivity, litter productivity,

  18. β-Diversity, Community Assembly, and Ecosystem Functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mori, Akira S; Isbell, Forest; Seidl, Rupert

    2018-05-25

    Evidence is increasing for positive effects of α-diversity on ecosystem functioning. We highlight here the crucial role of β-diversity - a hitherto underexplored facet of biodiversity - for a better process-level understanding of biodiversity change and its consequences for ecosystems. A focus on β-diversity has the potential to improve predictions of natural and anthropogenic influences on diversity and ecosystem functioning. However, linking the causes and consequences of biodiversity change is complex because species assemblages in nature are shaped by many factors simultaneously, including disturbance, environmental heterogeneity, deterministic niche factors, and stochasticity. Because variability and change are ubiquitous in ecosystems, acknowledging these inherent properties of nature is an essential step for further advancing scientific knowledge of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning in theory and practice. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Soil CO2 dynamics and fluxes as affected by tree harvest in an experimental sand ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    C.K. Keller; T.M. White; R. O' Brien; J.L. Smith

    2006-01-01

    Soil CO2 production is a key process in ecosystem C exchange, and global change predictions require understanding of how ecosystem disturbance affects this process. We monitored CO2 levels in soil gas and as bicarbonate in drainage from an experimental red pine ecosystem, for 1 year before and 3 years after its aboveground...

  20. Toward Understanding, Managing, and Protecting Microbial Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodelier, Paul L. E.

    2011-01-01

    Microbial communities are at the very basis of life on earth, catalyzing biogeochemical reactions driving global nutrient cycles. However, unlike for plants and animals, microbial diversity is not on the biodiversity–conservation agenda. The latter, however, would imply that microbial diversity is not under any threat by anthropogenic disturbance or climate change. This maybe a misconception caused by the rudimentary knowledge we have concerning microbial diversity and its role in ecosystem functioning. This perspective paper identifies major areas with knowledge gaps within the field of environmental microbiology that preclude a comprehension of microbial ecosystems on the level we have for plants and animals. Opportunities and challenges are pointed out to open the microbial black box and to go from descriptive to predictive microbial ecology. PMID:21747797

  1. Towards understanding, managing and protecting microbial ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul eBodelier

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Microbial communities are at the very basis of life on earth, catalysing biogeochemical reactions driving global nutrient cycles. However, unlike for plants and animals, microbial diversity is not on the biodiversity conservation agenda. The latter, however, would imply that microbial diversity is not under any threat by anthropogenic disturbance or climate change. This maybe a misconception caused by the rudimentary knowledge we have concerning microbial diversity and its role in ecosystem functioning. This perspective paper indentifies major areas with knowledge gaps within the field of environmental microbiology that preclude a comprehension of microbial ecosystems on the level we have for plants and animals. Opportunities and challenges are pointed out to open the microbial black box and to go from descriptive to predictive microbial ecology.

  2. Toward understanding, managing, and protecting microbial ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodelier, Paul L E

    2011-01-01

    Microbial communities are at the very basis of life on earth, catalyzing biogeochemical reactions driving global nutrient cycles. However, unlike for plants and animals, microbial diversity is not on the biodiversity-conservation agenda. The latter, however, would imply that microbial diversity is not under any threat by anthropogenic disturbance or climate change. This maybe a misconception caused by the rudimentary knowledge we have concerning microbial diversity and its role in ecosystem functioning. This perspective paper identifies major areas with knowledge gaps within the field of environmental microbiology that preclude a comprehension of microbial ecosystems on the level we have for plants and animals. Opportunities and challenges are pointed out to open the microbial black box and to go from descriptive to predictive microbial ecology.

  3. Understanding deep roots and their functions in ecosystems: an advocacy for more unconventional research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierret, Alain; Maeght, Jean-Luc; Clément, Corentin; Montoroi, Jean-Pierre; Hartmann, Christian; Gonkhamdee, Santimaitree

    2016-01-01

    Background Deep roots are a common trait among a wide range of plant species and biomes, and are pivotal to the very existence of ecosystem services such as pedogenesis, groundwater and streamflow regulation, soil carbon sequestration and moisture content in the lower troposphere. Notwithstanding the growing realization of the functional significance of deep roots across disciplines such as soil science, agronomy, hydrology, ecophysiology or climatology, research efforts allocated to the study of deep roots remain incommensurate with those devoted to shallow roots. This is due in part to the fact that, despite technological advances, observing and measuring deep roots remains challenging. Scope Here, other reasons that explain why there are still so many fundamental unresolved questions related to deep roots are discussed. These include the fact that a number of hypotheses and models that are widely considered as verified and sufficiently robust are only partly supported by data. Evidence has accumulated that deep rooting could be a more widespread and important trait among plants than usually considered based on the share of biomass that it represents. Examples that indicate that plant roots have different structures and play different roles with respect to major biochemical cycles depending on their position within the soil profile are also examined and discussed. Conclusions Current knowledge gaps are identified and new lines of research for improving our understanding of the processes that drive deep root growth and functioning are proposed. This ultimately leads to a reflection on an alternative paradigm that could be used in the future as a unifying framework to describe and analyse deep rooting. Despite the many hurdles that pave the way to a practical understanding of deep rooting functions, it is anticipated that, in the relatively near future, increased knowledge about the deep rooting traits of a variety of plants and crops will have direct and tangible

  4. Understanding the value of plant diversity for ecosystem functioning through niche theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isbell, Forest; Purves, Drew W.; Loreau, Michel

    2016-01-01

    Biodiversity experiments have generated robust empirical results supporting the hypothesis that ecosystems function better when they contain more species. Given that ecosystems provide services that are valued by humans, this inevitably suggests that the loss of species from natural ecosystems could diminish their value. This raises two important questions. First, will experimental results translate into the real world, where species are being lost at an alarming rate? And second, what are the benefits and pitfalls of such valuation exercises? We argue that the empirical results obtained in experiments are entirely consistent with well-established theories of species coexistence. We then examine the current body of work through the lens of niche theory and highlight where closer links with theory could open up opportunities for future research. We argue that niche theory predicts that diversity–functioning relationships are likely to be stronger (and require more species) in the field than in simplified experimental settings. However, we caution that while many of the biological processes that promote coexistence can also generate diversity–function relationships, there is no simple mapping between the two. This implies that valuation exercises need to proceed with care. PMID:27928043

  5. How can we identify and communicate the ecological value of deep-sea ecosystem services?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niels Jobstvogt

    Full Text Available Submarine canyons are considered biodiversity hotspots which have been identified for their important roles in connecting the deep sea with shallower waters. To date, a huge gap exists between the high importance that scientists associate with deep-sea ecosystem services and the communication of this knowledge to decision makers and to the wider public, who remain largely ignorant of the importance of these services. The connectivity and complexity of marine ecosystems makes knowledge transfer very challenging, and new communication tools are necessary to increase understanding of ecological values beyond the science community. We show how the Ecosystem Principles Approach, a method that explains the importance of ocean processes via easily understandable ecological principles, might overcome this challenge for deep-sea ecosystem services. Scientists were asked to help develop a list of clear and concise ecosystem principles for the functioning of submarine canyons through a Delphi process to facilitate future transfers of ecological knowledge. These ecosystem principles describe ecosystem processes, link such processes to ecosystem services, and provide spatial and temporal information on the connectivity between deep and shallow waters. They also elucidate unique characteristics of submarine canyons. Our Ecosystem Principles Approach was successful in integrating ecological information into the ecosystem services assessment process. It therefore has a high potential to be the next step towards a wider implementation of ecological values in marine planning. We believe that successful communication of ecological knowledge is the key to a wider public support for ocean conservation, and that this endeavour has to be driven by scientists in their own interest as major deep-sea stakeholders.

  6. Global meta-analysis of leaf area index in wetlands indicates uncertainties in understanding of their ecosystem function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dronova, I.; Taddeo, S.; Foster, K.

    2017-12-01

    Projecting ecosystem responses to global change relies on the accurate understanding of properties governing their functions in different environments. An important variable in models of ecosystem function is canopy leaf area index (LAI; leaf area per unit ground area) declared as one of the Essential Climate Variables in the Global Climate Observing System and extensively measured in terrestrial landscapes. However, wetlands have been largely under-represented in these efforts, which globally limits understanding of their contribution to carbon sequestration, climate regulation and resilience to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This study provides a global synthesis of >350 wetland-specific LAI observations from 182 studies and compares LAI among wetland ecosystem and vegetation types, biomes and measurement approaches. Results indicate that most wetland types and even individual locations show a substantial local dispersion of LAI values (average coefficient of variation 65%) due to heterogeneity of environmental properties and vegetation composition. Such variation indicates that mean LAI values may not sufficiently represent complex wetland environments, and the use of this index in ecosystem function models needs to incorporate within-site variation in canopy properties. Mean LAI did not significantly differ between direct and indirect measurement methods on a pooled global sample; however, within some of the specific biomes and wetland types significant contrasts between these approaches were detected. These contrasts highlight unique aspects of wetland vegetation physiology and canopy structure affecting measurement principles that need to be considered in generalizing canopy properties in ecosystem models. Finally, efforts to assess wetland LAI using remote sensing strongly indicate the promise of this technology for cost-effective regional-scale modeling of canopy properties similar to terrestrial systems. However, such efforts urgently require more

  7. Measuring spatial patterns in floodplains: A step towards understanding the complexity of floodplain ecosystems: Chapter 6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scown, Murray W.; Thoms, Martin C.; DeJager, Nathan R.; Gilvear, David J.; Greenwood, Malcolm T.; Thoms, Martin C.; Wood, Paul J.

    2016-01-01

    Floodplains can be viewed as complex adaptive systems (Levin, 1998) because they are comprised of many different biophysical components, such as morphological features, soil groups and vegetation communities as well as being sites of key biogeochemical processing (Stanford et al., 2005). Interactions and feedbacks among the biophysical components often result in additional phenomena occuring over a range of scales, often in the absence of any controlling factors (sensu Hallet, 1990). This emergence of new biophysical features and rates of processing can lead to alternative stable states which feed back into floodplain adaptive cycles (cf. Hughes, 1997; Stanford et al., 2005). Interactions between different biophysical components, feedbacks, self emergence and scale are all key properties of complex adaptive systems (Levin, 1998; Phillips, 2003; Murray et al., 2014) and therefore will influence the manner in which we study and view spatial patterns. Measuring the spatial patterns of floodplain biophysical components is a prerequisite to examining and understanding these ecosystems as complex adaptive systems. Elucidating relationships between pattern and process, which are intrinsically linked within floodplains (Ward et al., 2002), is dependent upon an understanding of spatial pattern. This knowledge can help river scientists determine the major drivers, controllers and responses of floodplain structure and function, as well as the consequences of altering those drivers and controllers (Hughes and Cass, 1997; Whited et al., 2007). Interactions and feedbacks between physical, chemical and biological components of floodplain ecosystems create and maintain a structurally diverse and dynamic template (Stanford et al., 2005). This template influences subsequent interactions between components that consequently affect system trajectories within floodplains (sensu Bak et al., 1988). Constructing and evaluating models used to predict floodplain ecosystem responses to

  8. Bringing the ecosystem services concept into marine management decisions, supporting ecosystems-based management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tweddle, J. F.; Byg, A.; Davies, I.; Gubbins, M.; Irvine, K.; Kafas, A.; Kenter, J.; MacDonald, A.; Murray, R. B. O.; Potts, T.; Slater, A. M.; Wright, K.; Scott, B. E.

    2016-12-01

    The marine environment is under increasing use, putting pressure on marine ecosystems and increasing competition for space. New activities (e.g. renewable energy developments), evolving marine policies (e.g. implementation of marine protected areas), and climate change may drive changes in biodiversity and resulting ecosystem services (ES) that society and business utilise from coastal and marine systems. A process is needed that integrates ecological assessment of changes with stakeholder perceptions and valuation of ES, whilst balancing ease of application with the ability to deal with complex social-economic-ecological issues. The project "Cooperative participatory assessment of the impact of renewable technology on ecosystem services: CORPORATES" involved natural and social scientists, law and policy experts, and marine managers, with the aim of promoting more integrated decision making using ES concepts in marine management. CORPORATES developed a process to bring ES concepts into stakeholders' awareness. The interactive process, involving 2 workshops, employs interludes of knowledge exchange by experts on ecological processes underpinning ES and on law and policy. These enable mapping of benefits linked to activities, participatory system modelling, and deliberation of policy impacts on different sectors. The workshops were attended by industry representatives, regulatory/advisory partners, and other stakeholders (NGOs, SMEs, recreationalists, local government). Mixed sector groups produced new insights into links between activities and ES, and highlighted cross-sector concerns. Here we present the aspects of the process that successfully built shared understanding between industry and stakeholders of inter-linkages and interactions between ES, benefits, activities, and economic and cultural values. These methods provide an ES-based decision-support model for exchanging societal-ecological knowledge and providing stakeholder interaction in marine planning

  9. Bridging Food Webs, Ecosystem Metabolism, and Biogeochemistry Using Ecological Stoichiometry Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Welti

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Although aquatic ecologists and biogeochemists are well aware of the crucial importance of ecosystem functions, i.e., how biota drive biogeochemical processes and vice-versa, linking these fields in conceptual models is still uncommon. Attempts to explain the variability in elemental cycling consequently miss an important biological component and thereby impede a comprehensive understanding of the underlying processes governing energy and matter flow and transformation. The fate of multiple chemical elements in ecosystems is strongly linked by biotic demand and uptake; thus, considering elemental stoichiometry is important for both biogeochemical and ecological research. Nonetheless, assessments of ecological stoichiometry (ES often focus on the elemental content of biota rather than taking a more holistic view by examining both elemental pools and fluxes (e.g., organismal stoichiometry and ecosystem process rates. ES theory holds the promise to be a unifying concept to link across hierarchical scales of patterns and processes in ecology, but this has not been fully achieved. Therefore, we propose connecting the expertise of aquatic ecologists and biogeochemists with ES theory as a common currency to connect food webs, ecosystem metabolism, and biogeochemistry, as they are inherently concatenated by the transfer of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous through biotic and abiotic nutrient transformation and fluxes. Several new studies exist that demonstrate the connections between food web ecology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem metabolism. In addition to a general introduction into the topic, this paper presents examples of how these fields can be combined with a focus on ES. In this review, a series of concepts have guided the discussion: (1 changing biogeochemistry affects trophic interactions and ecosystem processes by altering the elemental ratios of key species and assemblages; (2 changing trophic dynamics influences the transformation and

  10. Parallel Computing for Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Dali; Post, Wilfred M.; Ricciuto, Daniel M.; Berry, Michael

    2011-01-01

    Terrestrial ecosystems are a primary component of research on global environmental change. Observational and modeling research on terrestrial ecosystems at the global scale, however, has lagged behind their counterparts for oceanic and atmospheric systems, largely because the unique challenges associated with the tremendous diversity and complexity of terrestrial ecosystems. There are 8 major types of terrestrial ecosystem: tropical rain forest, savannas, deserts, temperate grassland, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tundra, and chaparral. The carbon cycle is an important mechanism in the coupling of terrestrial ecosystems with climate through biological fluxes of CO 2 . The influence of terrestrial ecosystems on atmospheric CO 2 can be modeled via several means at different timescales. Important processes include plant dynamics, change in land use, as well as ecosystem biogeography. Over the past several decades, many terrestrial ecosystem models (see the 'Model developments' section) have been developed to understand the interactions between terrestrial carbon storage and CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere, as well as the consequences of these interactions. Early TECMs generally adapted simple box-flow exchange models, in which photosynthetic CO 2 uptake and respiratory CO 2 release are simulated in an empirical manner with a small number of vegetation and soil carbon pools. Demands on kinds and amount of information required from global TECMs have grown. Recently, along with the rapid development of parallel computing, spatially explicit TECMs with detailed process based representations of carbon dynamics become attractive, because those models can readily incorporate a variety of additional ecosystem processes (such as dispersal, establishment, growth, mortality etc.) and environmental factors (such as landscape position, pest populations, disturbances, resource manipulations, etc.), and provide information to frame policy options for climate change

  11. A process-based framework for soil ecosystem services study and management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Changhong; Liu, Huifang; Wang, Shuai

    2018-06-15

    Soil provides various indispensable ecosystem services for human society. Soil's complex structure and property makes the soil ecological processes complicated and brings about tough challenges for soil ecosystem services study. Most of the current frameworks on soil services focus exclusively on services per se, neglecting the links and underlying ecological mechanisms. This article put forward a framework on soil services by stressing the underlying soil mechanisms and processes, which includes: 1) analyzing soil natural capital stock based on soil structure and property, 2) disentangling the underlying complex links and soil processes, 3) soil services valuation based on field investigation and spatial explicit models, and 4) enacting soil management strategy based on soil services and their driving factors. By application of this framework, we assessed the soil services of sediment retention, water yield, and grain production in the Upper-reach Fenhe Watershed. Based on the ecosystem services and human driving factors, the whole watershed was clustered into five groups: 1) municipal area, 2) typical coal mining area, 3) traditional farming area, 4) unsustainable urbanizing area, and 5) ecological conservation area. Management strategies on soils were made according to the clustering based soil services and human activities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. An experimental framework to identify community functional components driving ecosystem processes and services delivery

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Dias, A. T. C.; Berg, M. P.; de Bello, Francesco; Oosten, A. R. V.; Bílá, Karolína; Morreti, M.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 101, č. 1 (2013), s. 29-37 ISSN 0022-0477 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP505/12/1296 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 ; RVO:67179843 Keywords : CWM * ecosystem functioning * ecosystem processes * ecosystem services * functional divergence * functional diversity * functional evenness * functional richness * mass ratio hypothesis * Rao index Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour; EF - Botanics (BU-J) Impact factor: 5.694, year: 2013

  13. The ecosystem approach as a framework for understanding knowledge utilisation

    OpenAIRE

    Roy Haines-Young; Marion Potschin

    2014-01-01

    The ecosystem approach is used to analyse four case studies from England to determine what kind of ecosystem knowledge was used by people, and how it shaped their arguments. The results are reported across decision-making venues concerned with: innovation, conflict management, maintenance of ecosystem function, and recognising the environment as an asset. In each area we identify the sources and uses of conceptual, instrumental, political, and social knowledge. We found that the use of these ...

  14. Biocomplexity in Mangrove Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feller, I. C.; Lovelock, C. E.; Berger, U.; McKee, K. L.; Joye, S. B.; Ball, M. C.

    2010-01-01

    Mangroves are an ecological assemblage of trees and shrubs adapted to grow in intertidal environments along tropical coasts. Despite repeated demonstration of their economic and societal value, more than 50% of the world's mangroves have been destroyed, 35% in the past two decades to aquaculture and coastal development, altered hydrology, sea-level rise, and nutrient overenrichment. Variations in the structure and function of mangrove ecosystems have generally been described solely on the basis of a hierarchical classification of the physical characteristics of the intertidal environment, including climate, geomorphology, topography, and hydrology. Here, we use the concept of emergent properties at multiple levels within a hierarchical framework to review how the interplay between specialized adaptations and extreme trait plasticity that characterizes mangroves and intertidal environments gives rise to the biocomplexity that distinguishes mangrove ecosystems. The traits that allow mangroves to tolerate variable salinity, flooding, and nutrient availability influence ecosystem processes and ultimately the services they provide. We conclude that an integrated research strategy using emergent properties in empirical and theoretical studies provides a holistic approach for understanding and managing mangrove ecosystems.

  15. Effect of ecosystems substitutions and CO2 increase of the atmosphere on the microbial ecosystems of forests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, F.

    2007-01-01

    Biological diversity is often exclusively considered at the level of plants and animals, whereas the bulk of global biodiversity is in fact at the microbial level. Although it is clear that the ecology of our planet is driven by microbial ecosystems, we are severely hampered by our limited understanding of the diversity and function of such microbial ecosystems. In the present project, teams in the disciplines of geochemistry, soil microbiology, genomics and ecosystem processes are assembled to study the relationship between environmental change, land use changes, biodiversity, and functioning of forest ecosystems. The network has a strong focus on developing and applying biochemical and genotyping methodologies to address key scientific issues in soil microbial ecology. These include assessing the impact of environmental- and land use changes on microbial diversity and function and exploring the evolutionary and mechanistic links between biological diversity and ecosystem function. In the present study, we have shown that: (1) The native mixed forest showed the highest microbial diversity (2) The mono specific plantations of tree species (e.g., oak, beech, pine, spruce) strikingly alter genetic and functional diversities of soil bacterial and fungal species. (3) Bacterial denitrification rates were dramatically modified by the planted species. Only by taking into account the impact of forest management on below-ground microbial diversity can one hope to get a full ecosystem-based understanding, and this must be addressed via modelling in order to provide relevant and useful information for conservation and policy making. (author)

  16. Seagrass sediments reveal the long-term deterioration of an estuarine ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serrano, Oscar; Lavery, Paul; Masque, Pere; Inostroza, Karina; Bongiovanni, James; Duarte, Carlos

    2016-04-01

    The study of a Posidonia australis sediment archive has provided a record of ecosystem dynamics and processes over the last 600 years in Oyster Harbour (SW Australia). Ecosystem shifts are a widespread phenomenon in coastal areas, and this study identifies baseline conditions and the time-course of ecological change (cycles, trends, resilience and thresholds of ecosystem change) under environmental stress in seagrass-dominated ecosystem. The shifts in the concentrations of chemical elements, carbonates, sediments ecosystem and the associated regime shifts, which can be used to improve the capacity of scientists and environmental managers to understand, predict and better manage ecological change in these ecosystems. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Nitrous oxide emissions from soils: how well do we understand the processes and their controls?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Baggs, Elizabeth M.; Dannenmann, Michael; Kiese, Ralf; Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Sophie

    2013-01-01

    Although it is well established that soils are the dominating source for atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O), we are still struggling to fully understand the complexity of the underlying microbial production and consumption processes and the links to biotic (e.g. inter- and intraspecies competition, food webs, plant–microbe interaction) and abiotic (e.g. soil climate, physics and chemistry) factors. Recent work shows that a better understanding of the composition and diversity of the microbial community across a variety of soils in different climates and under different land use, as well as plant–microbe interactions in the rhizosphere, may provide a key to better understand the variability of N2O fluxes at the soil–atmosphere interface. Moreover, recent insights into the regulation of the reduction of N2O to dinitrogen (N2) have increased our understanding of N2O exchange. This improved process understanding, building on the increased use of isotope tracing techniques and metagenomics, needs to go along with improvements in measurement techniques for N2O (and N2) emission in order to obtain robust field and laboratory datasets for different ecosystem types. Advances in both fields are currently used to improve process descriptions in biogeochemical models, which may eventually be used not only to test our current process understanding from the microsite to the field level, but also used as tools for up-scaling emissions to landscapes and regions and to explore feedbacks of soil N2O emissions to changes in environmental conditions, land management and land use. PMID:23713120

  18. Fort Collins Science Center Ecosystem Dynamics Branch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Jim; Melcher, C.; Bowen, Z.

    2009-01-01

    Complex natural resource issues require understanding a web of interactions among ecosystem components that are (1) interdisciplinary, encompassing physical, chemical, and biological processes; (2) spatially complex, involving movements of animals, water, and airborne materials across a range of landscapes and jurisdictions; and (3) temporally complex, occurring over days, weeks, or years, sometimes involving response lags to alteration or exhibiting large natural variation. Scientists in the Ecosystem Dynamics Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, investigate a diversity of these complex natural resource questions at the landscape and systems levels. This Fact Sheet describes the work of the Ecosystems Dynamics Branch, which is focused on energy and land use, climate change and long-term integrated assessments, herbivore-ecosystem interactions, fire and post-fire restoration, and environmental flows and river restoration.

  19. Monetary accounting of ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Remme, R.P.; Edens, Bram; Schröter, Matthias; Hein, Lars

    2015-01-01

    Ecosystem accounting aims to provide a better understanding of ecosystem contributions to the economy in a spatially explicit way. Ecosystem accounting monitors ecosystem services and measures their monetary value using exchange values consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA). We

  20. Interregional flows of ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schröter, Matthias; Koellner, Thomas; Alkemade, Rob; Arnhold, Sebastian; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Erb, Karl Heinz; Frank, Karin; Kastner, Thomas; Kissinger, Meidad; Liu, Jianguo; López-Hoffman, Laura; Maes, Joachim; Marques, Alexandra; Martín-López, Berta; Meyer, Carsten; Schulp, Catharina J.E.; Thober, Jule; Wolff, Sarah; Bonn, Aletta

    2018-01-01

    Conserving and managing global natural capital requires an understanding of the complexity of flows of ecosystem services across geographic boundaries. Failing to understand and to incorporate these flows into national and international ecosystem assessments leads to incomplete and potentially

  1. Functional traits explain ecosystem function through opposing mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadotte, Marc W

    2017-08-01

    The ability to explain why multispecies assemblages produce greater biomass compared to monocultures, has been a central goal in the quest to understand biodiversity effects on ecosystem function. Species contributions to ecosystem function can be driven by two processes: niche complementarity and a selection effect that is influenced by fitness (competitive) differences, and both can be approximated with measures of species' traits. It has been hypothesised that fitness differences are associated with few, singular traits while complementarity requires multidimensional trait measures. Here, using experimental data from plant assemblages, I show that the selection effect was strongest when trait dissimilarity was low, while complementarity was greatest with high trait dissimilarity. Selection effects were best explained by a single trait, plant height. Complementarity was correlated with dissimilarity across multiple traits, representing above and below ground processes. By identifying the relevant traits linked to ecosystem function, we obtain the ability to predict combinations of species that will maximise ecosystem function. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  2. Understanding the structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    David J. Nowak

    1994-01-01

    Urban forests are complex ecosystems created by the interaction of anthropogenic and natural processes. One key to better management of these systems is to understand urban forest structure and its relationship to forest functions. Through sampling and inventories, urban foresters often obtain structural information (e.g., numbers, location, size, and condition) on...

  3. Ecosystem services as a common language for coastal ecosystem-based management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granek, Elise F; Polasky, Stephen; Kappel, Carrie V; Reed, Denise J; Stoms, David M; Koch, Evamaria W; Kennedy, Chris J; Cramer, Lori A; Hacker, Sally D; Barbier, Edward B; Aswani, Shankar; Ruckelshaus, Mary; Perillo, Gerardo M E; Silliman, Brian R; Muthiga, Nyawira; Bael, David; Wolanski, Eric

    2010-02-01

    Ecosystem-based management is logistically and politically challenging because ecosystems are inherently complex and management decisions affect a multitude of groups. Coastal ecosystems, which lie at the interface between marine and terrestrial ecosystems and provide an array of ecosystem services to different groups, aptly illustrate these challenges. Successful ecosystem-based management of coastal ecosystems requires incorporating scientific information and the knowledge and views of interested parties into the decision-making process. Estimating the provision of ecosystem services under alternative management schemes offers a systematic way to incorporate biogeophysical and socioeconomic information and the views of individuals and groups in the policy and management process. Employing ecosystem services as a common language to improve the process of ecosystem-based management presents both benefits and difficulties. Benefits include a transparent method for assessing trade-offs associated with management alternatives, a common set of facts and common currency on which to base negotiations, and improved communication among groups with competing interests or differing worldviews. Yet challenges to this approach remain, including predicting how human interventions will affect ecosystems, how such changes will affect the provision of ecosystem services, and how changes in service provision will affect the welfare of different groups in society. In a case study from Puget Sound, Washington, we illustrate the potential of applying ecosystem services as a common language for ecosystem-based management.

  4. TERRECO: A Flux-Based Approach to Understanding Landscape Change, Potentials of Resilience and Sustainability in Ecosystem Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenhunen, J. D.; Kang, S.

    2011-12-01

    The Millenium Assessment has provided a broad perspective on the ways and degree to which global change has stressed ecosystems and their potential to deliver goods and services to mankind. Management of natural resources at regional scale requires a clear understanding of the ways that ongoing human activities modify or create new system stressors, leading to net gains or losses in ecosystem services. Ever since information from the International Biological Program (IBP) was summarized in the 1960s, we know that ecosystem stress response, recovery and resilience are related to changes in ecosystem turnover of materials, nutrient retention or loss, resource use efficiencies, and additional ecosystem properties that determine fluxes of carbon, water and nutrients. At landscape or regional scale, changes in system drivers influence land-surface to atmosphere gas exchange (water, carbon and trace gas emissions), the seasonal course of soil resource stores, hydrology, and transport of nutrients and carbon into and through river systems. In today's terminology, shifts in these fluxes indicate a modification of potential ecosystem services provided to us by the landscape or region of interest, and upon which we depend. Ongoing modeling efforts of the TERRECO project carried out in S. Korea focus on describing landscape and regional level flow networks for carbon, water, and nutrients, but in addition monetary flows associated with gains and losses in ecosystem services (cf. Fig. 1). The description is embedded within a framework which examines the trade-offs between agricultural intensification versus yield of high quality water to reservoirs for drinking water supply. The models also quantify hypothetical changes in flow networks that would occur in the context of climate, land use and social change scenarios.

  5. Forest Soil Bacteria: Diversity, Involvement in Ecosystem Processes, and Response to Global Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lladó, Salvador; López-Mondéjar, Rubén; Baldrian, Petr

    2017-06-01

    The ecology of forest soils is an important field of research due to the role of forests as carbon sinks. Consequently, a significant amount of information has been accumulated concerning their ecology, especially for temperate and boreal forests. Although most studies have focused on fungi, forest soil bacteria also play important roles in this environment. In forest soils, bacteria inhabit multiple habitats with specific properties, including bulk soil, rhizosphere, litter, and deadwood habitats, where their communities are shaped by nutrient availability and biotic interactions. Bacteria contribute to a range of essential soil processes involved in the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. They take part in the decomposition of dead plant biomass and are highly important for the decomposition of dead fungal mycelia. In rhizospheres of forest trees, bacteria interact with plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi as commensalists or mycorrhiza helpers. Bacteria also mediate multiple critical steps in the nitrogen cycle, including N fixation. Bacterial communities in forest soils respond to the effects of global change, such as climate warming, increased levels of carbon dioxide, or anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. This response, however, often reflects the specificities of each studied forest ecosystem, and it is still impossible to fully incorporate bacteria into predictive models. The understanding of bacterial ecology in forest soils has advanced dramatically in recent years, but it is still incomplete. The exact extent of the contribution of bacteria to forest ecosystem processes will be recognized only in the future, when the activities of all soil community members are studied simultaneously. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

  6. Forest Ecosystem Processes at the Watershed Scale: Ecosystem services, feedback and evolution in developing mountainous catchments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Band, Larry

    2010-05-01

    significant increase in population in the Southern Appalachians, with new building of second homes in steep headwaters, requiring significant expansion in high altitude roads, in contrast with traditional valley bottom development. With additional increases in hydrologic extremes (heavy precipitation and drought), and progressive changes in forest composition there has been increases in hazard from flash flooding, landslide activity and degraded water quality. The evaluation of integrated watershed impacts of the expected changes in climate and land management requires an interdisciplinary approach including direct feedbacks between ecological, hydrological, geomorphic and atmospheric processes within the framework of an adapting social system. Advances in this type of interdisciplinary research require a network of ecohydrologic observatories generating long term, multi-dimensional data, and a science community working across the interface of multiple fields. Adding individual and institutional behavior as an input or interactive component of watershed ecosystems remains a challenge that spans ecological, hydrological and social science.

  7. Bridging food webs, ecosystem metabolism, and biogeochemistry using ecological stoichiometry theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Welti, Nina; Striebel, Maren; Ulseth, Amber J.

    2017-01-01

    process rates). ES theory holds the promise to be a unifying concept to link across hierarchical scales of patterns and processes in ecology, but this has not been fully achieved. Therefore, we propose connecting the expertise of aquatic ecologists and biogeochemists with ES theory as a common currency......, we propose that using ES to link nutrient cycling, trophic dynamics, and ecosystem metabolism would allow for a more holistic understanding of ecosystem functions in a changing environment....

  8. Ecosystem services provided by waterbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Andy J; Elmberg, Johan

    2014-02-01

    Ecosystem services are ecosystem processes that directly or indirectly benefit human well-being. There has been much recent literature identifying different services and the communities and species that provide them. This is a vital first step towards management and maintenance of these services. In this review, we specifically address the waterbirds, which play key functional roles in many aquatic ecosystems, including as predators, herbivores and vectors of seeds, invertebrates and nutrients, although these roles have often been overlooked. Waterbirds can maintain the diversity of other organisms, control pests, be effective bioindicators of ecological conditions, and act as sentinels of potential disease outbreaks. They also provide important provisioning (meat, feathers, eggs, etc.) and cultural services to both indigenous and westernized societies. We identify key gaps in the understanding of ecosystem services provided by waterbirds and areas for future research required to clarify their functional role in ecosystems and the services they provide. We consider how the economic value of these services could be calculated, giving some examples. Such valuation will provide powerful arguments for waterbird conservation. © 2013 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2013 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

  9. Organism-Sediment Interactions Govern Post-Hypoxia Recovery of Ecosystem Functioning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Colen, Carl; Rossi, Francesca; Montserrat, Francesc; Andersson, Maria G. I.; Gribsholt, Britta; Herman, Peter M. J.; Degraer, Steven; Vincx, Magda; Ysebaert, Tom; Middelburg, Jack J.

    2012-01-01

    Hypoxia represents one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning loss for coastal waters. Since eutrophication-induced hypoxic events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, understanding the response of ecosystems to hypoxia is of primary importance to understand and predict the stability of ecosystem functioning. Such ecological stability may greatly depend on the recovery patterns of communities and the return time of the system properties associated to these patterns. Here, we have examined how the reassembly of a benthic community contributed to the recovery of ecosystem functioning following experimentally-induced hypoxia in a tidal flat. We demonstrate that organism-sediment interactions that depend on organism size and relate to mobility traits and sediment reworking capacities are generally more important than recovering species richness to set the return time of the measured sediment processes and properties. Specifically, increasing macrofauna bioturbation potential during community reassembly significantly contributed to the recovery of sediment processes and properties such as denitrification, bedload sediment transport, primary production and deep pore water ammonium concentration. Such bioturbation potential was due to the replacement of the small-sized organisms that recolonised at early stages by large-sized bioturbating organisms, which had a disproportionately stronger influence on sediment. This study suggests that the complete recovery of organism-sediment interactions is a necessary condition for ecosystem functioning recovery, and that such process requires long periods after disturbance due to the slow growth of juveniles into adult stages involved in these interactions. Consequently, repeated episodes of disturbance at intervals smaller than the time needed for the system to fully recover organism-sediment interactions may greatly impair the resilience of ecosystem functioning. PMID:23185440

  10. Improving the Understanding and Model Representation of Processes that Couple Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fast, J. D.; Berg, L. K.; Schmid, B.; Alexander, M. L. L.; Bell, D.; D'Ambro, E.; Hubbe, J. M.; Liu, J.; Mei, F.; Pekour, M. S.; Pinterich, T.; Schobesberger, S.; Shilling, J.; Springston, S. R.; Thornton, J. A.; Tomlinson, J. M.; Wang, J.; Zelenyuk, A.

    2016-12-01

    Cumulus convection is an important component in the atmospheric radiation budget and hydrologic cycle over the southern Great Plains and over many regions of the world, particularly during the summertime growing season when intense turbulence induced by surface radiation couples the land surface to clouds. Current convective cloud parameterizations, however, contain uncertainties resulting from insufficient coincident data that couples cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to inhomogeneity in surface layer, boundary layer, and aerosol properties. We describe the measurement strategy and preliminary findings from the recent Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) campaign conducted in May and September of 2016 in the vicinity of the DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site located in Oklahoma. The goal of the HI-SCALE campaign is to provide a detailed set of aircraft and surface measurements needed to obtain a more complete understanding and improved parameterizations of the lifecycle of shallow clouds. The sampling is done in two periods, one in the spring and the other in the late summer to take advantage of variations in the "greenness" for various types of vegetation, new particle formation, anthropogenic enhancement of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA), and other aerosol properties. The aircraft measurements will be coupled with extensive routine ARM SGP measurements as well as Large Eddy Simulation (LES), cloud resolving, and cloud-system resolving models. Through these integrated analyses and modeling studies, the affects of inhomogeneity in land use, vegetation, soil moisture, convective eddies, and aerosol properties on the evolution of shallow clouds will be determined, including the feedbacks of cloud radiative effects.

  11. Perception, acquisition and use of ecosystem services: human behavior, and ecosystem management and policy implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley T. Asah; Anne D. Guerry; Dale J. Blahna; Joshua J. Lawler

    2014-01-01

    Ecosystem services, fundamental to livelihoods and well-being, are reshaping environmental management and policy. However, the behavioral dimensions of ecosystem services and the responses of ordinary people to the management of those services, is less well understood. The ecosystem services framework lends itself to understanding the relationship between ecosystems...

  12. The Smithsonian-led Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO): Proposed Model for a Collaborative Network Linking Marine Biodiversity to Ecosystem Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, J. E.

    2016-02-01

    Biodiversity - the variety of functional types of organisms - is the engine of marine ecosystem processes, including productivity, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Biodiversity remains a black box in much of ocean science, despite wide recognition that effectively managing human interactions with marine ecosystems requires understanding both structure and functional consequences of biodiversity. Moreover, the inherent complexity of biological systems puts a premium on data-rich, comparative approaches, which are best met via collaborative networks. The Smithsonian Institution's MarineGEO program links a growing network of partners conducting parallel, comparative research to understand change in marine biodiversity and ecosystems, natural and anthropogenic drivers of that change, and the ecological processes mediating it. The focus is on nearshore, seabed-associated systems where biodiversity and human population are concentrated and interact most, yet which fall through the cracks of existing ocean observing programs. MarineGEO offers a standardized toolbox of research modules that efficiently capture key elements of biological diversity and its importance in ecological processes across a range of habitats. The toolbox integrates high-tech (DNA-based, imaging) and low-tech protocols (diver surveys, rapid assays of consumer activity) adaptable to differing institutional capacity and resources. The model for long-term sustainability involves leveraging in-kind support among partners, adoption of best practices wherever possible, engagement of students and citizen scientists, and benefits of training, networking, and global relevance as incentives for participation. Here I highlight several MarineGEO comparative research projects demonstrating the value of standardized, scalable assays and parallel experiments for measuring fish and invertebrate diversity, recruitment, benthic herbivory and generalist predation, decomposition, and carbon sequestration. Key

  13. The role of remote sensing in process‐scaling studies of managed forest ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffrey G. Masek; Daniel J. Hayes; M. Joseph Hughes; Sean P. Healey; David P. Turner

    2015-01-01

    Sustaining forest resources requires a better understanding of forest ecosystem processes, and how management decisions and climate change may affect these processes in the future. While plot and inventory data provide our most detailed information on forest carbon, energy, and water cycling, applying this understanding to broader spatial and temporal domains...

  14. Conceptualizing Stakeholders' Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, Rita; Videira, Nuno

    2015-12-01

    A participatory system dynamics modelling approach is advanced to support conceptualization of feedback processes underlying ecosystem services and to foster a shared understanding of leverage intervention points. The process includes systems mapping workshop and follow-up tasks aiming at the collaborative construction of causal loop diagrams. A case study developed in a natural area in Portugal illustrates how a stakeholder group was actively engaged in the development of a conceptual model depicting policies for sustaining the climate regulation ecosystem service.

  15. Conceptualizing Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Systems Mapping Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lopes Rita

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A participatory system dynamics modelling approach is advanced to support conceptualization of feedback processes underlying ecosystem services and to foster a shared understanding of leverage intervention points. The process includes systems mapping workshop and follow-up tasks aiming at the collaborative construction of causal loop diagrams. A case study developed in a natural area in Portugal illustrates how a stakeholder group was actively engaged in the development of a conceptual model depicting policies for sustaining the climate regulation ecosystem service.

  16. Forest Fragmentation and Selective Logging Have Inconsistent Effects on Multiple Animal-Mediated Ecosystem Processes in a Tropical Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schleuning, Matthias; Farwig, Nina; Peters, Marcell K.; Bergsdorf, Thomas; Bleher, Bärbel; Brandl, Roland; Dalitz, Helmut; Fischer, Georg; Freund, Wolfram; Gikungu, Mary W.; Hagen, Melanie; Garcia, Francisco Hita; Kagezi, Godfrey H.; Kaib, Manfred; Kraemer, Manfred; Lung, Tobias; Schaab, Gertrud; Templin, Mathias; Uster, Dana; Wägele, J. Wolfgang; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin

    2011-01-01

    Forest fragmentation and selective logging are two main drivers of global environmental change and modify biodiversity and environmental conditions in many tropical forests. The consequences of these changes for the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems have rarely been explored in a comprehensive approach. In a Kenyan rainforest, we studied six animal-mediated ecosystem processes and recorded species richness and community composition of all animal taxa involved in these processes. We used linear models and a formal meta-analysis to test whether forest fragmentation and selective logging affected ecosystem processes and biodiversity and used structural equation models to disentangle direct from biodiversity-related indirect effects of human disturbance on multiple ecosystem processes. Fragmentation increased decomposition and reduced antbird predation, while selective logging consistently increased pollination, seed dispersal and army-ant raiding. Fragmentation modified species richness or community composition of five taxa, whereas selective logging did not affect any component of biodiversity. Changes in the abundance of functionally important species were related to lower predation by antbirds and higher decomposition rates in small forest fragments. The positive effects of selective logging on bee pollination, bird seed dispersal and army-ant raiding were direct, i.e. not related to changes in biodiversity, and were probably due to behavioural changes of these highly mobile animal taxa. We conclude that animal-mediated ecosystem processes respond in distinct ways to different types of human disturbance in Kakamega Forest. Our findings suggest that forest fragmentation affects ecosystem processes indirectly by changes in biodiversity, whereas selective logging influences processes directly by modifying local environmental conditions and resource distributions. The positive to neutral effects of selective logging on ecosystem processes show that the

  17. Using a Forest Health Index as an Outreach Tool for Improving Public Understanding of Ecosystem Dynamics and Research-Based Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osenga, E. C.; Cundiff, J.; Arnott, J. C.; Katzenberger, J.; Taylor, J. R.; Jack-Scott, E.

    2015-12-01

    An interactive tool called the Forest Health Index (FHI) has been developed for the Roaring Fork watershed of Colorado, with the purpose of improving public understanding of local forest management and ecosystem dynamics. The watershed contains large areas of White River National Forest, which plays a significant role in the local economy, particularly for recreation and tourism. Local interest in healthy forests is therefore strong, but public understanding of forest ecosystems is often simplified. This can pose challenges for land managers and researchers seeking a scientifically informed approach to forest restoration, management, and planning. Now in its second iteration, the FHI is a tool designed to help bridge that gap. The FHI uses a suite of indicators to create a numeric rating of forest functionality and change, based on the desired forest state in relation to four categories: Ecological Integrity, Public Health and Safety, Ecosystem Services, and Sustainable Use and Management. The rating is based on data derived from several sources including local weather stations, stream gauge data, SNOTEL sites, and National Forest Service archives. In addition to offering local outreach and education, this project offers broader insight into effective communication methods, as well as into the challenges of using quantitative analysis to rate ecosystem health. Goals of the FHI include its use in schools as a means of using local data and place-based learning to teach basic math and science concepts, improved public understanding of ecological complexity and need for ongoing forest management, and, in the future, its use as a model for outreach tools in other forested communities in the Intermountain West.

  18. Comparison of a Mass Balance and an Ecosystem Model Approach when Evaluating the Carbon Cycling in a Lake Ecosystem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersson, Eva; Sobek, Sebastian

    2006-01-01

    Carbon budgets are frequently used in order to understand the pathways of organic matter in ecosystems, and they also have an important function in the risk assessment of harmful substances. We compared two approaches, mass balance calculations and an ecosystem budget, to describe carbon processing in a shallow, oligotrophic hardwater lake. Both approaches come to the same main conclusion, namely that the lake is a net auto trophic ecosystem, in spite of its high dissolved organic carbon and low total phosphorus concentrations. However, there were several differences between the carbon budgets, e.g. in the rate of sedimentation and the air-water flux of CO 2 . The largest uncertainty in the mass balance is the contribution of emergent macrophytes to the carbon cycling of the lake, while the ecosystem budget is very sensitive towards the choice of conversion factors and literature values. While the mass balance calculations produced more robust results, the ecosystem budget gave valuable insights into the pathways of organic matter transfer in the ecosystem. We recommend that when using an ecosystem budget for the risk assessment of harmful substances, mass balance calculations should be performed in parallel in order to increase the robustness of the conclusions

  19. The Swedish Research Infrastructure for Ecosystem Science - SITES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindroth, A.; Ahlström, M.; Augner, M.; Erefur, C.; Jansson, G.; Steen Jensen, E.; Klemedtsson, L.; Langenheder, S.; Rosqvist, G. N.; Viklund, J.

    2017-12-01

    The vision of SITES is to promote long-term field-based ecosystem research at a world class level by offering an infrastructure with excellent technical and scientific support and services attracting both national and international researchers. In addition, SITES will make data freely and easily available through an advanced data portal which will add value to the research. During the first funding period, three innovative joint integrating facilities were established through a researcher-driven procedure: SITES Water, SITES Spectral, and SITES AquaNet. These new facilities make it possible to study terrestrial and limnic ecosystem processes across a range of ecosystem types and climatic gradients, with common protocols and similar equipment. In addition, user-driven development at the nine individual stations has resulted in e.g. design of a long-term agricultural systems experiment, and installation of weather stations, flux systems, etc. at various stations. SITES, with its integrative approach and broad coverage of climate and ecosystem types across Sweden, constitutes an excellent platform for state-of-the-art research projects. SITES' support the development of: A better understanding of the way in which key ecosystems function and interact with each other at the landscape level and with the climate system in terms of mass and energy exchanges. A better understanding of the role of different organisms in controlling different processes and ultimately the functioning of ecosystems. New strategies for forest management to better meet the many and varied requirements from nature conservation, climate and wood, fibre, and energy supply points of view. Agricultural systems that better utilize resources and minimize adverse impacts on the environment. Collaboration with other similar infrastructures and networks is a high priority for SITES. This will enable us to make use of each others' experiences, harmonize metadata for easier exchange of data, and support each

  20. Linking trajectories of land change, land degradation processes and ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smiraglia, D.; Ceccarelli, T.; Bajocco, S.; Salvati, L.; Perini, L.

    2016-01-01

    Land Degradation (LD) is a complex phenomenon resulting in a progressive reduction in the capacity of providing ecosystem services (ES). Landscape transformations promoting an unsustainable use of land often reveal latent processes of LD. An evaluation carried out in respect to the different

  1. Carbon dynamics and ecosystem diversity of Amazonian peatlands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laehteenoja, O.

    2011-07-01

    The overall aim was to initiate peatland research in Amazonia, which has been referred to as 'one of the large white spots on the global peatland map'. Specifically, the study was to clarify how common peat accumulation is on Amazonian floodplains, and how extensive and thick peat deposits can be encountered. Secondly, the intention was to study how rapidly Amazonian peatlands sequester carbon, and how much carbon they store and thirdly, to gain some understanding of the diversity of peatland ecosystem types and of the processes forming these ecosystems

  2. Estimating daytime ecosystem respiration from eddy-flux data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruhn, Dan; Mikkelsen, Teis Nørgaard; Herbst, Mathias

    2011-01-01

    To understand what governs the patterns of net ecosystem exchange of CO2, an understanding of factors influencing the component fluxes, ecosystem respiration and gross primary production is needed. In the present paper, we introduce an alternative method for estimating daytime ecosystem respiration...... based on whole ecosystem fluxes from a linear regression of photosynthetic photon flux density data vs. daytime net ecosystem exchange data at forest ecosystem level. This method is based on the principles of the Kok-method applied at leaf level for estimating daytime respiration. We demonstrate...

  3. What makes process models understandable?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mendling, J.; Reijers, H.A.; Cardoso, J.; Alonso, G.; Dadam, P.; Rosemann, M.

    2007-01-01

    Despite that formal and informal quality aspects are of significant importance to business process modeling, there is only little empirical work reported on process model quality and its impact factors. In this paper we investigate understandability as a proxy for quality of process models and focus

  4. Nonlinear ecosystem services response to groundwater availability under climate extremes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, J.; Zipper, S. C.; Motew, M.; Booth, E.; Kucharik, C. J.; Steven, L. I.

    2017-12-01

    Depletion of groundwater has been accelerating at regional to global scales. Besides serving domestic, industrial and agricultural needs, in situ groundwater is also a key control on biological, physical and chemical processes across the critical zone, all of which underpin supply of ecosystem services essential for humanity. While there is a rich history of research on groundwater effects on subsurface and surface processes, understanding interactions, nonlinearity and feedbacks between groundwater and ecosystem services remain limited, and almost absent in the ecosystem service literature. Moreover, how climate extremes may alter groundwater effects on services is underexplored. In this research, we used a process-based ecosystem model (Agro-IBIS) to quantify groundwater effects on eight ecosystem services related to food, water and biogeochemical processes in an urbanizing agricultural watershed in the Midwest, USA. We asked: (1) Which ecosystem services are more susceptible to shallow groundwater influences? (2) Do effects of groundwater on ecosystem services vary under contrasting climate conditions (i.e., dry, wet and average)? (3) Where on the landscape are groundwater effects on ecosystem services most pronounced? (4) How do groundwater effects depend on water table depth? Overall, groundwater significantly impacted all services studied, with the largest effects on food production, water quality and quantity, and flood regulation services. Climate also mediated groundwater effects with the strongest effects occurring under dry climatic conditions. There was substantial spatial heterogeneity in groundwater effects across the landscape that is driven in part by spatial variations in water table depth. Most ecosystem services responded nonlinearly to groundwater availability, with most apparent groundwater effects occurring when the water table is shallower than a critical depth of 2.5-m. Our findings provide compelling evidence that groundwater plays a vital

  5. AFSC/ABL: Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) fish and oceanography data

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Understanding the processes that regulate early marine survival of salmon is a major goal of the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) Northeast Pacific (NEP)...

  6. Stormwater management and ecosystem services: a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prudencio, Liana; Null, Sarah E.

    2018-03-01

    Researchers and water managers have turned to green stormwater infrastructure, such as bioswales, retention basins, wetlands, rain gardens, and urban green spaces to reduce flooding, augment surface water supplies, recharge groundwater, and improve water quality. It is increasingly clear that green stormwater infrastructure not only controls stormwater volume and timing, but also promotes ecosystem services, which are the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans. Yet there has been little synthesis focused on understanding how green stormwater management affects ecosystem services. The objectives of this paper are to review and synthesize published literature on ecosystem services and green stormwater infrastructure and identify gaps in research and understanding, establishing a foundation for research at the intersection of ecosystems services and green stormwater management. We reviewed 170 publications on stormwater management and ecosystem services, and summarized the state-of-the-science categorized by the four types of ecosystem services. Major findings show that: (1) most research was conducted at the parcel-scale and should expand to larger scales to more closely understand green stormwater infrastructure impacts, (2) nearly a third of papers developed frameworks for implementing green stormwater infrastructure and highlighted barriers, (3) papers discussed ecosystem services, but less than 40% quantified ecosystem services, (4) no geographic trends emerged, indicating interest in applying green stormwater infrastructure across different contexts, (5) studies increasingly integrate engineering, physical science, and social science approaches for holistic understanding, and (6) standardizing green stormwater infrastructure terminology would provide a more cohesive field of study than the diverse and often redundant terminology currently in use. We recommend that future research provide metrics and quantify ecosystem services, integrate disciplines to

  7. The Development and Validation of an Alternative Assessment to Measure Changes in Understanding of the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dentzau, Michael W.; Martínez, Alejandro José Gallard

    2016-01-01

    A drawing assessment to gauge changes in fourth grade students' understanding of the essential components of the longleaf pine ecosystem was developed to support an out-of-school environmental education program. Pre- and post-attendance drawings were scored with a rubric that was determined to have content validity and reliability among users. In…

  8. Asymmetric warming significantly affects net primary production, but not ecosystem carbon balances of forest and grassland ecosystems in northern China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Hongxin; Feng, Jinchao; Axmacher, Jan C; Sang, Weiguo

    2015-03-13

    We combine the process-based ecosystem model (Biome-BGC) with climate change-scenarios based on both RegCM3 model outputs and historic observed trends to quantify differential effects of symmetric and asymmetric warming on ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP), heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of six ecosystem types representing different climatic zones of northern China. Analysis of covariance shows that NPP is significant greater at most ecosystems under the various environmental change scenarios once temperature asymmetries are taken into consideration. However, these differences do not lead to significant differences in NEP, which indicates that asymmetry in climate change does not result in significant alterations of the overall carbon balance in the dominating forest or grassland ecosystems. Overall, NPP, Rh and NEP are regulated by highly interrelated effects of increases in temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations and precipitation changes, while the magnitude of these effects strongly varies across the six sites. Further studies underpinned by suitable experiments are nonetheless required to further improve the performance of ecosystem models and confirm the validity of these model predictions. This is crucial for a sound understanding of the mechanisms controlling the variability in asymmetric warming effects on ecosystem structure and functioning.

  9. Asymmetric warming significantly affects net primary production, but not ecosystem carbon balances of forest and grassland ecosystems in northern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Hongxin; Feng, Jinchao; Axmacher, Jan C.; Sang, Weiguo

    2015-03-01

    We combine the process-based ecosystem model (Biome-BGC) with climate change-scenarios based on both RegCM3 model outputs and historic observed trends to quantify differential effects of symmetric and asymmetric warming on ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP), heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of six ecosystem types representing different climatic zones of northern China. Analysis of covariance shows that NPP is significant greater at most ecosystems under the various environmental change scenarios once temperature asymmetries are taken into consideration. However, these differences do not lead to significant differences in NEP, which indicates that asymmetry in climate change does not result in significant alterations of the overall carbon balance in the dominating forest or grassland ecosystems. Overall, NPP, Rh and NEP are regulated by highly interrelated effects of increases in temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations and precipitation changes, while the magnitude of these effects strongly varies across the six sites. Further studies underpinned by suitable experiments are nonetheless required to further improve the performance of ecosystem models and confirm the validity of these model predictions. This is crucial for a sound understanding of the mechanisms controlling the variability in asymmetric warming effects on ecosystem structure and functioning.

  10. Function of Wildfire-Deposited Pyrogenic Carbon in Terrestrial Ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa R. A. Pingree

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Fire is an important driver of change in most forest, savannah, and prairie ecosystems and fire-altered organic matter, or pyrogenic carbon (PyC, conveys numerous functions in soils of fire-maintained terrestrial ecosystems. Although an exceptional number of recent review articles and books have addressed agricultural soil application of charcoal or biochar, few reviews have addressed the functional role of naturally formed PyC in fire-maintained ecosystems. Recent advances in molecular spectroscopic techniques have helped strengthen our understanding of PyC as a ubiquitous, complex material that is capable of altering soil chemical, physical, and biological properties and processes. The uniquely recalcitrant nature of PyC in soils is partly a result of its stable C = C double-bonded, graphene-like structure and C-rich, N-poor composition. This attribute allows it to persist in soils for hundreds to thousands of years and represent net ecosystem C sequestration in fire-maintained ecosystems. The rapid formation of PyC during wildfire or anthropogenic fire events short-circuits the normally tortuous pathway of recalcitrant soil C formation. Existing literature also suggests that PyC provides an essential role in the cycling of certain nutrients, greatly extending the timeframe by which fires influence soil processes and facilitating recovery in ecosystems where organic matter inputs are low and post-fire surface soil bacterial and fungal activity is reduced. The high surface area of PyC allows for the adsorption a broad spectrum of organic compounds that directly or indirectly influence microbial processes after fire events. Adsorption capacity and microsite conditions created by PyC yields a “charosphere” effect in soil with heightened microbial activity in the vicinity of PyC. In this mini-review, we explore the function of PyC in natural and semi-natural settings, provide a mechanistic approach to understanding these functions, and examine

  11. Biodiversity, climate change, and ecosystem services

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mooney, H

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available of ecosystems, deepen our understanding of the biological underpinnings for ecosystem service delivery and develop new tools and techniques for maintaining and restoring resilient biological and social systems. We will be building on an ecosystem foundation...

  12. Marine ecosystem modeling beyond the box: using GIS to study carbon fluxes in a coastal ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijnbladh, Erik; Jönsson, Bror Fredrik; Kumblad, Linda

    2006-12-01

    Studies of carbon fluxes in marine ecosystems are often done by using box model approaches with basin size boxes, or highly resolved 3D models, and an emphasis on the pelagic component of the ecosystem. Those approaches work well in the ocean proper, but can give rise to considerable problems when applied to coastal systems, because of the scale of certain ecological niches and the fact that benthic organisms are the dominant functional group of the ecosystem. In addition, 3D models require an extensive modeling effort. In this project, an intermediate approach based on a high resolution (20x20 m) GIS data-grid has been developed for the coastal ecosystem in the Laxemar area (Baltic Sea, Sweden) based on a number of different site investigations. The model has been developed in the context of a safety assessment project for a proposed nuclear waste repository, in which the fate of hypothetically released radionuclides from the planned repository is estimated. The assessment project requires not only a good understanding of the ecosystem dynamics at the site, but also quantification of stocks and flows of matter in the system. The data-grid was then used to set up a carbon budget describing the spatial distribution of biomass, primary production, net ecosystem production and thus where carbon sinks and sources are located in the area. From these results, it was clear that there was a large variation in ecosystem characteristics within the basins and, on a larger scale, that the inner areas are net producing and the outer areas net respiring, even in shallow phytobenthic communities. Benthic processes had a similar or larger influence on carbon fluxes as advective processes in inner areas, whereas the opposite appears to be true in the outer basins. As many radionuclides are expected to follow the pathways of organic matter in the environment, these findings enhance our abilities to realistically describe and predict their fate in the ecosystem.

  13. Marine Ecosystem Modeling Beyond the Box: Using GIS to Study Carbon Fluxes in a Coastal Ecosystem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wijnbladh, Erik; Joensson, Bror Fredrik; Kumblad, Linda

    2006-01-01

    Studies of carbon fluxes in marine ecosystems are often done by using box model approaches with basin size boxes, or highly resolved 3D models, and an emphasis on the pelagic component of the ecosystem. Those approaches work well in the ocean proper, but can give rise to considerable problems when applied to coastal systems, because of the scale of certain ecological niches and the fact that benthic organisms are the dominant functional group of the ecosystem. In addition, 3D models require an extensive modeling effort. In this project, an intermediate approach based on a high resolution (20x20 m) GIS data-grid has been developed for the coastal ecosystem in the Laxemar area (Baltic Sea, Sweden) based on a number of different site investigations. The model has been developed in the context of a safety assessment project for a proposed nuclear waste repository, in which the fate of hypothetically released radionuclides from the planned repository is estimated. The assessment project requires not only a good understanding of the ecosystem dynamics at the site, but also quantification of stocks and flows of matter in the system. The data-grid was then used to set up a carbon budget describing the spatial distribution of biomass, primary production, net ecosystem production and thus where carbon sinks and sources are located in the area. From these results, it was clear that there was a large variation in ecosystem characteristics within the basins and, on a larger scale, that the inner areas are net producing and the outer areas net respiring, even in shallow phyto benthic communities. Benthic processes had a similar or larger influence on carbon fluxes as advective processes in inner areas, whereas the opposite appears to be true in the outer basins. As many radionuclides are expected to follow the pathways of organic matter in the environment, these findings enhance our abilities to realistically describe and predict their fate in the ecosystem

  14. A cross-scale approach to understand drought-induced variability of sagebrush ecosystem productivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assal, T.; Anderson, P. J.

    2016-12-01

    Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) mortality has recently been reported in the Upper Green River Basin (Wyoming, USA) of the sagebrush steppe of western North America. Numerous causes have been suggested, but recent drought (2012-13) is the likely mechanism of mortality in this water-limited ecosystem which provides critical habitat for many species of wildlife. An understanding of the variability in patterns of productivity with respect to climate is essential to exploit landscape scale remote sensing for detection of subtle changes associated with mortality in this sparse, uniformly vegetated ecosystem. We used the standardized precipitation index to characterize drought conditions and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery (250-m resolution) to characterize broad characteristics of growing season productivity. We calculated per-pixel growing season anomalies over a 16-year period (2000-2015) to identify the spatial and temporal variability in productivity. Metrics derived from Landsat satellite imagery (30-m resolution) were used to further investigate trends within anomalous areas at local scales. We found evidence to support an initial hypothesis that antecedent winter drought was most important in explaining reduced productivity. The results indicate drought effects were inconsistent over space and time. MODIS derived productivity deviated by more than four standard deviations in heavily impacted areas, but was well within the interannual variability in other areas. Growing season anomalies highlighted dramatic declines in productivity during the 2012 and 2013 growing seasons. However, large negative anomalies persisted in other areas during the 2014 growing season, indicating lag effects of drought. We are further investigating if the reduction in productivity is mediated by local biophysical properties. Our analysis identified spatially explicit patterns of ecosystem properties altered by severe drought which are consistent with

  15. Developing spatial biophysical accounting for multiple ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Remme, R.P.; Schroter, M.; Hein, L.G.

    2014-01-01

    Ecosystem accounting is receiving increasing interest as a way to systematically monitor the conditions of ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. A critical element of ecosystem accounting is understanding spatially explicit flows of ecosystem services. We developed spatial biophysical

  16. Mapping Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services for Prioritizing Restoration Efforts in a Semi-arid Mediterranean River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trabucchi, Mattia; O'Farrell, Patrick J.; Notivol, Eduardo; Comín, Francisco A.

    2014-06-01

    Semi-arid Mediterranean regions are highly susceptible to desertification processes which can reduce the benefits that people obtain from healthy ecosystems and thus threaten human wellbeing. The European Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 recognizes the need to incorporate ecosystem services into land-use management, conservation, and restoration actions. The inclusion of ecosystem services into restoration actions and plans is an emerging area of research, and there are few documented approaches and guidelines on how to undertake such an exercise. This paper responds to this need, and we demonstrate an approach for identifying both key ecosystem services provisioning areas and the spatial relationship between ecological processes and services. A degraded semi-arid Mediterranean river basin in north east Spain was used as a case study area. We show that the quantification and mapping of services are the first step required for both optimizing and targeting of specific local areas for restoration. Additionally, we provide guidelines for restoration planning at a watershed scale; establishing priorities for improving the delivery of ecosystem services at this scale; and prioritizing the sub-watersheds for restoration based on their potential for delivering a combination of key ecosystem services for the entire basin.

  17. Mapping ecological processes and ecosystem services for prioritizing restoration efforts in a semi-arid Mediterranean river basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trabucchi, Mattia; O'Farrell, Patrick J; Notivol, Eduardo; Comín, Francisco A

    2014-06-01

    Semi-arid Mediterranean regions are highly susceptible to desertification processes which can reduce the benefits that people obtain from healthy ecosystems and thus threaten human wellbeing. The European Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 recognizes the need to incorporate ecosystem services into land-use management, conservation, and restoration actions. The inclusion of ecosystem services into restoration actions and plans is an emerging area of research, and there are few documented approaches and guidelines on how to undertake such an exercise. This paper responds to this need, and we demonstrate an approach for identifying both key ecosystem services provisioning areas and the spatial relationship between ecological processes and services. A degraded semi-arid Mediterranean river basin in north east Spain was used as a case study area. We show that the quantification and mapping of services are the first step required for both optimizing and targeting of specific local areas for restoration. Additionally, we provide guidelines for restoration planning at a watershed scale; establishing priorities for improving the delivery of ecosystem services at this scale; and prioritizing the sub-watersheds for restoration based on their potential for delivering a combination of key ecosystem services for the entire basin.

  18. Climatic and pollution influences on ecosystem processes in northern hardwood forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurt S. Pregitzer; David D. Reed; Glenn D. Mroz; Andrew J. Burton; John A. Witter; Donald A. Zak

    1996-01-01

    The Michigan gradient study was established in 1987 to examine the effects of climate and atmospheric deposition on forest productivity and ecosystem processes in the Great Lakes region. Four intensively-monitored northern hardwood study sites are located along a climatic and pollutant gradient extending from southern lower Michigan to northwestern upper Michigan. The...

  19. Climate Change Vulnerability of Agro-Ecosystems: Does socio-economic factors matters?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surendran Nair, S.; Preston, B. L.; King, A. W.; Mei, R.; Post, W. M.

    2013-12-01

    Climate variability and change has direct impacts on agriculture. Despite continual adaptation to climate as well as gains in technology innovation and adoption, agriculture is still vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation expected in coming decades. Generally, researchers use two major methodologies to understand the vulnerability of agro-ecosystems to climate change: process-based crop models and empirical models. However, these models are not yet designed to capture the influence of socioeconomic systems on agro-ecosystem processes and outcomes.. However, socioeconomic processes are an important factor driving agro-ecological responses to biophysical processes (climate, topography and soil), because of the role of human agency in mediating the response of agro-ecosystems to climate. We have developed a framework that integrates socioeconomic and biophysical characteristics of agro-ecosystems using cluster analysis and GIS tools. This framework has been applied to the U.S. Southeast to define unique socio-ecological domains for agriculture. The results demonstrate that socioeconomic characteristics are an important factor influencing agriculture production. These results suggest that the lack of attention to socioeconomic conditions and human agency in agro-ecological modeling creates a potential bias with respect to the representation of climate change impacts.

  20. Ecosystem stress response : understanding effects on the benthic invertebrate community of Alberta oil-sands wetlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wytrykush, C.M.; Ciborowski, J.J.H.

    2003-01-01

    The environmental stress response of invertebrates was examined using wetlands in the Alberta oil-sands region as a model. Wetlands in this region occur naturally or they have been affected by oil-sands mining process materials such as mine-tailings, or saline process water. These materials can be toxic to aquatic organisms due to their high concentrations of sulphate ions, ammonia, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and naphthenic acids. Wetlands are classified as either young or mature, and as having low or high sediment organic content. This study examined food web dynamics and structure in wetlands using stable isotopes to determine the effects of stress on ecological communities. Primary and secondary production in the wetlands was measured along with invertebrate diversity in order to determine a relationship. The maximum trophic position was determined using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to indicate food chain length which is influenced by energetic constraints, ecosystem size and stressors. The study quantifies the dynamics of vital links between the responses to environmental pressures in aquatic systems and the effects on terrestrial ecosystems

  1. Science in the public process of ecosystem management: lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutrich, John; Donovan, Deanna; Finucane, Melissa; Focht, Will; Hitzhusen, Fred; Manopimoke, Supachit; McCauley, David; Norton, Bryan; Sabatier, Paul; Salzman, Jim; Sasmitawidjaja, Virza

    2005-08-01

    Partnerships and co-operative environmental management are increasing worldwide as is the call for scientific input in the public process of ecosystem management. In Hawaii, private landowners, non-governmental organizations, and state and federal agencies have formed watershed partnerships to conserve and better manage upland forested watersheds. In this paper, findings of an international workshop convened in Hawaii to explore the strengths of approaches used to assess stakeholder values of environmental resources and foster consensus in the public process of ecosystem management are presented. Authors draw upon field experience in projects throughout Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US mainland to derive a set of lessons learned that can be applied to Hawaiian and other watershed partnerships in an effort to promote consensus and sustainable ecosystem management. Interdisciplinary science-based models can serve as effective tools to identify areas of potential consensus in the process of ecosystem management. Effective integration of scientific input in co-operative ecosystem management depends on the role of science, the stakeholders and decision-makers involved, and the common language utilized to compare tradeoffs. Trust is essential to consensus building and the integration of scientific input must be transparent and inclusive of public feedback. Consideration of all relevant stakeholders and the actual benefits and costs of management activities to each stakeholder is essential. Perceptions and intuitive responses of people can be as influential as analytical processes in decision-making and must be addressed. Deliberative, dynamic and iterative decision-making processes all influence the level of stakeholder achievement of consensus. In Hawaii, application of lessons learned can promote more informed and democratic decision processes, quality scientific analysis that is relevant, and legitimacy and public acceptance of ecosystem management.

  2. Global sensitivity analysis of DRAINMOD-FOREST, an integrated forest ecosystem model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiying Tian; Mohamed A. Youssef; Devendra M. Amatya; Eric D. Vance

    2014-01-01

    Global sensitivity analysis is a useful tool to understand process-based ecosystem models by identifying key parameters and processes controlling model predictions. This study reported a comprehensive global sensitivity analysis for DRAINMOD-FOREST, an integrated model for simulating water, carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) cycles and plant growth in lowland forests. The...

  3. Invasive aquarium fish transform ecosystem nutrient dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capps, Krista A.; Flecker, Alexander S.

    2013-01-01

    Trade of ornamental aquatic species is a multi-billion dollar industry responsible for the introduction of myriad fishes into novel ecosystems. Although aquarium invaders have the potential to alter ecosystem function, regulation of the trade is minimal and little is known about the ecosystem-level consequences of invasion for all but a small number of aquarium species. Here, we demonstrate how ecological stoichiometry can be used as a framework to identify aquarium invaders with the potential to modify ecosystem processes. We show that explosive growth of an introduced population of stoichiometrically unique, phosphorus (P)-rich catfish in a river in southern Mexico significantly transformed stream nutrient dynamics by altering nutrient storage and remineralization rates. Notably, changes varied between elements; the P-rich fish acted as net sinks of P and net remineralizers of nitrogen. Results from this study suggest species-specific stoichiometry may be insightful for understanding how invasive species modify nutrient dynamics when their population densities and elemental composition differ substantially from native organisms. Risk analysis for potential aquarium imports should consider species traits such as body stoichiometry, which may increase the likelihood that an invasion will alter the structure and function of ecosystems. PMID:23966642

  4. Explaining plant-soil diversity in Alpine ecosystems: more than just time since ecosystem succession started

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Stuart; Baetz, Nico; Borgeaud, Laure; Verrecchia, Eric; Vittoz, Pascal

    2014-05-01

    Ecosystem succession in Alpine environments has been a focus of research for many decades. Following from the classic ideas of Jenny (1941, 1961), following perturbation, an ecosystem (flora, fauna and soil) should evolve as a function of time at a rate conditioned by external variables (relief, climate, geology). More recently, biogeomorphologists have focused upon the notion of co-evolution of geomorphic processes with ecosystems over very short through to very long (evolutionary) time-scales. Alpine environments have been a particular focus of models of co-evolution, as a means of understanding the rate of plant colonization of previously glaciated terrain. However, work in this field has tended to adopt an over simplified view of the relationship between perturbation and succession, including: how the landform and ecosystem itself conditions the impact of a perturbation to create a complex spatial impact; and how perturbations are not simply ecosystem destroyers but can be a significant source of ecosystem resources. What this means is that at the within landform scale, there may well be a complex and dynamic topographic and sedimentological template that co-evolves with the development of soil, flora and fauna. In this paper, we present and test conceptual models for such co-evolution for an Alpine alluvial fan and an Alpine piedmont braided river. We combine detailed floristic inventory with soil inventory, survey of edaphic variables above and below ground (e.g. vertical and lateral sedimentological structure, using electrical resistance tomography) and the analysis of historical aerial imagery. The floristic inventory shows the existence of a suite of distinct plant communities within each landform. Time since last perturbation is not a useful explanatory variable of the spatial distribution of these communities because: (1) perturbation impacts are spatially variable, as conditioned by the extent distribution of topographic, edaphic and ecological

  5. Integrating community assembly and biodiversity to better understand ecosystem function: the Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems (CAFE) approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bannar-Martin, Katherine H; Kremer, Colin T; Ernest, S K Morgan; Leibold, Mathew A; Auge, Harald; Chase, Jonathan; Declerck, Steven A J; Eisenhauer, Nico; Harpole, Stanley; Hillebrand, Helmut; Isbell, Forest; Koffel, Thomas; Larsen, Stefano; Narwani, Anita; Petermann, Jana S; Roscher, Christiane; Cabral, Juliano Sarmento; Supp, Sarah R

    2018-02-01

    The research of a generation of ecologists was catalysed by the recognition that the number and identity of species in communities influences the functioning of ecosystems. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is most often examined by controlling species richness and randomising community composition. In natural systems, biodiversity changes are often part of a bigger community assembly dynamic. Therefore, focusing on community assembly and the functioning of ecosystems (CAFE), by integrating both species richness and composition through species gains, losses and changes in abundance, will better reveal how community changes affect ecosystem function. We synthesise the BEF and CAFE perspectives using an ecological application of the Price equation, which partitions the contributions of richness and composition to function. Using empirical examples, we show how the CAFE approach reveals important contributions of composition to function. These examples show how changes in species richness and composition driven by environmental perturbations can work in concert or antagonistically to influence ecosystem function. Considering how communities change in an integrative fashion, rather than focusing on one axis of community structure at a time, will improve our ability to anticipate and predict changes in ecosystem function. © 2017 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Montane ecosystem productivity responds more to global circulation patterns than climatic trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desai, A. R.; Wohlfahrt, G.; Zeeman, M. J.; Katata, G.; Eugster, W.; Montagnani, L.; Gianelle, D.; Mauder, M.; Schmid, H.-P.

    2016-02-01

    Regional ecosystem productivity is highly sensitive to inter-annual climate variability, both within and outside the primary carbon uptake period. However, Earth system models lack sufficient spatial scales and ecosystem processes to resolve how these processes may change in a warming climate. Here, we show, how for the European Alps, mid-latitude Atlantic ocean winter circulation anomalies drive high-altitude summer forest and grassland productivity, through feedbacks among orographic wind circulation patterns, snowfall, winter and spring temperatures, and vegetation activity. Therefore, to understand future global climate change influence to regional ecosystem productivity, Earth systems models need to focus on improvements towards topographic downscaling of changes in regional atmospheric circulation patterns and to lagged responses in vegetation dynamics to non-growing season climate anomalies.

  7. Montane ecosystem productivity responds more to global circulation patterns than climatic trends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Desai, A R; Wohlfahrt, G; Zeeman, M J; Katata, G; Mauder, M; Schmid, H-P; Eugster, W; Montagnani, L; Gianelle, D

    2016-01-01

    Regional ecosystem productivity is highly sensitive to inter-annual climate variability, both within and outside the primary carbon uptake period. However, Earth system models lack sufficient spatial scales and ecosystem processes to resolve how these processes may change in a warming climate. Here, we show, how for the European Alps, mid-latitude Atlantic ocean winter circulation anomalies drive high-altitude summer forest and grassland productivity, through feedbacks among orographic wind circulation patterns, snowfall, winter and spring temperatures, and vegetation activity. Therefore, to understand future global climate change influence to regional ecosystem productivity, Earth systems models need to focus on improvements towards topographic downscaling of changes in regional atmospheric circulation patterns and to lagged responses in vegetation dynamics to non-growing season climate anomalies. (letter)

  8. Ecosystem services and economic theory: integration for policy-relevant research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Brendan; Turner, Kerry; Zylstra, Matthew; Brouwer, Roy; de Groot, Rudolf; Farber, Stephen; Ferraro, Paul; Green, Rhys; Hadley, David; Harlow, Julian; Jefferiss, Paul; Kirkby, Chris; Morling, Paul; Mowatt, Shaun; Naidoo, Robin; Paavola, Jouni; Strassburg, Bernardo; Yu, Doug; Balmford, Andrew

    2008-12-01

    It has become essential in policy and decision-making circles to think about the economic benefits (in addition to moral and scientific motivations) humans derive from well-functioning ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed to address this link between ecosystems and human welfare. Since policy decisions are often evaluated through cost-benefit assessments, an economic analysis can help make ecosystem service research operational. In this paper we provide some simple economic analyses to discuss key concepts involved in formalizing ecosystem service research. These include the distinction between services and benefits, understanding the importance of marginal ecosystem changes, formalizing the idea of a safe minimum standard for ecosystem service provision, and discussing how to capture the public benefits of ecosystem services. We discuss how the integration of economic concepts and ecosystem services can provide policy and decision makers with a fuller spectrum of information for making conservation-conversion trade-offs. We include the results from a survey of the literature and a questionnaire of researchers regarding how ecosystem service research can be integrated into the policy process. We feel this discussion of economic concepts will be a practical aid for ecosystem service research to become more immediately policy relevant.

  9. BUSINESS ECOSYSTEMS VS BUSINESS DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marinela Lazarica

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available E-business is often described as the small organisations’ gateway to global business and markets. The adoption of Internet-based technologies for e-business is a continuous process, with sequential steps of evolution. The latter step in the adoption of Internet-based technologies for business, where the business services and the software components are supported by a pervasive software environment, which shows an evolutionary and self-organising behaviour are named digital business ecosystems. The digital business ecosystems are characterized by intelligent software components and services, knowledge transfer, interactive training frameworks and integration of business processes and e-government models.

  10. The Importance of Ecology-Based Nature Education Project in Terms of Nature Integration and Understanding the Human-Ecosystem Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meydan, Ali

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this project is to define the importance of 12-day ecology-based education training upon integration with nature and understanding the human-ecosystem relationship. In accordance with this purpose, there has been collected some survey data interviewing with the participants of "Lake Beysehir National Park and Ecology-based Nature…

  11. Modeling Elevation and Aspect Controls on Emerging Ecohydrologic Processes and Ecosystem Patterns Using the Component-based Landlab Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nudurupati, S. S.; Istanbulluoglu, E.; Adams, J. M.; Hobley, D. E. J.; Gasparini, N. M.; Tucker, G. E.; Hutton, E. W. H.

    2014-12-01

    Topography plays a commanding role on the organization of ecohydrologic processes and resulting vegetation patterns. In southwestern United States, climate conditions lead to terrain aspect- and elevation-controlled ecosystems, with mesic north-facing and xeric south-facing vegetation types; and changes in biodiversity as a function of elevation from shrublands in low desert elevations, to mixed grass/shrublands in mid elevations, and forests at high elevations and ridge tops. These observed patterns have been attributed to differences in topography-mediated local soil moisture availability, micro-climatology, and life history processes of plants that control chances of plant establishment and survival. While ecohydrologic models represent local vegetation dynamics in sufficient detail up to sub-hourly time scales, plant life history and competition for space and resources has not been adequately represented in models. In this study we develop an ecohydrologic cellular automata model within the Landlab component-based modeling framework. This model couples local vegetation dynamics (biomass production, death) and plant establishment and competition processes for resources and space. This model is used to study the vegetation organization in a semiarid New Mexico catchment where elevation and hillslope aspect play a defining role on plant types. Processes that lead to observed plant types across the landscape are examined by initializing the domain with randomly assigned plant types and systematically changing model parameters that couple plant response with soil moisture dynamics. Climate perturbation experiments are conducted to examine the plant response in space and time. Understanding the inherently transient ecohydrologic systems is critical to improve predictions of climate change impacts on ecosystems.

  12. Fishing for ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pope, Kevin L; Pegg, Mark A; Cole, Nicholas W; Siddons, Stephen F; Fedele, Alexis D; Harmon, Brian S; Ruskamp, Ryan L; Turner, Dylan R; Uerling, Caleb C

    2016-12-01

    Ecosystems are commonly exploited and manipulated to maximize certain human benefits. Such changes can degrade systems, leading to cascading negative effects that may be initially undetected, yet ultimately result in a reduction, or complete loss, of certain valuable ecosystem services. Ecosystem-based management is intended to maintain ecosystem quality and minimize the risk of irreversible change to natural assemblages of species and to ecosystem processes while obtaining and maintaining long-term socioeconomic benefits. We discuss policy decisions in fishery management related to commonly manipulated environments with a focus on influences to ecosystem services. By focusing on broader scales, managing for ecosystem services, and taking a more proactive approach, we expect sustainable, quality fisheries that are resilient to future disturbances. To that end, we contend that: (1) management always involves tradeoffs; (2) explicit management of fisheries for ecosystem services could facilitate a transition from reactive to proactive management; and (3) adaptive co-management is a process that could enhance management for ecosystem services. We propose adaptive co-management with an ecosystem service framework where actions are implemented within ecosystem boundaries, rather than political boundaries, through strong interjurisdictional relationships. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  13. Going beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: an index system of human dependence on ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wu; Dietz, Thomas; Liu, Wei; Luo, Junyan; Liu, Jianguo

    2013-01-01

    The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) estimated that two thirds of ecosystem services on the earth have degraded or are in decline due to the unprecedented scale of human activities during recent decades. These changes will have tremendous consequences for human well-being, and offer both risks and opportunities for a wide range of stakeholders. Yet these risks and opportunities have not been well managed due in part to the lack of quantitative understanding of human dependence on ecosystem services. Here, we propose an index of dependence on ecosystem services (IDES) system to quantify human dependence on ecosystem services. We demonstrate the construction of the IDES system using household survey data. We show that the overall index and sub-indices can reflect the general pattern of households' dependences on ecosystem services, and their variations across time, space, and different forms of capital (i.e., natural, human, financial, manufactured, and social capitals). We support the proposition that the poor are more dependent on ecosystem services and further generalize this proposition by arguing that those disadvantaged groups who possess low levels of any form of capital except for natural capital are more dependent on ecosystem services than those with greater control of capital. The higher value of the overall IDES or sub-index represents the higher dependence on the corresponding ecosystem services, and thus the higher vulnerability to the degradation or decline of corresponding ecosystem services. The IDES system improves our understanding of human dependence on ecosystem services. It also provides insights into strategies for alleviating poverty, for targeting priority groups of conservation programs, and for managing risks and opportunities due to changes of ecosystem services at multiple scales.

  14. Combined use of isotopic and hydrometric data to conceptualize ecohydrological processes in a high-elevation tropical ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosquera, Giovanny M; Celleri, Rolando; Lazo, Patricio X; Vache, Kellie B; Perakis, Steven; Crespo, Patricio

    2016-01-01

    Few high-elevation tropical catchments worldwide are gauged and even fewer are studied using combined hydrometric and isotopic data. Consequently, we lack information needed to understand processes governing rainfall-runoff dynamics and to predict their influence on downstream ecosystem functioning. To address this need, we present a combination of hydrometric and water stable isotopic observations in the wet Andean páramo ecosystem of the Zhurucay Ecohydrological Observatory (7.53 km2). The catchment is located in the Andes of south Ecuador between 3400 and 3900 m a.s.l. Water samples for stable isotopic analysis were collected during 2 years (May 2011 – May 2013), while rainfall and runoff measurements were continuously recorded since late 2010. The isotopic data reveal that Andosol soils predominantly situated on hillslopes drain laterally to Histosols (Andean páramo wetlands) mainly located at the valley bottom. Histosols, in turn, feed water to creeks and small rivers throughout the year, establishing hydrologic connectivity between wetlands and the drainage network. Runoff is primarily comprised of pre-event water stored in the Histosols, which is replenished by rainfall that infiltrates through the Andosols. Contributions from the mineral horizon and the top of the fractured bedrock are small and only seem to influence discharge in small catchments during low flow generation (non-exceedance flows hydrological process and 2) (Histosols) wetlands are the major source of stream runoff. Our study highlights that detailed isotopic characterization during short time periods provides valuable information about ecohydrological processes in regions where very few basins are gauged.

  15. Ecosystem Services are Social-ecological Services in a Traditional Pastoral System: the Case of California's Mediterranean Rangelands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lynn Huntsinger

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available When attempting to value ecosystem services and support their production, two critical aspects may be neglected. The term "ecosystem services" implies that they are a function of natural processes; yet, human interaction with the environment may be key to the production of many. This can contribute to a misconception that ecosystem service production depends on, or is enhanced by, the coercion or removal of human industry. Second, in programs designed to encourage ecosystem service production and maintenance, too often the inter-relationship of such services with social and ecological processes and drivers at multiple scales is ignored. Thinking of such services as "social-ecological services" can reinforce the importance of human culture, perspectives, and economies to the production of ecosystem services. Using a social-ecological systems perspective, we explore the integral role of human activity and decisions at pasture, ranch, and landscape scales. Just as it does for understanding ecosystems, a hierarchical, multiscaled framework facilitates exploring the complexity of social-ecological systems as producers of ecosystem services, to develop approaches for the conservation of such services. Using California's Mediterranean rangelands as a study area, we suggest that using a multiscaled approach that considers the importance of the differing drivers and processes at each scale and the interactions among scales, and that incorporates social-ecological systems concepts, may help avoid mistakes caused by narrow assumptions about "natural" systems, and a lack of understanding of the need for integrated, multiscaled conservation programs.

  16. Understanding and Managing the Assessment Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gene Lessard; Scott Archer; John R. Probst; Sandra Clark

    1999-01-01

    Taking an ecological approach to management, or ecosystem management, is a developing approach for managing natural resources within the context of large geogaphic scales and over multiple time frames. Recently, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) (IEMTF 1995) defined an ecosystem as "...an interconnected community of living things, including humans, and...

  17. From theoretical to actual ecosystem services: mapping beneficiaries and spatial flows in ecosystem service assessments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth J. Bagstad

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service, sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows, users (user locations and level of demand, and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems' capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for

  18. Understanding relationships among ecosystem services across spatial scales and over time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Jiangxiao; Carpenter, Stephen R.; Booth, Eric G.; Motew, Melissa; Zipper, Samuel C.; Kucharik, Christopher J.; Loheide, Steven P., II; Turner, Monica G.

    2018-05-01

    Sustaining ecosystem services (ES), mitigating their tradeoffs and avoiding unfavorable future trajectories are pressing social-environmental challenges that require enhanced understanding of their relationships across scales. Current knowledge of ES relationships is often constrained to one spatial scale or one snapshot in time. In this research, we integrated biophysical modeling with future scenarios to examine changes in relationships among eight ES indicators from 2001–2070 across three spatial scales—grid cell, subwatershed, and watershed. We focused on the Yahara Watershed (Wisconsin) in the Midwestern United States—an exemplar for many urbanizing agricultural landscapes. Relationships among ES indicators changed over time; some relationships exhibited high interannual variations (e.g. drainage vs. food production, nitrate leaching vs. net ecosystem exchange) and even reversed signs over time (e.g. perennial grass production vs. phosphorus yield). Robust patterns were detected for relationships among some regulating services (e.g. soil retention vs. water quality) across three spatial scales, but other relationships lacked simple scaling rules. This was especially true for relationships of food production vs. water quality, and drainage vs. number of days with runoff >10 mm, which differed substantially across spatial scales. Our results also showed that local tradeoffs between food production and water quality do not necessarily scale up, so reducing local tradeoffs may be insufficient to mitigate such tradeoffs at the watershed scale. We further synthesized these cross-scale patterns into a typology of factors that could drive changes in ES relationships across scales: (1) effects of biophysical connections, (2) effects of dominant drivers, (3) combined effects of biophysical linkages and dominant drivers, and (4) artificial scale effects, and concluded with management implications. Our study highlights the importance of taking a dynamic

  19. Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith, David A.; Rodríguez, Jon Paul; Rodríguez-Clark, Kathryn M.; Nicholson, Emily; Aapala, Kaisu; Alonso, Alfonso; Asmussen, Marianne; Bachman, Steven; Basset, Alberto; Barrow, Edmund G.; Benson, John S.; Bishop, Melanie J.; Bonifacio, Ronald; Brooks, Thomas M.; Burgman, Mark A.; Comer, Patrick; Comín, Francisco A.; Essl, Franz; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Fairweather, Peter G.; Holdaway, Robert J.; Jennings, Michael; Kingsford, Richard T.; Lester, Rebecca E.; Nally, Ralph Mac; McCarthy, Michael A.; Moat, Justin; Oliveira-Miranda, María A.; Pisanu, Phil; Poulin, Brigitte; Regan, Tracey J.; Riecken, Uwe; Spalding, Mark D.; Zambrano-Martínez, Sergio

    2013-01-01

    An understanding of risks to biodiversity is needed for planning action to slow current rates of decline and secure ecosystem services for future human use. Although the IUCN Red List criteria provide an effective assessment protocol for species, a standard global assessment of risks to higher levels of biodiversity is currently limited. In 2008, IUCN initiated development of risk assessment criteria to support a global Red List of ecosystems. We present a new conceptual model for ecosystem risk assessment founded on a synthesis of relevant ecological theories. To support the model, we review key elements of ecosystem definition and introduce the concept of ecosystem collapse, an analogue of species extinction. The model identifies four distributional and functional symptoms of ecosystem risk as a basis for assessment criteria: A) rates of decline in ecosystem distribution; B) restricted distributions with continuing declines or threats; C) rates of environmental (abiotic) degradation; and D) rates of disruption to biotic processes. A fifth criterion, E) quantitative estimates of the risk of ecosystem collapse, enables integrated assessment of multiple processes and provides a conceptual anchor for the other criteria. We present the theoretical rationale for the construction and interpretation of each criterion. The assessment protocol and threat categories mirror those of the IUCN Red List of species. A trial of the protocol on terrestrial, subterranean, freshwater and marine ecosystems from around the world shows that its concepts are workable and its outcomes are robust, that required data are available, and that results are consistent with assessments carried out by local experts and authorities. The new protocol provides a consistent, practical and theoretically grounded framework for establishing a systematic Red List of the world’s ecosystems. This will complement the Red List of species and strengthen global capacity to report on and monitor the status of

  20. Scientific foundations for an IUCN Red List of ecosystems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David A Keith

    Full Text Available An understanding of risks to biodiversity is needed for planning action to slow current rates of decline and secure ecosystem services for future human use. Although the IUCN Red List criteria provide an effective assessment protocol for species, a standard global assessment of risks to higher levels of biodiversity is currently limited. In 2008, IUCN initiated development of risk assessment criteria to support a global Red List of ecosystems. We present a new conceptual model for ecosystem risk assessment founded on a synthesis of relevant ecological theories. To support the model, we review key elements of ecosystem definition and introduce the concept of ecosystem collapse, an analogue of species extinction. The model identifies four distributional and functional symptoms of ecosystem risk as a basis for assessment criteria: A rates of decline in ecosystem distribution; B restricted distributions with continuing declines or threats; C rates of environmental (abiotic degradation; and D rates of disruption to biotic processes. A fifth criterion, E quantitative estimates of the risk of ecosystem collapse, enables integrated assessment of multiple processes and provides a conceptual anchor for the other criteria. We present the theoretical rationale for the construction and interpretation of each criterion. The assessment protocol and threat categories mirror those of the IUCN Red List of species. A trial of the protocol on terrestrial, subterranean, freshwater and marine ecosystems from around the world shows that its concepts are workable and its outcomes are robust, that required data are available, and that results are consistent with assessments carried out by local experts and authorities. The new protocol provides a consistent, practical and theoretically grounded framework for establishing a systematic Red List of the world's ecosystems. This will complement the Red List of species and strengthen global capacity to report on and monitor

  1. Ecosystem Based Business Model of Smart Grid

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundgaard, Morten Raahauge; Ma, Zheng; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2015-01-01

    This paper tries to investigate the ecosystem based business model in a smart grid infrastructure and the potential of value capture in the highly complex macro infrastructure such as smart grid. This paper proposes an alternative perspective to study the smart grid business ecosystem to support...... the infrastructural challenges, such as the interoperability of business components for smart grid. So far little research has explored the business ecosystem in the smart grid concept. The study on the smart grid with the theory of business ecosystem may open opportunities to understand market catalysts. This study...... contributes an understanding of business ecosystem applicable for smart grid. Smart grid infrastructure is an intricate business ecosystem, which have several intentions to deliver the value proposition and what it should be. The findings help to identify and capture value from markets....

  2. Climate change and wildfire effects in aridland riparian ecosystems: An examination of current and future conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    D. Max Smith; Deborah M. Finch

    2017-01-01

    Aridland riparian ecosystems are limited, the climate is changing, and further hydrological change is likely in the American Southwest. To protect riparian ecosystems and organisms, we need to understand how they are affected by disturbance processes and stressors such as fire, drought, and non-native plant invasions. Riparian vegetation is critically important as...

  3. Simulated carbon and water processes of forest ecosystems in Forsmark and Oskarshamn during a 100-year period

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gustafsson, David; Jansson, Per-Erik; Gaerdenaes, Annemieke; Eckersten, Henrik

    2006-12-01

    The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) is currently investigating the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas for possible localisation of a repository for spent nuclear fuel. Important components of the investigations are characterizations of the land surface ecosystems in the areas with respect to hydrological and biological processes, and their implications for the fate of radionuclide contaminants entering the biosphere from a shallow groundwater contamination. In this study, we simulate water balance and carbon turnover processes in forest ecosystems representative for the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas for a 100-year period using the ecosystem process model CoupModel. The CoupModel describes the fluxes of water and matter in a one-dimensional soil-vegetation-atmosphere system, forced by time series of meteorological variables. The model has previously been parameterized for many of the vegetation systems that can be found in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas: spruce/pine forests, willow, grassland and different agricultural crops. This report presents a platform for further use of models like CoupModel for investigations of radionuclide turnover in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn area based on SKB data, including a data set of meteorological forcing variables for Forsmark 1970-2004, suitable for simulations of a 100-year period representing the present day climate, a hydrological parameterization of the CoupModel for simulations of the forest ecosystems in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas, and simulated carbon budgets and process descriptions for Forsmark that correspond to a possible steady state of the soil storage of the forest ecosystem

  4. Simulated carbon and water processes of forest ecosystems in Forsmark and Oskarshamn during a 100-year period

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gustafsson, David; Jansson, Per-Erik [Royal Inst. of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden). Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering; Gaerdenaes, Annemieke [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Soil Sciences; Eckersten, Henrik [Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala (Sweden). Dept. of Crop Production Ecology

    2006-12-15

    The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB) is currently investigating the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas for possible localisation of a repository for spent nuclear fuel. Important components of the investigations are characterizations of the land surface ecosystems in the areas with respect to hydrological and biological processes, and their implications for the fate of radionuclide contaminants entering the biosphere from a shallow groundwater contamination. In this study, we simulate water balance and carbon turnover processes in forest ecosystems representative for the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas for a 100-year period using the ecosystem process model CoupModel. The CoupModel describes the fluxes of water and matter in a one-dimensional soil-vegetation-atmosphere system, forced by time series of meteorological variables. The model has previously been parameterized for many of the vegetation systems that can be found in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas: spruce/pine forests, willow, grassland and different agricultural crops. This report presents a platform for further use of models like CoupModel for investigations of radionuclide turnover in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn area based on SKB data, including a data set of meteorological forcing variables for Forsmark 1970-2004, suitable for simulations of a 100-year period representing the present day climate, a hydrological parameterization of the CoupModel for simulations of the forest ecosystems in the Forsmark and Oskarshamn areas, and simulated carbon budgets and process descriptions for Forsmark that correspond to a possible steady state of the soil storage of the forest ecosystem.

  5. Coastal ecosystems, productivity and ecosystem protection: Coastal ecosystem management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ngoile, M.A.K.; Horrill, C.J.

    1993-01-01

    The coastal zone is a complex ecosystem under the influence of physical, chemical and biological processes. Under natural conditions these processes interact and maintain an equilibrium in the coastal ecosystem. Man makes a variety of important uses of coastal resources, ranging from harvesting of living resources, extraction of nonliving resources, and recreation, to the disposal of wastes. Man's extensive use of the oceans introduces factors which bring about an imbalance in the natural processes, and may result in harmful and hazardous effects to life hindering further use. Man's pressure on the resources of the coastal zone is already manifest and will increase manifold. This calls for an immediate solution to the protection and sustainable use of coastal resources. The current sectorized approach to the management of human activities will not solve the problem because the different resources of the coastal zone interact in such a manner that disturbances in one cause imbalance in the others. This is further complicated by the sectorized approach to research and limited communication between policy makers, managers, and scientists. This paper discusses strategies for managing coastal-resources use through an integrated approach. The coastal zone is presented as a unified ecosystem in equilibrium and shows that man's extensive use of the coastal resources destabilizes this equilibrium. Examples from the East Africa Region are presented. 15 refs, 2 figs, 3 tabs

  6. [Research progress of ecosystem service flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hui Min; Fan, Yu Long; Ding, Sheng Yan

    2016-07-01

    With the development of social economy, human disturbance has resulted in a variety of ecosystem service degradation or disappearance. Ecosystem services flow plays an important role in delivery, transformation and maintenance of ecosystem services, and becomes one of the new research directions. In this paper, based on the classification of ecosystem services flow, we analyzed ecosystem service delivery carrier, and investigated the mechanism of ecosystem service flow, including the information, property, scale features, quantification and cartography. Moreover, a tentative analysis on cost-effective of ecosystem services flow (such as transportation costs, conversion costs, usage costs and cost of relativity) was made to analyze the consumption cost in ecosystem services flow process. It aimed to analyze dissipation cost in ecosystem services flow process. To a certain extent, the study of ecosystem service flow solved the problem of "double counting" in ecosystem services valuation, which could make a contribution for the sake of recognizing hot supply and consumption spots of ecosystem services. In addition, it would be conducive to maximizing the ecosystem service benefits in the transmission process and putting forward scientific and reasonable ecological compensation.

  7. From theoretical to actual ecosystem services: mapping beneficiaries and spatial flows in ecosystem service assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Villa, Ferdinando; Batker, David; Harrison-Cox, Jennifer; Voigt, Brian; Johnson, Gary W.

    2014-01-01

    Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service), sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows), users (user locations and level of demand), and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems’ capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for economic

  8. Invertebrates, ecosystem services and climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prather, Chelse M; Pelini, Shannon L; Laws, Angela; Rivest, Emily; Woltz, Megan; Bloch, Christopher P; Del Toro, Israel; Ho, Chuan-Kai; Kominoski, John; Newbold, T A Scott; Parsons, Sheena; Joern, A

    2013-05-01

    The sustainability of ecosystem services depends on a firm understanding of both how organisms provide these services to humans and how these organisms will be altered with a changing climate. Unquestionably a dominant feature of most ecosystems, invertebrates affect many ecosystem services and are also highly responsive to climate change. However, there is still a basic lack of understanding of the direct and indirect paths by which invertebrates influence ecosystem services, as well as how climate change will affect those ecosystem services by altering invertebrate populations. This indicates a lack of communication and collaboration among scientists researching ecosystem services and climate change effects on invertebrates, and land managers and researchers from other disciplines, which becomes obvious when systematically reviewing the literature relevant to invertebrates, ecosystem services, and climate change. To address this issue, we review how invertebrates respond to climate change. We then review how invertebrates both positively and negatively influence ecosystem services. Lastly, we provide some critical future directions for research needs, and suggest ways in which managers, scientists and other researchers may collaborate to tackle the complex issue of sustaining invertebrate-mediated services under a changing climate. © 2012 The Authors. Biological Reviews © 2012 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

  9. Multi-actor involvement for integrating ecosystem services in strategic environmental assessment of spatial plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rozas-Vásquez, Daniel; Fürst, Christine; Geneletti, Davide; Muñoz, Francisco

    2017-01-01

    Integrating an ecosystem services (ES) approach into Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of spatial plans potentially enhances the consideration of the value of nature in decision making and policy processes. However, there is increasing concern about the institutional context and a lack of a common understanding of SEA and ecosystem services for adopting them as an integrated framework. This paper addresses this concern by analysing the current understanding and network relations in a multi-actor arrangement as a first step towards a successful integration of ES in SEA and spatial planning. Our analysis focuses on a case study in Chile, where we administered a questionnaire survey to some of the main actors involved in the spatial planning process. The questionnaire focused on issues such as network relations among actors and on conceptual understanding, perceptions and challenges for integrating ES in SEA and spatial planning, knowledge on methodological approaches, and the connections and gaps in the science-policy interface. Our findings suggest that a common understanding of SEA and especially of ES in a context of multiple actors is still at an initial stage in Chile. Additionally, the lack of institutional guidelines and methodological support is considered the main challenge for integration. We conclude that preconditions exist in Chile for integrating ES in SEA for spatial planning, but they strongly depend on appropriate governance schemes that promote a close science-policy interaction, as well as collaborative work and learning. - Highlights: • Linking ecosystem services in SEA is an effective framework for sustainability. • Multi-actor understanding and networks in ecosystem services and SEA were analyzed. • Understanding of SEA and especially of ES is still in an initial stage in Chile. • A lack of institutional guidelines is one of the key challenges for this link.

  10. Multi-actor involvement for integrating ecosystem services in strategic environmental assessment of spatial plans

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rozas-Vásquez, Daniel, E-mail: danielrozas@gmail.com [Center for Development Research, Dept. Ecology and Natural Resources Management, University of Bonn, Walter Flex Str. 3, 53113 Bonn (Germany); Laboratorio de Planificación Territorial, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Rudecindo ortega, 02950 Temuco (Chile); Fürst, Christine [Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Dept. Natural Sciences III, Institute for Geosciences and Geography, Von Seckendorff-Platz 4, 06120 Halle-Saale (Germany); Geneletti, Davide [University of Trento, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, via Mesiano, 77, Trento 38123 (Italy); Muñoz, Francisco [Laboratorio de Planificación Territorial, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Rudecindo ortega, 02950 Temuco (Chile)

    2017-01-15

    Integrating an ecosystem services (ES) approach into Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of spatial plans potentially enhances the consideration of the value of nature in decision making and policy processes. However, there is increasing concern about the institutional context and a lack of a common understanding of SEA and ecosystem services for adopting them as an integrated framework. This paper addresses this concern by analysing the current understanding and network relations in a multi-actor arrangement as a first step towards a successful integration of ES in SEA and spatial planning. Our analysis focuses on a case study in Chile, where we administered a questionnaire survey to some of the main actors involved in the spatial planning process. The questionnaire focused on issues such as network relations among actors and on conceptual understanding, perceptions and challenges for integrating ES in SEA and spatial planning, knowledge on methodological approaches, and the connections and gaps in the science-policy interface. Our findings suggest that a common understanding of SEA and especially of ES in a context of multiple actors is still at an initial stage in Chile. Additionally, the lack of institutional guidelines and methodological support is considered the main challenge for integration. We conclude that preconditions exist in Chile for integrating ES in SEA for spatial planning, but they strongly depend on appropriate governance schemes that promote a close science-policy interaction, as well as collaborative work and learning. - Highlights: • Linking ecosystem services in SEA is an effective framework for sustainability. • Multi-actor understanding and networks in ecosystem services and SEA were analyzed. • Understanding of SEA and especially of ES is still in an initial stage in Chile. • A lack of institutional guidelines is one of the key challenges for this link.

  11. Understanding Climate Variability of Urban Ecosystems Through the Lens of Citizen Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ripplinger, J.; Jenerette, D.; Wang, J.; Chandler, M.; Ge, C.; Koutzoukis, S.

    2017-12-01

    The Los Angeles megacity is vulnerable to climate warming - a process that locally exacerbates the urban heat island effect as it intensifies with size and density of the built-up area. We know that large-scale drivers play a role, but in order to understand local-scale climate variation, more research is needed on the biophysical and sociocultural processes driving the urban climate system. In this study, we work with citizen scientists to deploy a high-density network of microsensors across a climate gradient to characterize geographic variation in neighborhood meso- and micro-climates. This research asks: How do urbanization, global climate, and vegetation interact across multiple scales to affect local-scale experiences of temperature? Additionally, citizen scientist-led efforts generated research questions focused on examining microclimatic differences among yard groundcover types (rock mulch vs. lawn vs. artificial turf) and also on variation in temperature related to tree cover. Combining sensor measurements with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) spatial models and satellite-based temperature, we estimate spatially-explicit maps of land surface temperature and air temperature to illustrate the substantial difference between surface and air urban heat island intensities and the variable degree of coupling between land surface and air temperature in urban areas. Our results show a strong coupling between air temperature variation and landcover for neighborhoods, with significant detectable signatures from tree cover and impervious surface. Temperature covaried most strongly with urbanization intensity at nighttime during peak summer season, when daily mean air temperature ranged from 12.8C to 30.4C across all groundcover types. The combined effects of neighborhood geography and vegetation determine where and how temperature and tree canopy vary within a city. This citizen science-enabled research shows how large-scale climate drivers and urbanization

  12. The developing framework of marine ecotoxicology: Pollutants as a variable in marine ecosystems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luoma, Samuel N.

    1996-01-01

    Marine ecosystems include a subset in which at least some interrelated geochemical, biochemical, physiological, population and community characteristics are changed by pollutants. Moderate contamination is relatively widespread in coastal and estuarine ecosystems, so the subset of ecosystems with at least some processes affected could be relatively large. Pollutant influences have changed and will probably continue to change on time scales of decades. Biological exposures and dose in such ecosystems are species-specific and determined by how the species is exposed to different environmental media and the geochemistry of individual pollutants within those media. Bioaccumulation models offer significant promise for interpreting such exposures. Biological responses to pollutants need to be more directly linked to exposure and dose. At the level of the individual this might be improved by better understanding relationships between tissue concentrations of pollutants and responses to pollutants. Multi-discipline field and laboratory studies combined with advanced understanding of some basic processes have reduced the ambiguities in interpreting a few physiological/organismic responses to pollutants in nature. Recognition of pollutant-induced patterns in population responses could lead to similar advances. A rational framework for ecotoxicology is developing, but its further advance is dependent upon better integration of ecotoxicology with basic marine ecology and biology.

  13. Integrating community assembly and biodiversity to better understand ecosystem function: the Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems (CAFE) approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bannar-Martin, K.; Kremer, C.; Ernest, S.K. Morgan; Leibold, M.; Auge, H.; Chase, J.; Declerck, S.A.J.; Eisenhauer, Nico; Harpole, W.S.; Hillebrand, H.; Isbell, F.; Koffel, T.; Larsen, S.; Narwani, A.; Petermann, J.; Roscher, C.; Sarmento Cabral, J.; Supp, S.

    2018-01-01

    The research of a generation of ecologists was catalysed by the recognition that the number and identity of species in communities influences the functioning of ecosystems. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is most often examined by controlling species richness

  14. The importance of benthic-pelagic coupling for marine ecosystem functioning in a changing world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Jennifer R; Kadin, Martina; Nascimento, Francisco J A; Tamelander, Tobias; Törnroos, Anna; Bonaglia, Stefano; Bonsdorff, Erik; Brüchert, Volker; Gårdmark, Anna; Järnström, Marie; Kotta, Jonne; Lindegren, Martin; Nordström, Marie C; Norkko, Alf; Olsson, Jens; Weigel, Benjamin; Žydelis, Ramunas; Blenckner, Thorsten; Niiranen, Susa; Winder, Monika

    2017-06-01

    Benthic-pelagic coupling is manifested as the exchange of energy, mass, or nutrients between benthic and pelagic habitats. It plays a prominent role in aquatic ecosystems, and it is crucial to functions from nutrient cycling to energy transfer in food webs. Coastal and estuarine ecosystem structure and function are strongly affected by anthropogenic pressures; however, there are large gaps in our understanding of the responses of inorganic nutrient and organic matter fluxes between benthic habitats and the water column. We illustrate the varied nature of physical and biological benthic-pelagic coupling processes and their potential sensitivity to three anthropogenic pressures - climate change, nutrient loading, and fishing - using the Baltic Sea as a case study and summarize current knowledge on the exchange of inorganic nutrients and organic material between habitats. Traditionally measured benthic-pelagic coupling processes (e.g., nutrient exchange and sedimentation of organic material) are to some extent quantifiable, but the magnitude and variability of biological processes are rarely assessed, preventing quantitative comparisons. Changing oxygen conditions will continue to have widespread effects on the processes that govern inorganic and organic matter exchange among habitats while climate change and nutrient load reductions may have large effects on organic matter sedimentation. Many biological processes (predation, bioturbation) are expected to be sensitive to anthropogenic drivers, but the outcomes for ecosystem function are largely unknown. We emphasize how improved empirical and experimental understanding of benthic-pelagic coupling processes and their variability are necessary to inform models that can quantify the feedbacks among processes and ecosystem responses to a changing world. © 2017 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. A comparative analysis of hydrologic responses of tropical deciduous and temperate deciduous watershed ecosystems to climatic change

    Science.gov (United States)

    James M. Vose; Jose Manuel Maass

    1999-01-01

    Long-term monitoring of ecological and hydrological processes is critical to understanding ecosystem function and responses to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. Much of the world's knowledge of ecosystem responses to disturbance comes from long-term studies on gaged watersheds. However, there are relatively few long-term sites due to the large cost and...

  16. Biotic and abiotic processes in eastside ecosystems: the effects of management on soil properties, processes, and productivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alan E. Harvey; J. Michael Geist; Gerald L McDonald; Martin F. Jurgensen; Patrick H. Cochran; Darlene Zabowski; Robert T. Meurisse

    1994-01-01

    Productivity of forest and range land soils is based on a combination of diverse physical, chemical and biological properties. In ecosystems characteristic of eastside regions of Oregon and Washington, the productive zone is usually in the upper 1 or 2 m. Not only are the biological processes that drive both soil productivity and root development concentrated in...

  17. Global Ecosystem Restoration Index

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fernandez, Miguel; Garcia, Monica; Fernandez, Nestor

    2015-01-01

    The Global ecosystem restoration index (GERI) is a composite index that integrates structural and functional aspects of the ecosystem restoration process. These elements are evaluated through a window that looks into a baseline for degraded ecosystems with the objective to assess restoration...

  18. Regional processes in mangrove ecosystems: Spatial scaling relationships, biomass, and turnover rates following catastrophic disturbance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, G.A.; Smith, T. J.; Whelan, K.R.T.; Doyle, T.W.

    2006-01-01

    Physiological processes and local-scale structural dynamics of mangroves are relatively well studied. Regional-scale processes, however, are not as well understood. Here we provide long-term data on trends in structure and forest turnover at a large scale, following hurricane damage in mangrove ecosystems of South Florida, U.S.A. Twelve mangrove vegetation plots were monitored at periodic intervals, between October 1992 and March 2005. Mangrove forests of this region are defined by a -1.5 scaling relationship between mean stem diameter and stem density, mirroring self-thinning theory for mono-specific stands. This relationship is reflected in tree size frequency scaling exponents which, through time, have exhibited trends toward a community average that is indicative of full spatial resource utilization. These trends, together with an asymptotic standing biomass accumulation, indicate that coastal mangrove ecosystems do adhere to size-structured organizing principles as described for upland tree communities. Regenerative dynamics are different between areas inside and outside of the primary wind-path of Hurricane Andrew which occurred in 1992. Forest dynamic turnover rates, however, are steady through time. This suggests that ecological, more-so than structural factors, control forest productivity. In agreement, the relative mean rate of biomass growth exhibits an inverse relationship with the seasonal range of porewater salinities. The ecosystem average in forest scaling relationships may provide a useful investigative tool of mangrove community biomass relationships, as well as offer a robust indicator of general ecosystem health for use in mangrove forest ecosystem management and restoration. ?? Springer 2006.

  19. Empirical Succession Mapping and Data Assimilation to Constrain Demographic Processes in an Ecosystem Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, R.; Andrews, T.; Dietze, M.

    2015-12-01

    Shifts in ecological communities in response to environmental change have implications for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and feedbacks to global climate change. Community composition is fundamentally the product of demography, but demographic processes are simplified or missing altogether in many ecosystem, Earth system, and species distribution models. This limitation arises in part because demographic data are noisy and difficult to synthesize. As a consequence, demographic processes are challenging to formulate in models in the first place, and to verify and constrain with data thereafter. Here, we used a novel analysis of the USFS Forest Inventory Analysis to improve the representation of demography in an ecosystem model. First, we created an Empirical Succession Mapping (ESM) based on ~1 million individual tree observations from the eastern U.S. to identify broad demographic patterns related to forest succession and disturbance. We used results from this analysis to guide reformulation of the Ecosystem Demography model (ED), an existing forest simulator with explicit tree demography. Results from the ESM reveal a coherent, cyclic pattern of change in temperate forest tree size and density over the eastern U.S. The ESM captures key ecological processes including succession, self-thinning, and gap-filling, and quantifies the typical trajectory of these processes as a function of tree size and stand density. Recruitment is most rapid in early-successional stands with low density and mean diameter, but slows as stand density increases; mean diameter increases until thinning promotes recruitment of small-diameter trees. Strikingly, the upper bound of size-density space that emerges in the ESM conforms closely to the self-thinning power law often observed in ecology. The ED model obeys this same overall size-density boundary, but overestimates plot-level growth, mortality, and fecundity rates, leading to unrealistic emergent demographic patterns. In particular

  20. Formation of Service Ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jonas, Julia M.; Sörhammar, David; Satzger, Gerhard

    – i.e. the “birth phase” (Moore, 2009) of a service ecosystem. This paper, therefore, aims to explore how the somewhat “magic” processes of service ecosystem formation that are being taken for granted actually occur. Methodology/Approach: Building on a review of core elements in the definitions...... for Harvard students) or value proposition (share messages, photos, videos, etc. with friends). Processes of configuring actors, resources, and value propositions are influenced by the structural embeddedness of the service ecosystem (e.g., regional infrastructure, existing networks of actors, or resource...... availability) as well as guided by the actors’ own and shared institutions (e.g., rules, norms,and beliefs).We contextualize each starting point with illustrative cases and analyze the service ecosystem configuration process: “Axoon/Trumpf” (initiated by resources), “JOSEPHS – the service manufactory...

  1. Alien invasions in aquatic ecosystems: toward an understanding of brook trout invasions and potential impacts on inland cutthroat trout in western North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jason B. Dunham; Susan B. Adams; Robert E. Schroeter; Douglas C. Novinger

    2002-01-01

    Experience from case studies of biological invasions in aquatic ecosystems has motivated a set of proposed empirical “rules” for understanding patterns of invasion and impacts on native species. Further evidence is needed to better understand these patterns, and perhaps contribute to a useful predictive theory of invasions. We reviewed the case of brook trout (

  2. Current ecosystem processes in steppe near Lake Baikal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanteeva, Julia

    2015-04-01

    The steppes and forest steppes complexes of Priol'khonie at the Lake Baikal (southern Siberia, Russia) were studied in this research. Recreational activity has a significant impact on the Priol'khonie region. During soviet time this area was actively used for agriculture. Nowadays, this territory is the part of Pribaikalskyi National Park and special protection is needed. As the landscapes satisfy different human demands there are many land-management conflicts. The specific climate and soil conditions and human activity lead to erosion processes on study area. Sediment loads are transferred into the Lake Baikal and cause water pollution. Consequently, vegetation cover and phytomass play an important role for regulating hydrological processes in the ecosystems. The process of phytomass formation and its proactive role playing on sedimentation and mitigate silt detaching by rill and inter-rill erosion are considered in the research as important indicators of the ecosystem functions for steppe landscapes. These indicators were studied for the different land cover types identified on the area because the study area has a large variety of steppe and forest steppe complexes, differing in the form of relief, soil types, vegetation species composition and degree of land degradation. The fieldwork was conducted in the study area in the July and August of 2013. Thirty-two experimental sites (10 x 10 m) which characterized different types of ecosystem were established. The level of landscape degradation was estimated. The method of clipping was used for the valuation of above-ground herbaceous phytomass. The phytomass of tree stands was calculated using the volume-conversion rates for forest-steppe complexes. For the quantification of transferred silt by inter-rill erosion in different conditions (vegetation, slope, soil type, anthropogenic load) a portable rainfall simulator was created with taking into account the characteristics of the study area. The aboveground

  3. Ecosystem services and biogeochemical cycles on a global scale: valuation of water, carbon and nitrogen processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Marcos D.B.; Ortega, Enrique

    2011-01-01

    Ecosystem services (ES) are provided by healthy ecosystems and are fundamental to support human life. However, natural systems have been degraded all over the world and the process of degradation is partially attributed to the lack of knowledge regarding the economic benefits associated with ES, which usually are not captured in the market. To valuate ES without using conventional approaches, such as the human's willingness-to-pay for ecosystem goods and services, this paper uses a different method based on Energy Systems Theory to estimate prices for biogeochemical flows that affect ecosystem services by considering their emergy content converted to equivalent monetary terms. Ecosystem services related to water, carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical flows were assessed since they are connected to a range of final ecosystem services including climate regulation, hydrological regulation, food production, soil formation and others. Results in this paper indicate that aquifer recharge, groundwater flow, carbon dioxide sequestration, methane emission, biological nitrogen fixation, nitrous oxide emission and nitrogen leaching/runoff are the most critical biogeochemical flows in terrestrial systems. Moreover, monetary values related to biogeochemical flows on a global scale could provide important information for policymakers concerned with payment mechanisms for ecosystem services and costs of greenhouse gas emissions.

  4. Dynamics in organic matter processing, ecosystem metabolism and trophic sources for consumers in the Mara River, Kenya

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Masese, F.O.

    2015-01-01

    To properly conserve, restore and manage riverine ecosystems and the services they provide, it is pertinent to understand their functional dynamics. However, there is still a major knowledge gap concerning the functioning of tropical rivers in terms of energy sources supporting riverine

  5. Ecological processes in the cycling of radionuclides within arctic ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, W.C.

    1986-01-01

    Worldwide fallout radionuclides in arctic ecosystems was investigated ecologically by circumpolar nations during 1959-80. Several of the radionuclides are isotopes of elements which currently contribute to arctic haze; they thus serve as effective tracers of biogeochemical processes. Investigations demonstrated the effective concentration of several radionuclides, particularly strontium-90 (an alkaline earth metal) and cesium-137 (a light alkali metal) which are chemical analogs of calcium and potassium, two very important stable elements in biotic systems. Transfer of 137 Cs through the lichen-cariboureindeer-man food chain characteristic of circumpolar nations, resulted in body burdens in Inuit that were 20 to 200 times greater than those in human populations of temperature latitudes. Radiation exposures from 90 Sr, 137 Cs and other natural and worldwide fallout radionuclides, were two to three times greater than for most other world populations. These results demonstrate the concentration capabilities of arctic ecosystems for several groups of chemical elements that have counterparts in arctic haze. These elements, therefore, provide the basis for considering the ecological implications of current situations

  6. The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and processes, fisheries, and sediment studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montecino, Vivian; Lange, Carina B.

    2009-12-01

    In the Humboldt Current System (HCS), biological and non-biological components, ecosystem processes, and fisheries are known to be affected by multi-decadal, inter-annual, annual, and intra-seasonal scales. The interplay between atmospheric variability, the poleward undercurrent, the shallow oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), and the fertilizing effect of coastal upwelling and overall high primary production rates drive bio-physical interactions, the carbon biomass, and fluxes of gases and particulate and dissolved matter through the water column. Coastal upwelling (permanent and seasonally modulated off Peru and northern Chile, and markedly seasonal between 30°S and 40°S) is the key process responsible for the high biological productivity in the HCS. At present, the western coast of South America produces more fish per unit area than any other region in the world ocean (i.e. ∼7.5 × 10 6 t of anchoveta were landed in 2007). Climate changes on different temporal scales lead to alterations in the distribution ranges of anchoveta and sardine populations and shifts in their dominance throughout the HCS. The factors affecting the coastal marine ecosystem that reverberate in the fisheries are crucial from a social perspective, since the economic consequences of mismanagement can be severe. Fish remains are often well-preserved in sediment settings under the hypoxic conditions of the OMZ off Peru and Chile, and reveal multi-decadal variability and centennial-scale changes in fish populations. Sediment studies from the Chilean continental margin encompassing the last 20,000 years of deposition reveal changes in sub-surface conditions in the HCS during deglaciation, interpreted to include: a major reorganization of the OMZ; a deglacial increase in denitrification decoupled from local marine productivity; and higher deglacial and Holocene paleoproductivities compared to the Last Glacial Maximum in central-south Chile (35-37°S) while this scheme is reversed for north

  7. Coordinated approaches to quantify long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yiqi Luo; Jerry Melillo; Shuli Niu; Claus Beier; James S. Clark; Aime E.T. Classen; Eric Dividson; Jeffrey S. Dukes; R. Dave Evans; Christopher B. Field; Claudia I. Czimczik; Michael Keller; Bruce A. Kimball; Lara M. Kueppers; Richard J. Norby; Shannon L. Pelini; Elise Pendall; Edward Rastetter; Johan Six; Melinda Smith; Mark G. Tjoelker; Margaret S. Torn

    2011-01-01

    Many serious ecosystem consequences of climate change will take decades or even centuries to emerge. Long-term ecological responses to global change are strongly regulated by slow processes, such as changes in species composition, carbon dynamics in soil and by long-lived plants, and accumulation of nutrient capitals. Understanding and predicting these processes...

  8. Producer-decomposer matching in a simple model ecosystem: A network coevolutionary approach to ecosystem organization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Higashi, Masahiko; Yamamura, Norio; Nakajima, Hisao; Abe, Takuya

    1993-01-01

    The present not is concerned with how the ecosystem maintains its energy and matter processes, and how those processes change throughout ecological and geological time, or how the constituent biota of an ecosystem maintain their life, and how ecological (species) succession and biological evolution proceed within an ecosystem. To advance further Tansky's (1976) approach to ecosystem organization, which investigated the characteristic properties of the developmental process of a model ecosystem, by applying Margalef's (1968) maximum maturity principle to derive its long term change, we seek a course for deriving the macroscopic trends along the organization process of an ecosystem as a consequence of the interactions among its biotic components and their modification of ecological traits. Using a simple ecosystem model consisting of four aggregated components (open-quotes compartmentsclose quotes) connected by nutrient flows, we investigate how a change in the value of a parameter alters the network pattern of flows and stocks, even causing a change in the value of another parameter, which in turn brings about further change in the network pattern and values of some (possible original) parameters. The continuation of this chain reaction involving feedbacks constitutes a possible mechanism for the open-quotes coevolutionclose quotes or open-quotes matchingclose quotes among flows, stocks, and parameters

  9. Analyzing, Modelling, and Designing Software Ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Manikas, Konstantinos

    as the software development and distribution by a set of actors dependent on each other and the ecosystem. We commence on the hypothesis that the establishment of a software ecosystem on the telemedicine services of Denmark would address these issues and investigate how a software ecosystem can foster...... the development, implementation, and use of telemedicine services. We initially expand the theory of software ecosystems by contributing to the definition and understanding of software ecosystems, providing means of analyzing existing and designing new ecosystems, and defining and measuring the qualities...... of software ecosystems. We use these contributions to design a software ecosystem in the telemedicine services of Denmark with (i) a common platform that supports and promotes development from different actors, (ii) high software interaction, (iii) strong social network of actors, (iv) robust business...

  10. Ecosystem processes and human influences regulate streamflow response to climate change at long-term ecological research sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Julia A. Jones; Irena F. Creed; Kendra L. Hatcher; Robert J. Warren; Mary Beth Adams; Melinda H. Benson; Emery Boose; Warren A. Brown; John L. Campbell; Alan Covich; David W. Clow; Clifford N. Dahm; Kelly Elder; Chelcy R. Ford; Nancy B. Grimm; Donald L Henshaw; Kelli L. Larson; Evan S. Miles; Kathleen M. Miles; Stephen D. Sebestyen; Adam T. Spargo; Asa B. Stone; James M. Vose; Mark W. Williams

    2012-01-01

    Analyses of long-term records at 35 headwater basins in the United States and Canada indicate that climate change effects on streamflow are not as clear as might be expected, perhaps because of ecosystem processes and human influences. Evapotranspiration was higher than was predicted by temperature in water-surplus ecosystems and lower than was predicted in water-...

  11. Watersheds in Baltimore, Maryland: understanding and application of integrated ecological and social processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steward T.A. Pickett; Kenneth T. Belt; Michael F. Galvin; Peter M. Groffman; J. Morgan Grove; Donald C. Outen; Richard V. Pouyat; William P. Stack; Mary L. Cadenasso

    2007-01-01

    The Water and Watersheds program has made significant and lasting contributions to the basic understanding of the complex ecological system of Baltimore, MD. Funded at roughly the same time as the urban Long- Term Ecological Research (LTER) project in Baltimore, the Water and Watersheds grant and the LTER grant together established the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES)...

  12. Mechanisms and risk of cumulative impacts to coastal ecosystem services: An expert elicitation approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Gerald G; Sinner, Jim; Ellis, Joanne; Kandlikar, Milind; Halpern, Benjamin S; Satterfield, Terre; Chan, Kai M A

    2017-09-01

    Coastal environments are some of the most populated on Earth, with greater pressures projected in the future. Managing coastal systems requires the consideration of multiple uses, which both benefit from and threaten multiple ecosystem services. Thus understanding the cumulative impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystem services would seem fundamental to management, yet there is no widely accepted approach for assessing these. This study trials an approach for understanding the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic change, focusing on Tasman and Golden Bays, New Zealand. Using an expert elicitation procedure, we collected information on three aspects of cumulative impacts: the importance and magnitude of impacts by various activities and stressors on ecosystem services, and the causal processes of impact on ecosystem services. We assessed impacts to four ecosystem service benefits - fisheries, shellfish aquaculture, marine recreation and existence value of biodiversity-addressing three main research questions: (1) how severe are cumulative impacts on ecosystem services (correspondingly, what potential is there for restoration)?; (2) are threats evenly distributed across activities and stressors, or do a few threats dominate?; (3) do prominent activities mainly operate through direct stressors, or do they often exacerbate other impacts? We found (1) that despite high uncertainty in the threat posed by individual stressors and impacts, total cumulative impact is consistently severe for all four ecosystem services. (2) A subset of drivers and stressors pose important threats across the ecosystem services explored, including climate change, commercial fishing, sedimentation and pollution. (3) Climate change and commercial fishing contribute to prominent indirect impacts across ecosystem services by exacerbating regional impacts, namely sedimentation and pollution. The prevalence and magnitude of these indirect, networked impacts highlights the need for approaches

  13. Mechanisms and risk of cumulative impacts to coastal ecosystem services: An expert elicitation approach

    KAUST Repository

    Singh, Gerald G.

    2017-05-23

    Coastal environments are some of the most populated on Earth, with greater pressures projected in the future. Managing coastal systems requires the consideration of multiple uses, which both benefit from and threaten multiple ecosystem services. Thus understanding the cumulative impacts of human activities on coastal ecosystem services would seem fundamental to management, yet there is no widely accepted approach for assessing these. This study trials an approach for understanding the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic change, focusing on Tasman and Golden Bays, New Zealand. Using an expert elicitation procedure, we collected information on three aspects of cumulative impacts: the importance and magnitude of impacts by various activities and stressors on ecosystem services, and the causal processes of impact on ecosystem services. We assessed impacts to four ecosystem service benefits — fisheries, shellfish aquaculture, marine recreation and existence value of biodiversity—addressing three main research questions: (1) how severe are cumulative impacts on ecosystem services (correspondingly, what potential is there for restoration)?; (2) are threats evenly distributed across activities and stressors, or do a few threats dominate?; (3) do prominent activities mainly operate through direct stressors, or do they often exacerbate other impacts? We found (1) that despite high uncertainty in the threat posed by individual stressors and impacts, total cumulative impact is consistently severe for all four ecosystem services. (2) A subset of drivers and stressors pose important threats across the ecosystem services explored, including climate change, commercial fishing, sedimentation and pollution. (3) Climate change and commercial fishing contribute to prominent indirect impacts across ecosystem services by exacerbating regional impacts, namely sedimentation and pollution. The prevalence and magnitude of these indirect, networked impacts highlights the need for

  14. Ecosystem services in the Great Lakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    A comprehensive inventory of ecosystem services across the entire Great Lakes basin is currently lacking and is needed to make informed management decisions. A greater appreciation and understanding of ecosystem services, including both use and non-use services, may have avoided ...

  15. The importance of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) in the nitrogen cycle of coastal ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Giblin, Anne E.; Tobias, Craig R.; Song, Bongkeun

    2013-01-01

    Until recently, it was believed that biological assimilation and gaseous nitrogen (N) loss through denitrification were the two major fates of nitrate entering or produced within most coastal ecosystems. Denitrification is often viewed as an important ecosystem service that removes reactive N from...... the ecosystem. However, there is a competing nitrate reduction process, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), that conserves N within the ecosystem. The recent application of nitrogen stable isotopes as tracers has generated growing evidence that DNRA is a major nitrogen pathway that cannot...... of denitrification and DNRA, and how the balance changes with increased nitrogen loading, is of critical importance for predicting eutrophication trajectories. Recent improvements in methods for assessing rates of DNRA have helped refine our understanding of the rates and controls of this process, but accurate...

  16. New understanding of rhizosphere processes enabled by advances in molecular and spatially resolved techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hess, Nancy J.; Paša-Tolić, Ljiljana; Bailey, Vanessa L.; Dohnalkova, Alice C.

    2017-06-01

    Understanding the role played by microorganisms within soil systems is challenged by the unique intersection of physics, chemistry, mineralogy and biology in fostering habitat for soil microbial communities. To address these challenges will require observations across multiple spatial and temporal scales to capture the dynamics and emergent behavior from complex and interdependent processes. The heterogeneity and complexity of the rhizosphere require advanced techniques that press the simultaneous frontiers of spatial resolution, analyte sensitivity and specificity, reproducibility, large dynamic range, and high throughput. Fortunately many exciting technical advancements are now available to inform and guide the development of new hypotheses. The aim of this Special issue is to provide a holistic view of the rhizosphere in the perspective of modern molecular biology methodologies that enabled a highly-focused, detailed view on the processes in the rhizosphere, including numerous, strong and complex interactions between plant roots, soil constituents and microorganisms. We discuss the current rhizosphere research challenges and knowledge gaps, as well as perspectives and approaches using newly available state-of-the-art toolboxes. These new approaches and methodologies allow the study of rhizosphere processes and properties, and rhizosphere as a central component of ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles.

  17. Understanding Patients? Process to Use Medical Marijuana

    OpenAIRE

    Crowell, Tara L

    2016-01-01

    Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF) and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medici...

  18. A machine learning approach to understand business processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maruster, L.

    2003-01-01

    Business processes (industries, administration, hospitals, etc.) become nowadays more and more complex and it is difficult to have a complete understanding of them. The goal of the thesis is to show that machine learning techniques can be used successfully for understanding a process on the basis of

  19. Accounting for ecosystem services as a way to understand the requirements for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mäler, Karl-Göran; Aniyar, Sara; Jansson, Asa

    2008-07-15

    Millennium Ecosystem Assessment documented the importance of ecosystem services. It is therefore important that these services are included in our economic accounts (Standard National Accounts), as long as we believe that these accounts should tell us something about our wellbeing. This requires measures of the ecosystem assets and their accounting prices. This article discusses how the concept of inclusive wealth can be exploited for creating such accounts.

  20. A flux footprint analysis to understand ecosystem fluxes in an intensively managed landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez Rodriguez, L. C.; Goodwell, A. E.; Kumar, P.

    2017-12-01

    Flux tower studies in agricultural sites have mainly been done at plot scale, where the footprint of the instruments is small such that the data reveals the behaviour of the nearby crop on which the study is focused. In the Midwestern United States, the agricultural ecosystem and its associated drainage, evapotranspiration, and nutrient dynamics are dominant influences on interactions between the soil, land, and atmosphere. In this study, we address large-scale ecohydrologic fluxes and states in an intensively managed landscape based on data from a 25m high eddy covariance flux tower. We show the calculated upwind distance and flux footprint for a flux tower located in Central Illinois as part of the Intensively Managed Landscapes Critical Zone Observatory (IMLCZO). In addition, we calculate the daily energy balance during the summer of 2016 from the flux tower measurements and compare with the modelled energy balance from a representative corn crop located in the flux tower footprint using the Multi-Layer Canopy model, MLCan. The changes in flux footprint over the course of hours, days, and the growing season have significant implications for the measured fluxes of carbon and energy at the flux tower. We use MLCan to simulate these fluxes under land covers of corn and soybeans. Our results demonstrate how the instrument heights impact the footprint of the captured eddy covariance fluxes, and we explore the implication for hydrological analysis. The convective turbulent atmosphere during the daytime shows a wide footprint of more than 10 km2, which reaches 3km length for the 90% contribution, where buoyancy is the dominant mechanism driving turbulence. In contrast, the stable atmosphere during the night-time shows a narrower footprint that goes beyond 8km2 and grows in the direction of the prevalent wind, which exceeds 4 km in length. This study improves our understanding of agricultural ecosystem behaviour in terms of the magnitude and variability of fluxes and

  1. Measurements and modeling of CO2 concentration and isotopes to improve process-level understanding of Arctic and boreal carbon cycling. Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keeling, Ralph F. [Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Scripps Inst. of Oceanography

    2017-09-29

    The major goal of this project was to improve understanding of processes that control the exchanges of CO2 between the atmosphere and the land biosphere on decadal and longer time scales. The approach involves measuring the changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration and the isotopes of CO2 (13C/12C and 18O/16O) at background stations and uses these and other datasets to challenge and improve numerical models of the earth system. The project particularly emphasized the use of these data to improve understanding of changes occurring in boreal and arctic ecosystems over the past 50 years and to seek from these data improved understanding of large-scale processes impacting carbon cycling, such as the responses to warming, CO2 fertilization, and disturbance. The project also led to advances in the understanding of changes in water-use efficiency of land ecosystems globally based on trends in 13C/12C. The core element of this project was providing partial support for continuing measurements of CO2 concentrations and isotopes from the Scripps CO2 program, initiated by C. D. Keeling in the 1960s. The measurements included analysis of flasks collected at an array of ten stations distributed from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The project also supported modeling studies and interpretive work to help understand the origins of the large ~50% increase in the amplitude of the atmospheric CO2 cycle detected at high northern latitudes between 1960 and present and to understand the long-term trend in carbon 13C/12C of CO2. The seasonal cycle work was advanced through collaborations with colleagues at MPI Jena and Imperial College

  2. Great Lakes rivermouth ecosystems: scientific synthesis and management implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, James H.; Trebitz, Anett S.; Steinman, Alan D.; Wiley, Michael J.; Carlson Mazur, Martha; Pebbles, Victoria; Braun, Heather A.; Seelbach, Paul W.

    2013-01-01

    At the interface of the Great Lakes and their tributary rivers lies the rivermouths, a class of aquatic ecosystem where lake and lotic processes mix and distinct features emerge. Many rivermouths are the focal point of both human interaction with the Great Lakes and human impacts to the lakes; many cities, ports, and beaches are located in rivermouth ecosystems, and these human pressures often degrade key ecological functions that rivermouths provide. Despite their ecological uniqueness and apparent economic importance, there has been relatively little research on these ecosystems as a class relative to studies on upstream rivers or the open-lake waters. Here we present a synthesis of current knowledge about ecosystem structure and function in Great Lakes rivermouths based on studies in both Laurentian rivermouths, coastal wetlands, and marine estuarine systems. A conceptual model is presented that establishes a common semantic framework for discussing the characteristic spatial features of rivermouths. This model then is used to conceptually link ecosystem structure and function to ecological services provided by rivermouths. This synthesis helps identify the critical gaps in understanding rivermouth ecology. Specifically, additional information is needed on how rivermouths collectively influence the Great Lakes ecosystem, how human alterations influence rivermouth functions, and how ecosystem services provided by rivermouths can be managed to benefit the surrounding socioeconomic networks.

  3. The Evolution of Ecosystems for Converging Technologies – Drivers and Barriers of Technology Exploration and Exploitation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laufs, Daniel; Giones, Ferran; Schultz, Carsten

    2018-01-01

    Convergent technologies, like biotechnology, rely on the contribution of multiple scientific disciplines and are applied to distant needs and markets. As such, the development of technologies and related applications fields require the evolution of ecosystems that involve multidisciplinary......, previously unrelated, actors in collaborative exploration and exploitation processes. We know little on how these processes unfold, in particular in the early stages of the ecosystem development. Previous research suggests that human and social capital [1], patents and VC funding [2], or market orientation....... This helps us to generate an understanding of the pattern of technology convergence as well as of the drivers and barriers that affect the innovation process. In order to develop a holistic framework of the interplay between technology exploration and exploitation and the relevant ecosystem, we perform...

  4. Importance of neutral processes varies in time and space: Evidence from dryland stream ecosystems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoli Dong

    Full Text Available Many ecosystems experience strong temporal variability in environmental conditions; yet, a clear picture of how niche and neutral processes operate to determine community assembly in temporally variable systems remains elusive. In this study, we constructed neutral metacommunity models to assess the relative importance of neutral processes in a spatially and temporally variable ecosystem. We analyzed macroinvertebrate community data spanning multiple seasons and years from 20 sites in a Sonoran Desert river network in Arizona. The model goodness-of-fit was used to infer the importance of neutral processes. Averaging over eight stream flow conditions across three years, we found that neutral processes were more important in perennial streams than in non-perennial streams (intermittent and ephemeral streams. Averaging across perennial and non-perennial streams, we found that neutral processes were more important during very high flow and in low flow periods; whereas, at very low flows, the relative importance of neutral processes varied greatly. These findings were robust to the choice of model parameter values. Our study suggested that the net effect of disturbance on the relative importance of niche and neutral processes in community assembly varies non-monotonically with the severity of disturbance. In contrast to the prevailing view that disturbance promotes niche processes, we found that neutral processes could become more important when the severity of disturbance is beyond a certain threshold such that all organisms are adversely affected regardless of their biological traits and strategies.

  5. Photosynthesis, Nitrogen, Their Adjustment and its Effects on Ecosystem Carbon Gain at Elevated CO(sub 2)l. A Comparison of Loblolly and Ponderosa Pines; FINAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ball, J. Timothy; Eichelmann, Hillar Y.; Tissue, David T.; Lewis, James D.; Picone, Johnn B.; Ross, Peter D.

    1996-01-01

    A functional understanding of terrestrial ecosystem carbon processes is essential for two reasons. First, carbon flow is a most fundamental aspects of ecosystem function as it mediates most of the energy flow in these systems. Second, carbon flow also mediates the majority of energy flow in the global economy and will do for the foreseeable future. The increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and its inevitable flow through global ecosystems will influence ecosystem processes. There is, of course, great interest in the potential of ecosystems to sequester some of the carbon being loaded into the atmosphere by economic activity

  6. Interactions among hydrogeomorphology, vegetation, and nutrient biogeochemistry in floodplain ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noe, G.B.

    2013-01-01

    Hydrogeomorphic, vegetative, and biogeochemical processes interact in floodplains resulting in great complexity that provides opportunities to better understand linkages among physical and biological processes in ecosystems. Floodplains and their associated river systems are structured by four dimensional gradients of hydrogeomorphology: longitudinal, lateral, vertical, and temporal components. These four dimensions create dynamic hydrologic and geomorphologic mosaics that have a large imprint on the vegetation and nutrient biogeochemistry of floodplains. Plant physiology, population dynamics, community structure, and productivity are all very responsive to floodplain hydrogeomorphology. The strength of this relationship between vegetation and hydrogeomorphology is evident in the use of vegetation as an indicator of hydrogeomorphic processes. However, vegetation also influences hydrogeomorphology by modifying hydraulics and sediment entrainment and deposition that typically stabilize geomorphic patterns. Nitrogen and phosphorus biogeochemistry commonly influence plant productivity and community composition, although productivity is not limited by nutrient availability in all floodplains. Conversely, vegetation influences nutrient biogeochemistry through direct uptake and storage as well as production of organic matter that regulates microbial biogeochemical processes. The biogeochemistries of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling are very sensitive to spatial and temporal variation in hydrogeomorphology, in particular floodplain wetness and sedimentation. The least studied interaction is the direct effect of biogeochemistry on hydrogeomorphology, but the control of nutrient availability over organic matter decomposition and thus soil permeability and elevation is likely important. Biogeochemistry also has the more documented but indirect control of hydrogeomorphology through regulation of plant biomass. In summary, the defining characteristics of floodplain ecosystems

  7. Estimating Rates of Permafrost Degradation and their Impact on Ecosystems across Alaska and Northwest Canada using the Process-based Permafrost Dynamics Model GIPL as a Component of the Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchenko, S. S.; Genet, H.; Euskirchen, E. S.; Breen, A. L.; McGuire, A. D.; Rupp, S. T.; Romanovsky, V. E.; Bolton, W. R.; Walsh, J. E.

    2016-12-01

    The impact of climate warming on permafrost and the potential of climate feedbacks resulting from permafrost thawing have recently received a great deal of attention. Permafrost temperature has increased in most locations in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic during the past 30-40 years. The typical increase in permafrost temperature is 1-3°C. The process-based permafrost dynamics model GIPL developed in the Geophysical Institute Permafrost Lab, and which is the permafrost module of the Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM) has been using to quantify the nature and rate of permafrost degradation and its impact on ecosystems, infrastructure, CO2 and CH4fluxes and net C storage following permafrost thaw across Alaska and Northwest Canada. The IEM project is a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary effort aimed at understanding potential landscape, habitat and ecosystem change across the IEM domain. The IEM project also aims to tie three scientific models together Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM), the ALFRESCO (ALaska FRame-based EcoSystem Code) and GIPL so that they exchange data at run-time. The models produce forecasts of future fire, vegetation, organic matter, permafrost and hydrology regimes. The climate forcing data are based on the historical CRU3.1 data set for the retrospective analysis period (1901-2009) and the CMIP3 CCCMA-CGCM3.1 and MPI-ECHAM5/MPI-OM climate models for the future period (2009-2100). All data sets were downscaled to a 1 km resolution, using a differencing methodology (i.e., a delta method) and the Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) climatology. We estimated the dynamics of permafrost temperature, active layer thickness, area occupied by permafrost, and volume of thawed soils across the IEM domain. The modeling results indicate how different types of ecosystems affect the thermal state of permafrost and its stability. Although the rate of soil warming and permafrost degradation in peatland areas are slower than

  8. Ecosystem thermodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gomez Palacio, German Rau

    1998-01-01

    Ecology is no more a descriptive and self-sufficient science. Many viewpoints are needed simultaneously to give a full coverage of such complex systems: ecosystems. These viewpoints come from physics, chemistry, and nuclear physics, without a new far from equilibrium thermodynamics and without new mathematical tools such as catastrophe theory, fractal theory, cybernetics and network theory, the development of ecosystem science would never have reached the point of today. Some ideas are presented about the importance that concept such as energy, entropy, exergy information and none equilibrium have in the analysis of processes taking place in ecosystems

  9. A meta-analysis of soil salinization effects on nitrogen pools, cycles and fluxes in coastal ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Minghua; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus; Vereecken, Harry; Brüggemann, Nicolas

    2017-03-01

    Salinity intrusion caused by land subsidence resulting from increasing groundwater abstraction, decreasing river sediment loads and increasing sea level because of climate change has caused widespread soil salinization in coastal ecosystems. Soil salinization may greatly alter nitrogen (N) cycling in coastal ecosystems. However, a comprehensive understanding of the effects of soil salinization on ecosystem N pools, cycling processes and fluxes is not available for coastal ecosystems. Therefore, we compiled data from 551 observations from 21 peer-reviewed papers and conducted a meta-analysis of experimental soil salinization effects on 19 variables related to N pools, cycling processes and fluxes in coastal ecosystems. Our results showed that the effects of soil salinization varied across different ecosystem types and salinity levels. Soil salinization increased plant N content (18%), soil NH 4 + (12%) and soil total N (210%), although it decreased soil NO 3 - (2%) and soil microbial biomass N (74%). Increasing soil salinity stimulated soil N 2 O fluxes as well as hydrological NH 4 + and NO 2 - fluxes more than threefold, although it decreased the hydrological dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) flux (59%). Soil salinization also increased the net N mineralization by 70%, although salinization effects were not observed on the net nitrification, denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium in this meta-analysis. Overall, this meta-analysis improves our understanding of the responses of ecosystem N cycling to soil salinization, identifies knowledge gaps and highlights the urgent need for studies on the effects of soil salinization on coastal agro-ecosystem and microbial N immobilization. Additional increases in knowledge are critical for designing sustainable adaptation measures to the predicted intrusion of salinity intrusion so that the productivity of coastal agro-ecosystems can be maintained or improved and the N losses and pollution of the natural

  10. Understanding r-process nucleosynthesis with dwarf galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Alexander P.

    2018-06-01

    The Milky Way's faintest dwarf galaxy satellites each sample short, independent bursts of star formation from the first 1-2 Gyr of the universe. Their simple formation history makes them ideal systems to understand how rare events like neutron star mergers contribute to early enrichment of r-process elements. I will focus on the ultra-faint galaxy Reticulum II, which experienced a single prolific r-process event that left ~80% of its stars extremely enriched in r-process elements. I will present abundances of ~40 elements derived from the highest signal-to-noise high-resolution spectrum ever taken for an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy star. Precise measurements of elements from all three r-process peaks reaffirm the universal nature of the r-process abundance pattern from Ba to Ir. The first r-process peak is significantly lower than solar but matches other r-process enhanced stars. This constrains the neutron-richness of r-process ejecta in neutron star mergers. The radioactive element thorium is detected with a somewhat low abundance. Naive application of currently predicted initial production ratios could imply an age >20 Gyr, but more likely indicates that the initial production ratios require revision. The abundance of lighter elements up to Zn are consistent with extremely metal-poor Milky Way halo stars. These elements may eventually provide a way to test for other hypothesized r-process sites, but only after a more detailed understanding of the chemical evolution in this galaxy. Reticulum II provides a clean view of early r-process enrichment that can be used to understand the increasing number of r-process measurements in other dwarf galaxies.

  11. A New Collaborative Methodology for Assessment and Management of Ecosystem Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Segura

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Collaborative management is a new framework to help implement programmes in protected areas. Within this context, the aim of this work is twofold. First, to propose a robust methodology to implement collaborative management focused on ecosystem services. Second, to develop indicators for the main functions of ecosystem services. Decision makers, technical staff and other stakeholders are included in the process from the beginning, by identifying ecosystem services and eliciting preferences using the AHP method. Qualitative and quantitative data are then integrated into a PROMETHEE based method in order to obtain indicators for provisioning, maintenance and direct to citizens services. This methodology, which has been applied in a forest area, provides a tool for exploiting available technical and social data in a continuous process, as well as providing easy to understand graphical results. This approach also overcomes the difficulties found in prioritizing management objectives in a multiple criteria context with limited resources and facilitates consensus between all of the people involved. The new indicators define an innovative approach to assessing the ecosystem services from the supply perspective and provide basic information to help establish payment systems for environmental services and compensation for natural disasters.

  12. Broader perspective on ecosystem sustainability: consequences for decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidle, Roy C; Benson, William H; Carriger, John F; Kamai, Toshitaka

    2013-06-04

    Although the concept of ecosystem sustainability has a long-term focus, it is often viewed from a static system perspective. Because most ecosystems are dynamic, we explore sustainability assessments from three additional perspectives: resilient systems; systems where tipping points occur; and systems subject to episodic resetting. Whereas foundations of ecosystem resilience originated in ecology, recent discussions have focused on geophysical attributes, and it is recognized that dynamic system components may not return to their former state following perturbations. Tipping points emerge when chronic changes (typically anthropogenic, but sometimes natural) push ecosystems to thresholds that cause collapse of process and function and may become permanent. Ecosystem resetting occurs when episodic natural disasters breach thresholds with little or no warning, resulting in long-term changes to environmental attributes or ecosystem function. An example of sustainability assessment of ecosystem goods and services along the Gulf Coast (USA) demonstrates the need to include both the resilient and dynamic nature of biogeomorphic components. Mountain road development in northwest Yunnan, China, makes rivers and related habitat vulnerable to tipping points. Ecosystems reset by natural disasters are also presented, emphasizing the need to understand the magnitude frequency and interrelationships among major disturbances, as shown by (i) the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami, including how unsustainable urban development exacerbates geodisaster propagation, and (ii) repeated major earthquakes and associated geomorphic and vegetation disturbances in Papua New Guinea. Although all of these ecosystem perturbations and shifts are individually recognized, they are not embraced in contemporary sustainable decision making.

  13. The fate of mercury in Arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, a review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Douglas, Thomas A.; Loseto, Lisa L.; MacDonald, Robie W.

    2012-01-01

    the fate of Hg in most ecosystems, and the role of trophic processes in controlling Hg in higher order animals are also included. Case studies on Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and landlocked Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) are presented as examples of the relationship between...... into non-biological archives is also addressed. The review concludes by identifying major knowledge gaps in our understanding, including: (1) the rates of Hg entry into marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the rates of inorganic and MeHg uptake by Arctic microbial and algal communities; (2...

  14. Are there links between responses of soil microbes and ecosystem functioning to elevated CO2, N deposition and warming? A global perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Garcia-Palacios, Pablo; Vandegehuchte, Martijn L.; Shaw, E. Ashley; Dam, Marie; Post, Keith H.; Ramirez, Kelly S.; Sylvain, Zachary A.; de Tomasel, Cecilia Milano; Wall, Diana H.

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, there has been an increase in research to understand how global changes' impacts on soil biota translate into altered ecosystem functioning. However, results vary between global change effects, soil taxa, and ecosystem processes studied, and a synthesis of relationships is lacking.

  15. 7Be content in rainfall and soil deposition in South American coastal ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardoso, R.; Ayub, J. Juri; Anjos, Roberto Meigikos dos; Cid, Alberto Silva; Velasco, H.

    2011-01-01

    Full text: Research about input, circulation and accumulation of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in terrestrial ecosystems allows examining sources, establishing time scales and elucidating environmental processes. Thinking this way, researchers at UFF and UNSL have applied short-lived particle-reactive tracers to understand the behaviour of species evolution, functioning and restorations of natural and semi-natural ecosystems as well as to investigate the patterns and frequency of disturbances due to modern global changes. This can be accomplished through a detailed understanding on the hydrology and water circulation pattern, soil characteristics, erosion, resuspension, reduction/oxidation, speciation, precipitation and accumulation, diagenetic processes and microbial activities. 7 Be is a natural radionuclide (Eγ = 477.6 keV, t 1 / 2 = 53.3 d), which originates in the upper atmosphere as a result of bombardment by cosmic rays. The global distribution of this radionuclide provides a valuable means for testing and validating global circulation models on short time-scales. Its removal from the atmosphere by wet or dry deposition provides a useful tool for developing and validation of models about transport processes from the troposphere to the land surface. Knowledge of site-specific atmospheric fluxes is also crucial to evaluate the impact of atmospherically delivered pollutants on terrestrial ecosystems. The distribution of South American lands on different latitudes and its diversified topography can influence the development and action of many atmospheric systems contributing to generate non-homogeneous climatic conditions in this region. Increasing anthropogenic loads can further modify the precipitation rates and hence the climate of this region. Therefore it is important to study intra-system and inter-system interactions in different South American terrestrial ecosystems. Since 2006, UNSL has been investigating the 7 Be contents in rainfall and

  16. A social ecology approach to understanding urban ecosystems and landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    J. Morgan Grove; Karen E. Hinson; Robert J. Northrop

    2003-01-01

    The shape and dynamics of cities are the result of physical, biological, and social forces. We include the term dynamic to emphasize that cities change over time and are the result of both idiosyncratic events and dominant trends. To begin to understand the patterns and processes of cities, we approach the idiosyncratic and dominant - whether it is physical, biological...

  17. Scaling issues in forest ecosystem management and how to address them with models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seidl, R.; Eastaugh, C.S.; Kramer, K.; Maroschek, M.; Reyer, C.; Socha, J.; Vacchiano, G.; Zlatanov, T.; Hasenauer, H.

    2013-01-01

    Scaling is widely recognized as a central issue in ecology. The associated cross-scale interactions and process transmutations make scaling (i.e. a change in spatial or temporal grain and extent) an important issue in understanding ecosystem structure and functioning. Moreover, current concepts of

  18. Entrepreneurship ecosystem evolution strategy of Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Rahatullah Khan

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In majority of times when a potential start-up strikes a brilliant business idea, he/she has little knowledge of ‘how to move from there’. They lack information on the stakeholders of entrepreneurship ecosystem who can help and assist these startups in numerous ways and help them materialize their concepts. Availability of this information will help the ecosystem stakeholders to avoid replication and duplication of efforts. Similarly, knowledge of status quo helps identify opportunities and supports plan development to endeavor through right strategy for the start-up. Critical review of existing initiatives of Saudi Arabia for entrepreneurship growth and identification of the existing stakeholders of the entrepreneurship in the country is conducted. Similarly their work and potential for practicable interventions to further entrepreneurship reflecting country’s economic development process is examined. This paper benefits from a cross sectional basic study of Saudi Arabia that utilized primary and secondary sources to discover the initiatives, understand entrepreneurship growth and then map the national entrepreneurship ecosystem. A number of interviews from CEO’s, General Managers and other senior executives were carried out to know the role of the different organizations in entrepreneurship growth. It was coupled with a detailed secondary research from existing resources. It has been identified that the ecosystem is swiftly expanding but yet under development and infancy stage where the institutions are prospering. The research is based on country analysis. The paper also shows that the Saudi Arabian government has taken proactive stance in developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem and startup landscape and highlights the transformation of the ecosystem strategy.

  19. Interregional flows of ecosystem services: Concepts, typology and four cases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schröter, Matthias; Koellner, Thomas; Alkemade, Rob; Arnhold, Sebastian; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Frank, Karin; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Kastner, Thomas; Kissinger, Meidad; Liu, Jianguo; López-Hoffman, Laura; Maes, Joachim; Marques, Alexandra; Martín-López, Berta; Meyer, Carsten; Schulp, Catharina J. E.; Thober, Jule; Wolff, Sarah; Bonn, Aletta

    2018-01-01

    Conserving and managing global natural capital requires an understanding of the complexity of flows of ecosystem services across geographic boundaries. Failing to understand and to incorporate these flows into national and international ecosystem assessments leads to incomplete and potentially skewed conclusions, impairing society’s ability to identify sustainable management and policy choices. In this paper, we synthesise existing knowledge and develop a conceptual framework for analysing interregional ecosystem service flows. We synthesise the types of such flows, the characteristics of sending and receiving socio-ecological systems, and the impacts of ecosystem service flows on interregional sustainability. Using four cases (trade of certified coffee, migration of northern pintails, flood protection in the Danube watershed, and information on giant pandas), we test the conceptual framework and show how an enhanced understanding of interregional telecouplings in socio-ecological systems can inform ecosystem service-based decision making and governance with respect to sustainability goals.

  20. Forest Soil Bacteria: Diversity, Involvement in Ecosystem Processes, and Response to Global Change

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lladó, Salvador; López-Mondéjar, Rubén; Baldrian, Petr

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 81, č. 2 (2017), s. 1-27, č. článku e00063. ISSN 1092-2172 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GP14-09040P; GA MŠk(CZ) LD15086 Institutional support: RVO:61388971 Keywords : bacteria * decomposition * ecosystem processes Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology OBOR OECD: Microbiology Impact factor: 14.533, year: 2016

  1. Current status of the East Sea Ecosystem in a changing world

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sang Heon; Kang, Chang-Keun; Lee, Chung IL; Kwak, Jung Hyun

    2017-12-01

    The East/Japan Sea (hereafter the East Sea) is changing quickly. Warming and structural changes in the East Sea have been reported by CREAMS, an acronym of ″Circulation Research of the East Asian Marginal Seas″, which began in 1993 as an international research program to understand the water mass structure and circulation in the East Sea (Kim and Kim, 1996; Kim, 1997; Kim et al., 2001, 2002). A subsequent research program of the EAST-I, an acronym of ″the East Asian Seas Time-series″, was launched by PICES (North Pacific Marine Science Organization) and financially supported by the Korean government, allowing us to deepen our knowledge about rapidly changing processes in the East Sea (Chang et al., 2010). Although there has been considerable progress in developing a mechanistic understanding of the East Sea ecosystem responses to disturbances, more comprehensive studies are needed to address the impacts of the frequency and intensity of disturbances on marine ecosystems. The most important question of the research has been: how do environmental changes affect structural and functional biodiversity? Recently launched research on ″Long-term change of structure and function in marine ecosystems of Korea″, which has been supported by the Korean government since 2011, has given an unprecedented insight into the ecosystem dynamics in the East Sea. It therefore seems an appropriate time to devote a special issue to the topic of ″Current status of the East Sea ecosystem in a changing world″.

  2. Understanding Litter Input Controls on Soil Organic Matter Turnover and Formation are Essential for Improving Carbon-Climate Feedback Predictions for Arctic, Tundra Ecosystems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wallenstein, Matthew [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)

    2017-12-05

    The Arctic region stored vast amounts of carbon (C) in soils over thousands of years because decomposition has been limited by cold, wet conditions. Arctic soils now contain roughly as much C that is contained in all other soils across the globe combined. However, climate warming could unlock this oil C as decomposition accelerates and permafrost thaws. In addition to temperature-driven acceleration of decomposition, several additional processes could either counteract or augment warming-induced SOM losses. For example, increased plant growth under a warmer climate will increase organic matter inputs to soils, which could fuel further soil decomposition by microbes, but will also increase the production of new SOM. Whether Arctic ecosystems store or release carbon in the future depends in part on the balance between these two counteracting processes. By differentiating SOM decomposition and formation and understanding the drivers of these processes, we will better understand how these systems function. We did not find evidence of priming under current conditions, defined as an increase in the decomposition of native SOM stocks. This suggests that decomposition is unlikely to be further accelerated through this mechanism. We did find that decomposition of native SOM did occur when nitrogen was added to these soils, suggesting that nitrogen limits decomposition in these systems. Our results highlight the resilience and extraordinary C storage capacity of these soils, and suggest shrub expansion may partially mitigate C losses from decomposition of old SOM as Arctic soils warm.

  3. Amazon forest ecosystem responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 and alterations in nutrient availability: filling the gaps with model-experiment integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florian eHofhansl

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The impacts of elevated CO2 (eCO2 and alterations in nutrient availability on the carbon (C storage capacity and resilience of the Amazon forest remain highly uncertain. Carbon dynamics are controlled by multiple eco-physiological processes responding to environmental change, but we lack solid experimental evidence, hampering theory development and thus representation in ecosystem models. Here, we present two ecosystem-scale manipulation experiments, to be carried out in the Amazon, that examine tropical ecosystem responses to eCO2 and nutrient addition and thus will elucidate the representation of crucial ecological processes by ecosystem models. We highlight current gaps in our understanding of tropical ecosystem responses to projected global changes in light of the eco-physiological assumptions considered by current ecosystem models. We conclude that a more detailed process-based representation of the spatial (e.g. soil type; plant functional type and temporal (seasonal and inter-annual variation diversity of tropical forests is needed to enhance model predictions of ecosystem responses to projected global environmental change.

  4. Soil-based ecosystem services

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ghaley, Bhim Bahadur; Porter, John Roy; Sandhu, Harpinder S.

    2014-01-01

    Among the soil-based ecosystem services (ES), nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration have direct influence on the biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas emissions affecting provision of other ES that support human existence. We reviewed methods to assess the two key ES by identifying...... their strengths and weaknesses and have made suggestions for using appropriate methods for better understanding of the ecosystem functions for the provision of ES. Relevant papers for the review were chosen on the basis of (i) diversity of studies on the two key ES in different ecosystems, (ii) methodologies...... applied and (iii) detailed descriptions of the trial locations in terms of vegetation, soil type, location and climatic information. We concluded that (i) elemental stoichiometrical ratios could be a potential approach to assess the health of ecosystems in terms of provision of the two ES discussed, (ii...

  5. The quest for a mechanistic understanding of biodiversity-ecosystem services relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Clare; Thompson, Julian R; Pettorelli, Nathalie

    2015-10-22

    Ecosystem services (ES) approaches to biodiversity conservation are currently high on the ecological research and policy agendas. However, despite a wealth of studies into biodiversity's role in maintaining ES (B-ES relationships) across landscapes, we still lack generalities in the nature and strengths of these linkages. Reasons for this are manifold, but can largely be attributed to (i) a lack of adherence to definitions and thus a confusion between final ES and the ecosystem functions (EFs) underpinning them, (ii) a focus on uninformative biodiversity indices and singular hypotheses and (iii) top-down analyses across large spatial scales and overlooking of context-dependency. The biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (B-EF) field provides an alternate context for examining biodiversity's mechanistic role in shaping ES, focusing on species' characteristics that may drive EFs via multiple mechanisms across contexts. Despite acknowledgements of a need for B-ES research to look towards underlying B-EF linkages, the connections between these areas of research remains weak. With this review, we pull together recent B-EF findings to identify key areas for future developments in B-ES research. We highlight a means by which B-ES research may begin to identify how and when multiple underlying B-EF relationships may scale to final ES delivery and trade-offs. © 2015 The Author(s).

  6. Practical Strategies for Integrating Final Ecosystem Goods and ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    The concept of Final Ecosystem Goods and Services (FEGS) explicitly connects ecosystem services to the people that benefit from them. This report presents a number of practical strategies for incorporating FEGS, and more broadly ecosystem services, into the decision-making process. Whether a decision process is in early or late stages, or whether a process includes informal or formal decision analysis, there are multiple points where ecosystem services concepts can be integrated. This report uses Structured Decision Making (SDM) as an organizing framework to illustrate the role ecosystem services can play in a values-focused decision-process, including: • Clarifying the decision context: Ecosystem services can help clarify the potential impacts of an issue on natural resources together with their spatial and temporal extent based on supply and delivery of those services, and help identify beneficiaries for inclusion as stakeholders in the deliberative process. • Defining objectives and performance measures: Ecosystem services may directly represent stakeholder objectives, or may be means toward achieving other objectives. • Creating alternatives: Ecosystem services can bring to light creative alternatives for achieving other social, economic, health, or general well-being objectives. • Estimating consequences: Ecosystem services assessments can implement ecological production functions (EPFs) and ecological benefits functions (EBFs) to link decision alt

  7. Diversification versus specialization in complex ecosystems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riccardo Di Clemente

    Full Text Available By analyzing the distribution of revenues across the production sectors of quoted firms we suggest a novel dimension that drives the firms diversification process at country level. Data show a non trivial macro regional clustering of the diversification process, which underlines the relevance of geopolitical environments in determining the microscopic dynamics of economic entities. These findings demonstrate the possibility of singling out in complex ecosystems those micro-features that emerge at macro-levels, which could be of particular relevance for decision-makers in selecting the appropriate parameters to be acted upon in order to achieve desirable results. The understanding of this micro-macro information exchange is further deepened through the introduction of a simplified dynamic model.

  8. Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Health Based on Entropy Weight Extension Decision Model in Urban Agglomeration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Yang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Urban ecosystem health evaluation can assist in sustainable ecological management at a regional level. This study examined urban agglomeration ecosystem health in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with entropy weight and extension theories. The model overcomes information omissions and subjectivity problems in the evaluation process of urban ecosystem health. Results showed that human capital and education, economic development level as well as urban infrastructure have a significant effect on the health states of urban agglomerations. The health status of the urban agglomeration’s ecosystem was not optimistic in 2013. The majority of the cities were unhealthy or verging on unhealthy, accounting for 64.52% of the total number of cities in the urban agglomeration. The regional differences of the 31 cities’ ecosystem health are significant. The cause originated from an imbalance in economic development and the policy guidance of city development. It is necessary to speed up the integration process to promote coordinated regional development. The present study will aid us in understanding and advancing the health situation of the urban ecosystem in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and will provide an efficient urban ecosystem health evaluation method that can be used in other areas.

  9. Environmental Impacts of the Use of Ecosystem Services: Case Study of Birdwatching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kronenberg, Jakub

    2014-09-01

    The main reason for promoting the concept of ecosystem services lies in its potential to contribute to environmental conservation. Highlighting the benefits derived from ecosystems fosters an understanding of humans' dependence on nature, as users of ecosystem services. However, the act of using ecosystem services may not be environmentally neutral. As with the use of products and services generated within an economy, the use of ecosystem services may lead to unintended environmental consequences throughout the `ecosystem services supply chain.' This article puts forward a framework for analyzing environmental impacts related to the use of ecosystem services, indicating five categories of impact: (1) direct impacts (directly limiting the service's future availability); and four categories of indirect impacts, i.e., on broader ecosystem structures and processes, which can ultimately also affect the initial service: (2) impacts related to managing ecosystems to maximize the delivery of selected services (affecting ecosystems' capacity to provide other services); (3) impacts associated with accessing ecosystems to use their services (affecting other ecosystem components); (4) additional consumption of products, infrastructure or services required to use a selected ecosystem service, and their life-cycle environmental impacts; and (5) broader impacts on the society as a whole (environmental awareness of ecosystem service users and other stakeholders). To test the usefulness of this framework, the article uses the case study of birdwatching, which demonstrates all of the above categories of impacts. The article justifies the need for a broader consideration of environmental impacts related to the use of ecosystem services.

  10. Understanding Complex Human Ecosystems: The Case of Ecotourism on Bonaire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Abel

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available It is suggested that ecotourism development on the island of Bonaire can be productively understood as a perturbation of a complex human ecosystem. Inputs associated with ecotourism have fueled transformations of the island ecology and sociocultural system. The results of this study indicate that Bonaire's social and economic hierarchy is approaching a new, stable systems state following a 50-yr transition begun by government and industry that stabilized with the appearance of ecotourism development and population growth. Ecotourism can be understood to have "filled in" the middle of the production hierarchy of Bonaire. Interpreted from this perspective, population growth has completed the transformation by expanding into production niches at smaller scales in the production hierarchy. Both a consequence and a cause, ecotourism has transformed the island's social structure and demography. The theory and methods applied in this case study of interdisciplinary research in the field of human ecosystems are also presented.

  11. Ecosystem history of South Florida; Biscayne Bay sediment core descriptions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishman, S.E.

    1997-01-01

    The 'Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the southeast Coast' project of the U.S. Geological Survey is part of a multi-disciplinary effort that includes Florida Bay and the Everglades to provide paleoecologic reconstructions for the south Florida region. Reconstructions of past salinity, nutrients, substrate, and water quality are needed to determine ecosystem variability due to both natural and human-induced causes. Our understanding of the relations between the south Florida ecosystem and introduced forces will allow managers to make informed decisions regarding the south Florida ecosystem restoration and monitoring. The record of past ecosystem conditions can be found in shallow sediment cores. This U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report describes six shallow sediment cores collected from Biscayne Bay. The cores described herein are being processed for a variety of analytical procedures, and this provides the descriptive framework for future analyses of the included cores. This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

  12. Linking trajectories of land change, land degradation processes and ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smiraglia, D; Ceccarelli, T; Bajocco, S; Salvati, L; Perini, L

    2016-05-01

    Land Degradation (LD) is a complex phenomenon resulting in a progressive reduction in the capacity of providing ecosystem services (ES). Landscape transformations promoting an unsustainable use of land often reveal latent processes of LD. An evaluation carried out in respect to the different ecosystem services is nowadays regarded as the most appropriate approach for assessing the effects of LD. The aim of this study is to develop an evaluation framework for identifying the linkages between land changes, LD processes and ES and suggesting Sustainable Land Management (SLM) options suited to reverse (or mitigate) LD impact. A SWOT analysis was carried out with the aim to identify internal and external factors that are favorable (or unfavorable) to achieve the proposed SLM actions. The study areas are the Fortore valley and the Valpadana, in Italy. The main trajectory identified for the Fortore valley is related to land abandonment due to population aging and the progressive emigration started in the 1950s. The most relevant LD processes are soil erosion and geomorphological instability, affecting regulating services such as natural hazard and erosion control. SLM options should consider interventions to contrast geomorphological instability, the promotion of climate smart agriculture and of typical products, and an efficient water resources management. The main trajectories identified for Valpadana are related to urban expansion and farmland abandonment and, as a consequence, land take due to anthropogenic pressure and woodland expansion as the main LD process. The reduction of food production was identified as the most relevant provisioning service affected. SLM should envisage best practices finalized to water saving and soil consumption reduction: efficient irrigation solutions, climate smart agriculture and zero sealing practices. This study highlights the diagnostic value of the suggested approach where LD processes are elicited from land change trajectories

  13. A general equilibrium model of ecosystem services in a river basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Travis Warziniack

    2014-01-01

    This study builds a general equilibrium model of ecosystem services, with sectors of the economy competing for use of the environment. The model recognizes that production processes in the real world require a combination of natural and human inputs, and understanding the value of these inputs and their competing uses is necessary when considering policies of resource...

  14. Assimilation of ocean colour to improve the simulation and understanding of the North West European shelf-sea ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciavatta, Stefano; Brewin, Robert; Skakala, Jozef; Sursham, David; Ford, David

    2017-04-01

    Shelf-seas and coastal zones provide essential goods and services to humankind, such as fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and climate regulation. The understanding and management of these regions can be enhanced by merging ocean-colour observations and marine ecosystem simulations through data assimilation, which provides (sub)optimal estimates of key biogeochemical variables. Here we present a range of applications of ocean-colour data assimilation in the North West European shelf-sea. A reanalysis application illustrates that assimilation of error-characterized chlorophyll concentrations could provide a map of the shelf sea vulnerability to oxygen deficiency, as well as estimates of the shelf sea uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the last decade. The interannual variability of CO2 uptake and its uncertainty were related significantly to interannual fluctuations of the simulated primary production. However, the reanalysis also indicates that assimilation of total chlorophyll did not improve significantly the simulation of some other variables, e.g. nutrients. We show that the assimilation of alternative products derived from ocean colour (i.e. spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient and phytoplankton size classes) can overcome this limitation. In fact, these products can constrain a larger number of model variables, which define either the underwater light field or the structure of the lower trophic levels. Therefore, the assimilation of such ocean-colour products into marine ecosystem models is an advantageous novel approach to improve the understanding and simulation of shelf-sea environments.

  15. Transitions in Arctic ecosystems: Ecological implications of a changing hydrological regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wrona, Frederick J.; Johansson, Margareta; Culp, Joseph M.; Jenkins, Alan; Mârd, Johanna; Myers-Smith, Isla H.; Prowse, Terry D.; Vincent, Warwick F.; Wookey, Philip A.

    2016-03-01

    Numerous international scientific assessments and related articles have, during the last decade, described the observed and potential impacts of climate change as well as other related environmental stressors on Arctic ecosystems. There is increasing recognition that observed and projected changes in freshwater sources, fluxes, and storage will have profound implications for the physical, biogeochemical, biological, and ecological processes and properties of Arctic terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. However, a significant level of uncertainty remains in relation to forecasting the impacts of an intensified hydrological regime and related cryospheric change on ecosystem structure and function. As the terrestrial and freshwater ecology component of the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis, we review these uncertainties and recommend enhanced coordinated circumpolar research and monitoring efforts to improve quantification and prediction of how an altered hydrological regime influences local, regional, and circumpolar-level responses in terrestrial and freshwater systems. Specifically, we evaluate (i) changes in ecosystem productivity; (ii) alterations in ecosystem-level biogeochemical cycling and chemical transport; (iii) altered landscapes, successional trajectories, and creation of new habitats; (iv) altered seasonality and phenological mismatches; and (v) gains or losses of species and associated trophic interactions. We emphasize the need for developing a process-based understanding of interecosystem interactions, along with improved predictive models. We recommend enhanced use of the catchment scale as an integrated unit of study, thereby more explicitly considering the physical, chemical, and ecological processes and fluxes across a full freshwater continuum in a geographic region and spatial range of hydroecological units (e.g., stream-pond-lake-river-near shore marine environments).

  16. Ecosystem Model Skill Assessment. Yes We Can!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Erik; Fay, Gavin; Gaichas, Sarah; Gamble, Robert; Lucey, Sean; Link, Jason S

    2016-01-01

    Accelerated changes to global ecosystems call for holistic and integrated analyses of past, present and future states under various pressures to adequately understand current and projected future system states. Ecosystem models can inform management of human activities in a complex and changing environment, but are these models reliable? Ensuring that models are reliable for addressing management questions requires evaluating their skill in representing real-world processes and dynamics. Skill has been evaluated for just a limited set of some biophysical models. A range of skill assessment methods have been reviewed but skill assessment of full marine ecosystem models has not yet been attempted. We assessed the skill of the Northeast U.S. (NEUS) Atlantis marine ecosystem model by comparing 10-year model forecasts with observed data. Model forecast performance was compared to that obtained from a 40-year hindcast. Multiple metrics (average absolute error, root mean squared error, modeling efficiency, and Spearman rank correlation), and a suite of time-series (species biomass, fisheries landings, and ecosystem indicators) were used to adequately measure model skill. Overall, the NEUS model performed above average and thus better than expected for the key species that had been the focus of the model tuning. Model forecast skill was comparable to the hindcast skill, showing that model performance does not degenerate in a 10-year forecast mode, an important characteristic for an end-to-end ecosystem model to be useful for strategic management purposes. We identify best-practice approaches for end-to-end ecosystem model skill assessment that would improve both operational use of other ecosystem models and future model development. We show that it is possible to not only assess the skill of a complicated marine ecosystem model, but that it is necessary do so to instill confidence in model results and encourage their use for strategic management. Our methods are applicable

  17. Effect of Linked Rules on Business Process Model Understanding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Wei; Indulska, Marta; Sadiq, Shazia

    2017-01-01

    Business process models are widely used in organizations by information systems analysts to represent complex business requirements and by business users to understand business operations and constraints. This understanding is extracted from graphical process models as well as business rules. Prior...

  18. Understanding Late Triassic low latitude terrestrial ecosystems: new insights from the Colorado Plateau Coring Project (CPCP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irmis, R. B.; Olsen, P. E.; Parker, W.; Rasmussen, C.; Mundil, R.; Whiteside, J. H.

    2017-12-01

    The Chinle Formation of southwestern North America is a key paleontological archive of low paleolatitude non-marine ecosystems that existed during the Late Triassic hothouse world. These strata were deposited at 5-15°N latitude, and preserve extensive plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossil assemblages, including early dinosaurs; these organisms lived in an unpredictably fluctuating semi-arid to arid environment with very high atmospheric pCO2. Despite this well-studied fossil record, a full understanding of these ecosystems and their integration with other fossil assemblages globally has been hindered by a poor understanding of the Chinle Formation's age, duration, and sedimentation rates. Recently, the CPCP recovered a 520m continuous core through this formation from the northern portion of Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) in northern Arizona, USA. This core has provided a plethora of new radioisotopic and magnetostratigraphic data from fresh, unweathered samples in unambiguous stratigraphic superposition. These constraints confirm that virtually all fossil-bearing horizons in Chinle outcrops in the vicinity of PEFO are Norian in age. Furthermore, they indicate that the palynomorph zone II and Adamanian vertebrate biozone are at least six million years long, whereas the overlying palynomorph zone III and Revueltian vertebrate biozone persisted for at least five million years, with the boundary between 216-214 Ma. This confirms that the rich late Adamanian-early Revueltian vertebrate fossil assemblages, where dinosaurs are exclusively rare, small-bodied carnivorous theropods, are contemporaneous with higher latitude assemblages in Europe, South America, and Africa where large-bodied herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaurs are common. The age constraints also confirm that several palynomorph biostratigraphic ranges in the Chinle Formation differ from those of the same taxa in eastern North American (Newark Supergroup) and Europe. These data are consistent

  19. Ecosystem Services in Environmental Science Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruppert, John Robert

    2015-01-01

    Human beings depend on a set of benefits that emerge from functioning ecosystems, termed Ecosystem Services (ES), and make decisions in everyday life that affect these ES. Recent advancements in science have led to an increasingly sophisticated understanding of ES and how they can be used to inform environmental decision-making. Following suit, US…

  20. Freshwater processing of terrestrial dissolved organic matter: What governs lability?

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Andrilli, J.; Smith, H. J.; Junker, J. R.; Scholl, E. A.; Foreman, C. M.

    2016-12-01

    Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are linked through the transfer of energy and materials. Allochthonous organic matter (OM) is central to freshwater ecosystem function, influencing local food webs, trophic state, and nutrient availability. In order to understand the nature and fate of OM from inland headwaters to the open ocean, it is imperative to understand the links between OM lability and ecosystem function. Thus, biological, chemical, and physical factors need to be evaluated together to inform our understanding of environmental lability. We performed a laboratory processing experiment on naturally occurring OM leachates from riparian leaves, grasses, and pine needles. Measures of water chemistry, OM optical and molecular characterization, bacterial abundances, microbial assemblage composition, respiration, and C:N:P were integrated to discern the nature and fate of labile and recalcitrant OM in a freshwater stream. Peak processing of all OM sources in the stream water occurred after two days, with spikes in bacterial cell abundances, respiration rates, microbial assemblage shifts, and maximum C utilization. Respiration rates and microbial assemblages were dependent on the degree of lability of the OM molecular composition. Within the first few days, no differences in respiration rates were observed between leachate sources, however, beyond day five, the rates diverged with C processing efficiency correlated with OM lability. Originally comprised of amino acid-like, labile fluorescent species, the inoculated stream water OM became more recalcitrant after 16 days, indicating humification processing over time. Our study highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches for understanding the processing and fate of OM in aquatic ecosystems.

  1. Understanding Quality in Process Modelling: Towards a Holistic Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Recker

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Quality is one of the main topics in current conceptual modelling research, as is the field of business process modelling. Yet, widely acknowledged academic contributions towards an understanding or measurement of business process model quality are limited at best. In this paper I argue that the development of methodical theories concerning the measurement or establishment of process model quality must be preceded by methodological elaborations on business process modelling. I further argue that existing epistemological foundations of process modelling are insufficient for describing all extrinsic and intrinsic traits of model quality. This in turn has led to a lack of holistic understanding of process modelling. Taking into account the inherent social and purpose-oriented character of process modelling in contemporary organizations I present a socio-pragmatic constructionist methodology of business process modelling and sketch out implications of this perspective towards an understanding of process model quality. I anticipate that, based on this research, theories can be developed that facilitate the evaluation of the ’goodness’ of a business process model.

  2. Stakeholder Values and Ecosystems

    OpenAIRE

    Sveinsdottir, Thordis; Wessels, Bridgette; Smallwood, Rod; Linde, Peter; Kalla, Vasso; Tsoukala, Victoria; Sondervan, Jeroen

    2013-01-01

    This report is the deliverable for Work Package 1 (WP1), Stakeholder Values and Ecosystems, of the EU FP7 funded project RECODE (Grant Agreement No: 321463), which focuses on developing Policy Recommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe. WP1 focuses on understanding stakeholder values and ecosystems in Open Access, dissemination and preservation in the area of scientific and scholarly data (thus not government data). The objectives of this WP are as follows: • Identify and map ...

  3. Identifying thresholds for ecosystem-based management.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jameal F Samhouri

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: One of the greatest obstacles to moving ecosystem-based management (EBM from concept to practice is the lack of a systematic approach to defining ecosystem-level decision criteria, or reference points that trigger management action. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To assist resource managers and policymakers in developing EBM decision criteria, we introduce a quantitative, transferable method for identifying utility thresholds. A utility threshold is the level of human-induced pressure (e.g., pollution at which small changes produce substantial improvements toward the EBM goal of protecting an ecosystem's structural (e.g., diversity and functional (e.g., resilience attributes. The analytical approach is based on the detection of nonlinearities in relationships between ecosystem attributes and pressures. We illustrate the method with a hypothetical case study of (1 fishing and (2 nearshore habitat pressure using an empirically-validated marine ecosystem model for British Columbia, Canada, and derive numerical threshold values in terms of the density of two empirically-tractable indicator groups, sablefish and jellyfish. We also describe how to incorporate uncertainty into the estimation of utility thresholds and highlight their value in the context of understanding EBM trade-offs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: For any policy scenario, an understanding of utility thresholds provides insight into the amount and type of management intervention required to make significant progress toward improved ecosystem structure and function. The approach outlined in this paper can be applied in the context of single or multiple human-induced pressures, to any marine, freshwater, or terrestrial ecosystem, and should facilitate more effective management.

  4. Defining Ecosystem Assets for Natural Capital Accounting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hein, Lars; Bagstad, Ken; Edens, Bram; Obst, Carl; de Jong, Rixt; Lesschen, Jan Peter

    2016-01-01

    In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In this paper we argue that several additional conceptualisations of ecosystem assets are needed to understand ecosystems as assets, in support of ecosystem assessments, ecosystem accounting and ecosystem management. In particular, we define ecosystems' capacity and capability to supply ecosystem services, as well as the potential supply of ecosystem services. Capacity relates to sustainable use levels of multiple ecosystem services, capability involves prioritising the use of one ecosystem service over a basket of services, and potential supply considers the ability of ecosystems to generate services regardless of demand for these services. We ground our definitions in the ecosystem services and accounting literature, and illustrate and compare the concepts of flow, capacity, capability, and potential supply with a range of conceptual and real-world examples drawn from case studies in Europe and North America. Our paper contributes to the development of measurement frameworks for natural capital to support environmental accounting and other assessment frameworks.

  5. Ecological Understanding 2: Transformation--A Key to Ecological Understanding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlsson, Britta

    2002-01-01

    Describes the structure and general features of the phenomenon of ecological understanding. Presents qualitatively different ways of experiencing cycling of matter and the flow of energy in the context of ecosystems. The idea of transformation is key to the development of ecological understanding. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

  6. Interaction webs in arctic ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Niels Martin; Hardwick, Bess; Gilg, Olivier

    2017-01-01

    How species interact modulate their dynamics, their response to environmental change, and ultimately the functioning and stability of entire communities. Work conducted at Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland, has changed our view on how networks of arctic biotic interactions are structured, how they ...... that the combination of long-term, ecosystem-based monitoring, and targeted research projects offers the most fruitful basis for understanding and predicting the future of arctic ecosystems....

  7. Nitrogen processing in a tidal freshwater marsh: a whole ecosystem 15N labeling study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gribsholt, B.; Boschker, H.T.S.; Struyf, E.; Andersson, M.G.I.; Tramper, A.; de Brabandere, L.; van Damme, S.; Brion, N.; Meire, P.; Dehairs, F.; Middelburg, J.J.; Heip, C.H.R.

    2005-01-01

    We quantified the fate and transport of watershed-derived ammonium in a tidal freshwater marsh fringing the nutrientrich Scheldt River in a whole-ecosystem 15N labeling experiment. 15N-NH4+ was added to the floodwater entering a 3,477 14 m2 tidal marsh area, and marsh ammonium processing and

  8. Applying and Individual-Based Model to Simultaneously Evaluate Net Ecosystem Production and Tree Diameter Increment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, F. J.

    2017-12-01

    Reconciling observations at fundamentally different scales is central in understanding the global carbon cycle. This study investigates a model-based melding of forest inventory data, remote-sensing data and micrometeorological-station data ("flux towers" estimating forest heat, CO2 and H2O fluxes). The individual tree-based model FORCCHN was used to evaluate the tree DBH increment and forest carbon fluxes. These are the first simultaneous simulations of the forest carbon budgets from flux towers and individual-tree growth estimates of forest carbon budgets using the continuous forest inventory data — under circumstances in which both predictions can be tested. Along with the global implications of such findings, this also improves the capacity for forest sustainable management and the comprehensive understanding of forest ecosystems. In forest ecology, diameter at breast height (DBH) of a tree significantly determines an individual tree's cross-sectional sapwood area, its biomass and carbon storage. Evaluation the annual DBH increment (ΔDBH) of an individual tree is central to understanding tree growth and forest ecology. Ecosystem Carbon flux is a consequence of key ecosystem processes in the forest-ecosystem carbon cycle, Gross and Net Primary Production (GPP and NPP, respectively) and Net Ecosystem Respiration (NEP). All of these closely relate with tree DBH changes and tree death. Despite advances in evaluating forest carbon fluxes with flux towers and forest inventories for individual tree ΔDBH, few current ecological models can simultaneously quantify and predict the tree ΔDBH and forest carbon flux.

  9. Effect of ecosystems substitutions and CO{sub 2} increase of the atmosphere on the microbial ecosystems of forests; Effet de substitutions d'essence et de l'augmentation en CO{sub 2} de l'atmosphere sur les communautes microbiennes intervenant dans le fonctionnement d'un ecosysteme forestier

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martin, F

    2007-07-01

    Biological diversity is often exclusively considered at the level of plants and animals, whereas the bulk of global biodiversity is in fact at the microbial level. Although it is clear that the ecology of our planet is driven by microbial ecosystems, we are severely hampered by our limited understanding of the diversity and function of such microbial ecosystems. In the present project, teams in the disciplines of geochemistry, soil microbiology, genomics and ecosystem processes are assembled to study the relationship between environmental change, land use changes, biodiversity, and functioning of forest ecosystems. The network has a strong focus on developing and applying biochemical and genotyping methodologies to address key scientific issues in soil microbial ecology. These include assessing the impact of environmental- and land use changes on microbial diversity and function and exploring the evolutionary and mechanistic links between biological diversity and ecosystem function. In the present study, we have shown that: (1) The native mixed forest showed the highest microbial diversity (2) The mono specific plantations of tree species (e.g., oak, beech, pine, spruce) strikingly alter genetic and functional diversities of soil bacterial and fungal species. (3) Bacterial denitrification rates were dramatically modified by the planted species. Only by taking into account the impact of forest management on below-ground microbial diversity can one hope to get a full ecosystem-based understanding, and this must be addressed via modelling in order to provide relevant and useful information for conservation and policy making. (author)

  10. Comparing marine and terrestrial ecosystems: Implications for the design of coastal marine reserves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, M.H.; Neigel, J.E.; Estes, J.A.; Andelman, S.; Warner, R.R.; Largier, J. L.

    2003-01-01

    Concepts and theory for the design and application of terrestrial reserves is based on our understanding of environmental, ecological, and evolutionary processes responsible for biological diversity and sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems and how humans have influenced these processes. How well this terrestrial-based theory can be applied toward the design and application of reserves in the coastal marine environment depends, in part, on the degree of similarity between these systems. Several marked differences in ecological and evolutionary processes exist between marine and terrestrial ecosystems as ramifications of fundamental differences in their physical environments (i.e., the relative prevalence of air and water) and contemporary patterns of human impacts. Most notably, the great extent and rate of dispersal of nutrients, materials, holoplanktonic organisms, and reproductive propagules of benthic organisms expand scales of connectivity among near-shore communities and ecosystems. Consequently, the "openness" of marine populations, communities, and ecosystems probably has marked influences on their spatial, genetic, and trophic structures and dynamics in ways experienced by only some terrestrial species. Such differences appear to be particularly significant for the kinds of organisms most exploited and targeted for protection in coastal marine ecosystems (fishes and macroinvertebrates). These and other differences imply some unique design criteria and application of reserves in the marine environment. In explaining the implications of these differences for marine reserve design and application, we identify many of the environmental and ecological processes and design criteria necessary for consideration in the development of the analytical approaches developed elsewhere in this Special Issue.

  11. Defining Ecosystem Assets for Natural Capital Accounting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hein, Lars; Bagstad, Ken; Edens, Bram; Obst, Carl; de Jong, Rixt; Lesschen, Jan Peter

    2016-01-01

    In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In this paper we argue that several additional conceptualisations of ecosystem assets are needed to understand ecosystems as assets, in support of ecosystem assessments, ecosystem accounting and ecosystem management. In particular, we define ecosystems’ capacity and capability to supply ecosystem services, as well as the potential supply of ecosystem services. Capacity relates to sustainable use levels of multiple ecosystem services, capability involves prioritising the use of one ecosystem service over a basket of services, and potential supply considers the ability of ecosystems to generate services regardless of demand for these services. We ground our definitions in the ecosystem services and accounting literature, and illustrate and compare the concepts of flow, capacity, capability, and potential supply with a range of conceptual and real-world examples drawn from case studies in Europe and North America. Our paper contributes to the development of measurement frameworks for natural capital to support environmental accounting and other assessment frameworks. PMID:27828969

  12. Defining ecosystem assets for natural capital accounting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hein, Lars; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Edens, Bram; Obst, Carl; de Jong, Rixt; Lesschen, Jan Peter

    2016-01-01

    In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In this paper we argue that several additional conceptualisations of ecosystem assets are needed to understand ecosystems as assets, in support of ecosystem assessments, ecosystem accounting and ecosystem management. In particular, we define ecosystems’ capacity and capability to supply ecosystem services, as well as the potential supply of ecosystem services. Capacity relates to sustainable use levels of multiple ecosystem services, capability involves prioritising the use of one ecosystem service over a basket of services, and potential supply considers the ability of ecosystems to generate services regardless of demand for these services. We ground our definitions in the ecosystem services and accounting literature, and illustrate and compare the concepts of flow, capacity, capability, and potential supply with a range of conceptual and real-world examples drawn from case studies in Europe and North America. Our paper contributes to the development of measurement frameworks for natural capital to support environmental accounting and other assessment frameworks.

  13. Ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of carbon in a heathland under future climatic conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Selsted, Merete Bang

    understanding plant and soil responses to such changes are necessary, as ecosystems potentially can ameliorate or accelerate global change. To predict the feedback of ecosystems to the atmospheric CO2 concentrations experiments imitating global change effects are therefore an important tool. This work....... Fluxes of CO2 from soil to atmosphere depend on a physical equilibrium between those two medias, why it is important to keep the CO2 gradient between soil and atmosphere unchanged during measurement. Uptake to plants via photosynthesis depends on a physiological process, which depends strongly...... on the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Photosynthesis and respiration run in parallel during measurements of net ecosystem exchange, and these measurements should therefore be performed with care to both the atmospheric CO2 concentration and the CO2 soil-atmosphere gradient....

  14. Biological availability of energy related effluent material in the coastal ecosystem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gibson, C.I.; Abel, K.H.; Ahlstrom, S.W.; Crecelius, E.A.; Schmidt, R.L.; Thatcher, T.O.; Wildung, R.E.

    1977-01-01

    In order to make the predictions necessary to forecast the ecological consequences of an energy-related technology, there must be an understanding of: the biogeochemical processes involved in the natural system; the manner in which an energy technology affects these processes and how, in turn, this affects the ecosystem as a whole. Direct biological effects such as lethality, behavioral changes, and physiological changes, are being studied under the program previously discussed. The biological availability and impact studies are investigating: the chemical, physical, and biological processes that occur in the natural marine ecosystem; how energy effluents affect these processes; and the factors involved in regulating the bioavailability of effluent material. This past year's effort has centered on defining the quantities and forms of metals and radioisotopes in nuclear power plant effluent streams, the chemical forms present in bioassay systems, the chemical and microbial processes controlling the forms of metals available from the sediments, and the uptake and control of copper in shrimp. In addition, several sites in Sequim Bay have been monitored for potential use in field verification studies

  15. Towards Business Process Management in networked ecosystems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Johan Versendaal; dr. Martijn Zoet; Jeroen Grondelle

    2014-01-01

    Managing and supporting the collaboration between different actors is key in any organizational context, whether of a hierarchical or a networked nature. In the networked context of ecosystems of service providers and other stakeholders, BPM is faced with different challenges than in a conventional

  16. Integrating plant ecological responses to climate extremes from individual to ecosystem levels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felton, Andrew J; Smith, Melinda D

    2017-06-19

    Climate extremes will elicit responses from the individual to the ecosystem level. However, only recently have ecologists begun to synthetically assess responses to climate extremes across multiple levels of ecological organization. We review the literature to examine how plant responses vary and interact across levels of organization, focusing on how individual, population and community responses may inform ecosystem-level responses in herbaceous and forest plant communities. We report a high degree of variability at the individual level, and a consequential inconsistency in the translation of individual or population responses to directional changes in community- or ecosystem-level processes. The scaling of individual or population responses to community or ecosystem responses is often predicated upon the functional identity of the species in the community, in particular, the dominant species. Furthermore, the reported stability in plant community composition and functioning with respect to extremes is often driven by processes that operate at the community level, such as species niche partitioning and compensatory responses during or after the event. Future research efforts would benefit from assessing ecological responses across multiple levels of organization, as this will provide both a holistic and mechanistic understanding of ecosystem responses to increasing climatic variability.This article is part of the themed issue 'Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events'. © 2017 The Author(s).

  17. Armillaria species: Primary drivers of forest ecosystem processes and potential impacts of climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ned B. Klopfenstein; Mee-Sook Kim; John W. Hanna; Amy L. Ross-Davis; Sara M. Ashiglar; Geral I. McDonald

    2012-01-01

    Species of the fungal genus Armillaria are pervasive in forest soils and are associated with widely ranging tree species of diverse forests worldwide (Baumgartner et al., 2011). As primary decay drivers of ecosystem processes, Armillaria species exhibit diverse ecological behaviors, ranging from virulent root and/or butt pathogens of diverse woody hosts, such as timber...

  18. Using GIS technology to analyze and understand wet meadow ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joy Rosen; Roy Jemison; David Pawelek; Daniel Neary

    1999-01-01

    A Cibola National Forest wet meadow restoration was implemented as part of the Forest Road 49 enhancement near Grants, New Mexico. An Arc/View 3.0 Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to track the recovery of this ecosystem. Layers on topography, hydrology, vegetation, soils and human alterations were compiled using a GPS and commonly available data....

  19. Understanding Patients’ Process to Use Medical Marijuana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tara L Crowell

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medicinal marijuana—diagnosis, what prompted them to seek treatment, level of satisfaction with specific stages in the process, total length of time the process took, and patient’s level of pain. Results reveal numerous patient diagnoses for which medical marijuana is being prescribed; the top 4 most common are intractable skeletal spasticity, chronic and severe pain, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Next, results indicate a little over half of the patients were first prompted to seek alternative treatment from their physicians, while the remaining patients indicated that other sources such as written information along with friends, relatives, media, and the Internet persuaded them to seek treatment. These data indicate that a variety of sources play a role in prompting patients to seek alternative treatment and is a critical first step in this process. Additional results posit that once patients began the process of qualifying to receive medical marijuana as treatment, the process seemed more positive even though it takes patients on average almost 6 months to obtain their first treatment after they started the process. Finally, results indicate that patients are reporting a moderately high level of pain prior to treatment. Implication of these results highlights several important elements in the patients’ initial steps toward seeking medical marijuana, along with the quality and quantity of the process patients must engage in prior to

  20. The Coupling of Ecosystem Productivity and Water Availability in Dryland Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, R. L.; Biederman, J. A.; Barron-Gafford, G.

    2014-12-01

    Land cover and climatic change will alter biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of water vapor and carbon dioxide depending, in part, on feedbacks between biotic activity and water availability. Eddy covariance observations allow us to estimate ecosystem-scale productivity and respiration, and these datasets are now becoming sufficiently mature to advance understanding of these ecohydrological interactions. Here we use a network of sites in semiarid western North America representing gradients of water availability and functional plant type. We examine how precipitation (P) controls evapotranspiration (ET), net ecosystem production (NEP), and its component fluxes of ecosystem respiration (Reco) and gross ecosystem production (GEP). Despite the high variability in seasonal and annual precipitation timing and amounts that we expect to influence ecosystem function, we find persistent overall relationships between P or ET and the fluxes of NEP, Reco and GEP across the network, indicating a commonality and resilience in ecosystem soil and plant response to water availability. But we also observe several important site differences such as prior seasonal legacy effects on subsequent fluxes which vary depending on dominant plant functional type. For example, multiyear droughts, episodic cool-season droughts, and hard winter freezes seem to affect the herbaceous species differently than the woody ones. Nevertheless, the overall, strong coupling between hydrologic and ecologic processes at these sites bolsters our ability to predict the response of dryland ecosystems to future precipitation change.

  1. Towards understanding oral health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaura, Egija; ten Cate, Jacob M

    2015-01-01

    During the last century, dental research has focused on unraveling the mechanisms behind various oral pathologies, while oral health was typically described as the mere absence of oral diseases. The term 'oral microbial homeostasis' is used to describe the capacity of the oral ecosystem to maintain microbial community stability in health. However, the oral ecosystem itself is not stable: throughout life an individual undergoes multiple physiological changes while progressing through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Recent discussions on the definition of general health have led to the proposal that health is the ability of the individual to adapt to physiological changes, a condition known as allostasis. In this paper the allostasis principle is applied to the oral ecosystem. The multidimensionality of the host factors contributing to allostasis in the oral cavity is illustrated with an example on changes occurring in puberty. The complex phenomenon of oral health and the processes that prevent the ecosystem from collapsing during allostatic changes in the entire body are far from being understood. As yet individual components (e.g. hard tissues, microbiome, saliva, host response) have been investigated, while only by consolidating these and assessing their multidimensional interactions should we be able to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem, which in turn could serve to develop rational schemes to maintain health. Adapting such a 'system approach' comes with major practical challenges for the entire research field and will require vast resources and large-scale multidisciplinary collaborations. 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

  2. Structurally complex habitats provided by Acropora palmata influence ecosystem processes on a reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemoine, N. P.; Valentine, J. F.

    2012-09-01

    The disappearance of Acropora palmata from reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) represents a significant loss in the amount of structurally complex habitat available for reef-associated species. The consequences of such a widespread loss of complex structure on ecosystem processes are still unclear. We sought to determine whether the disappearance of complex structure has adversely affected grazing and invertebrate predation rates on a shallow reef in the FKNMS. Surprisingly, we found grazing rates and invertebrate predation rates were lower in the structurally complex A. palmata branches than on the topographically simple degraded reefs. We attribute these results to high densities of aggressively territorial damselfish, Stegastes planifrons, living within A. palmata. Our study suggests the presence of agonistic damselfish can cause the realized spatial patterns of ecosystem processes to deviate from the expected patterns. Reef ecologists must therefore carefully consider the assemblage of associate fish communities when assessing how the mortality of A. palmata has affected coral reef ecosystem processes.

  3. Ecological Understanding 1: Ways of Experiencing Photosynthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlsson, Britta

    2002-01-01

    Investigates 10 student teachers' understanding of the different ways in which the function of the ecosystem could be experienced. Explores the functional aspects of the ecosystem using a system approach. Concludes that the idea of transformation is crucial to more complex ways of understanding photosynthesis. (Contains 62 references.) (Author/YDS)

  4. Towards ecosystem-based management: Identifying operational food-web indicators for marine ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tam, Jamie C.; Link, Jason S.; Rossberg, Axel G.

    2017-01-01

    ) are an important aspect of all marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Here we describe and discuss a process to evaluate the selection of operational food-web indicators for use in evaluating marine ecosystem status. This process brought together experts in food-web ecology, marine ecology, and resource management......, to identify available indicators that can be used to inform marine management. Standard evaluation criteria (availability and quality of data, conceptual basis, communicability, relevancy to management) were implemented to identify practical food-web indicators ready for operational use and indicators...... that hold promise for future use in policy and management. The major attributes of the final suite of operational food-web indicators were structure and functioning. Indicators that represent resilience of the marine ecosystem were less developed. Over 60 potential food-web indicators were evaluated...

  5. Understanding the links between ecosystem health and social system well-being: an annotated bibliography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawn M. Elmer; Harriet H. Christensen; Ellen M. Donoghue; [Compilers].

    2002-01-01

    This bibliography focuses on the links between social system well-being and ecosystem health. It is intended for public land managers and scientists and students of social and natural sciences. Multidisciplinary science that addresses the interconnections between the social system and the ecosystem is presented. Some of the themes and strategies presented are policy...

  6. The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Science Strategy, 2012-2022 - Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Byron K.; Wingard, G. Lynn; Brewer, Gary; Cloern, James E.; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; Jacobson, Robert B.; Kershner, Jeffrey L.; McGuire, Anthony David; Nichols, James D.; Shapiro, Carl D.; van Riper, Charles; White, Robin P.

    2012-01-01

    technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the DOI and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and its application. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct.The heart of this strategy is a framework and vision for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected and reinforcing components:• Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. • Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. • Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. • Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decision-making about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. • Apply science to enhance strategies for

  7. Trophic transfer of metal nanoparticles in freshwater ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tangaa, Stine Rosendal

    freshwater ecosystems range from a few ng/L in surface waters and up to mg/kg in sediments. Several studies have shown Ag ENPs to be toxic, bioaccumulative and harmful to aquatic biota within these concentration ranges. However, research on potential trophic transfer of Ag ENPs is limited. To investigate...... the aquatic ecosystems, Ag ENPs will undergo several transformation processes, ultimately leading to particles settling out of the water column. This will likely result in an increased concentration of ENPs in the sediment. In fact, predicted environmental concentrations of Ag ENPs in Danish and European...... freshwater food web. Future studies should concentrate on the internal distribution of Me-ENPs after uptake in both prey and predator, as this will increase the understanding of fate and effects of Me-ENPs on aquatic biota. Trophic transfer studies including more trophic levels, and higher pelagic organisms...

  8. 'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Daniel deB; Billings, Sharon A

    2015-05-01

    Integrative concepts of the biosphere, ecosystem, biogeocenosis and, recently, Earth's critical zone embrace scientific disciplines that link matter, energy and organisms in a systems-level understanding of our remarkable planet. Here, we assert the congruence of Tansley's (1935) venerable ecosystem concept of 'one physical system' with Earth science's critical zone. Ecosystems and critical zones are congruent across spatial-temporal scales from vegetation-clad weathering profiles and hillslopes, small catchments, landscapes, river basins, continents, to Earth's whole terrestrial surface. What may be less obvious is congruence in the vertical dimension. We use ecosystem metabolism to argue that full accounting of photosynthetically fixed carbon includes respiratory CO₂ and carbonic acid that propagate to the base of the critical zone itself. Although a small fraction of respiration, the downward diffusion of CO₂ helps determine rates of soil formation and, ultimately, ecosystem evolution and resilience. Because life in the upper portions of terrestrial ecosystems significantly affects biogeochemistry throughout weathering profiles, the lower boundaries of most terrestrial ecosystems have been demarcated at depths too shallow to permit a complete understanding of ecosystem structure and function. Opportunities abound to explore connections between upper and lower components of critical-zone ecosystems, between soils and streams in watersheds, and between plant-derived CO₂ and deep microbial communities and mineral weathering. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  9. Fort Collins Science Center: Ecosystem Dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Zack

    2004-01-01

    Many challenging natural resource management issues require consideration of a web of interactions among ecosystem components. The spatial and temporal complexity of these ecosystem problems demands an interdisciplinary approach integrating biotic and abiotic processes. The goals of the Ecosystem Dynamics Branch are to provide sound science to aid federal resource managers and use long-term, place-focused research and monitoring on federal lands to advance ecosystem science.

  10. Evidence of Facilitation Cascade Processes as Drivers of Successional Patterns of Ecosystem Engineers at the Upper Altitudinal Limit of the Dry Puna.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malatesta, Luca; Tardella, Federico Maria; Piermarteri, Karina; Catorci, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    Facilitation processes constitute basic elements of vegetation dynamics in harsh systems. Recent studies in tropical alpine environments demonstrated how pioneer plant species defined as "ecosystem engineers" are capable of enhancing landscape-level richness by adding new species to the community through the modification of microhabitats, and also provided hints about the alternation of different ecosystem engineers over time. Nevertheless, most of the existing works analysed different ecosystem engineers separately, without considering the interaction of different ecosystem engineers. Focusing on the altitudinal limit of Peruvian Dry Puna vegetation, we hypothesized that positive interactions structure plant communities by facilitation cascades involving different ecosystem engineers, determining the evolution of the microhabitat patches in terms of abiotic resources and beneficiary species hosted. To analyze successional mechanisms, we used a "space-for-time" substitution to account for changes over time, and analyzed data on soil texture, composition, and temperature, facilitated species and their interaction with nurse species, and surface area of engineered patches by means of chemical analyses, indicator species analysis, and rarefaction curves. A successional process, resulting from the dynamic interaction of different ecosystem engineers, which determined a progressive amelioration of soil conditions (e.g. nitrogen and organic matter content, and temperature), was the main driver of species assemblage at the community scale, enhancing species richness. Cushion plants act as pioneers, by starting the successional processes that continue with shrubs and tussocks. Tussock grasses have sometimes been found to be capable of creating microhabitat patches independently. The dynamics of species assemblage seem to follow the nested assemblage mechanism, in which the first foundation species to colonize a habitat provides a novel substrate for colonization by other

  11. Heavy metal pollution characteristics of surface sediments in different aquatic ecosystems in eastern China: a comprehensive understanding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenzhong Tang

    Full Text Available Aquatic ecosystems in eastern China are suffering threats from heavy metal pollution because of rapid economic development and urbanization. Heavy metals in surface sediments were determined in five different aquatic ecosystems (river, reservoir, estuary, lake, and wetland ecosystems. The average Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations were 0.716, 118, 37.3, 32.7, 56.6, and 204 mg/kg, respectively, and the higher concentrations were mainly found in sediment samples from river ecosystems. Cd was the most anthropogenically enriched pollutant, followed by Zn and Pb, indicated by enrichment factors >1.5. According to consensus-based sediment quality guidelines, potential ecological risk indices, and risk assessment codes, all five types of aquatic ecosystems were found to be polluted with heavy metals, and the most polluted ecosystems were mainly rivers. Cd was the most serious pollutant in all five aquatic ecosystems, and it was mainly found in the exchangeable fraction (about 30% of the total Cd concentration, on average. The results indicate that heavy metal contamination, especially of Cd, in aquatic ecosystems in eastern China should be taken into account in the development of management strategies for protecting the aquatic environment.

  12. On Writing and Reading Artistic Computational Ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antunes, Rui Filipe; Leymarie, Frederic Fol; Latham, William

    2015-01-01

    We study the use of the generative systems known as computational ecosystems to convey artistic and narrative aims. These are virtual worlds running on computers, composed of agents that trade units of energy and emulate cycles of life and behaviors adapted from biological life forms. In this article we propose a conceptual framework in order to understand these systems, which are involved in processes of authorship and interpretation that this investigation analyzes in order to identify critical instruments for artistic exploration. We formulate a model of narrative that we call system stories (after Mitchell Whitelaw), characterized by the dynamic network of material and conceptual processes that define these artefacts. They account for narrative constellations with multiple agencies from which meaning and messages emerge. Finally, we present three case studies to explore the potential of this model within an artistic and generative domain, arguing that this understanding expands and enriches the palette of the language of these systems.

  13. Understanding the Day Cent model: Calibration, sensitivity, and identifiability through inverse modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Necpálová, Magdalena; Anex, Robert P.; Fienen, Michael N.; Del Grosso, Stephen J.; Castellano, Michael J.; Sawyer, John E.; Iqbal, Javed; Pantoja, Jose L.; Barker, Daniel W.

    2015-01-01

    The ability of biogeochemical ecosystem models to represent agro-ecosystems depends on their correct integration with field observations. We report simultaneous calibration of 67 DayCent model parameters using multiple observation types through inverse modeling using the PEST parameter estimation software. Parameter estimation reduced the total sum of weighted squared residuals by 56% and improved model fit to crop productivity, soil carbon, volumetric soil water content, soil temperature, N2O, and soil3NO− compared to the default simulation. Inverse modeling substantially reduced predictive model error relative to the default model for all model predictions, except for soil 3NO− and 4NH+. Post-processing analyses provided insights into parameter–observation relationships based on parameter correlations, sensitivity and identifiability. Inverse modeling tools are shown to be a powerful way to systematize and accelerate the process of biogeochemical model interrogation, improving our understanding of model function and the underlying ecosystem biogeochemical processes that they represent.

  14. Using ecological production functions to link ecological processes to ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ecological production functions (EPFs) link ecosystems, stressors, and management actions to ecosystem services (ES) production. Although EPFs are acknowledged as being essential to improve environmental management, their use in ecological risk assessment has received relatively ...

  15. Ecosystems Vulnerability Challenge and Prize Competition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J. H.; Frame, M. T.; Ferriter, O.; Recker, J.

    2014-12-01

    Stimulating innovation and private sector entrepreneurship is an important way to advance the preparedness of communities, businesses and individuals for the impacts of climate change on certain aspects of ecosystems, such as: fire regimes; water availability; carbon sequestration; biodiversity conservation; weather-related hazards, and the spread of invasive species. The creation of tools is critical to help communities and natural resource managers better understand the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and the potential resulting implications for ecosystem services and conservation efforts. The Department of the Interior is leading an interagency effort to develop the Ecosystems Vulnerability theme as part of the President's Climate Action Plan. This effort will provide seamless access to relevant datasets that can help address such issues as: risk of wildfires to local communities and federal lands; water sensitivity to climate change; and understanding the role of ecosystems in a changing climate. This session will provide an overview of the proposed Ecosystem Vulnerability Challenge and Prize Competition, outlining the intended audience, scope, goals, and overall timeline. The session will provide an opportunity for participants to offer new ideas. Through the Challenge, access will be made available to critical datasets for software developers, engineers, scientists, students, and researchers to develop and submit applications addressing critical science issues facing our Nation today. Application submission criteria and guidelines will also be discussed. The Challenge will be open to all sectors and organizations (i.e. federal, non-federal, private sector, non-profits, and universities) within the United States. It is anticipated the Challenge will run from early January 2015 until spring of 2015.

  16. Advancing research on animal-transported subsidies by integrating animal movement and ecosystem modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earl, Julia E; Zollner, Patrick A

    2017-09-01

    Connections between ecosystems via animals (active subsidies) support ecosystem services and contribute to numerous ecological effects. Thus, the ability to predict the spatial distribution of active subsidies would be useful for ecology and conservation. Previous work modelling active subsidies focused on implicit space or static distributions, which treat passive and active subsidies similarly. Active subsidies are fundamentally different from passive subsidies, because animals can respond to the process of subsidy deposition and ecosystem changes caused by subsidy deposition. We propose addressing this disparity by integrating animal movement and ecosystem ecology to advance active subsidy investigations, make more accurate predictions of subsidy spatial distributions, and enable a mechanistic understanding of subsidy spatial distributions. We review selected quantitative techniques that could be used to accomplish integration and lead to novel insights. The ultimate objective for these types of studies is predictions of subsidy spatial distributions from characteristics of the subsidy and the movement strategy employed by animals that transport subsidies. These advances will be critical in informing the management of ecosystem services, species conservation and ecosystem degradation related to active subsidies. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society.

  17. What determines the importance of a species for ecosystem processes? Insights from tropical ant assemblages

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Houadria, Mickal; Menzel, F.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 184, č. 4 (2017), s. 885-899 ISSN 0029-8549 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : ecosystem processes * functional performance * functional redundancy Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Ecology Impact factor: 3.130, year: 2016 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00442-017-3900-x

  18. Global change impacts on mangrove ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKee, Karen L.

    2004-01-01

    Mangroves are tropical/subtropical communities of primarily tree species that grow in the intertidal zone. These tidal forests are important coastal ecosystems that are valued for a variety of ecological and societal goods and services. Major local threats to mangrove ecosystems worldwide include clearcutting and trimming of forests for urban, agricultural, or industrial expansion; hydrological alterations; toxic chemical spills; and eutrophication. In many countries with mangroves, much of the human population resides in the coastal zone, and their activities often negatively impact the integrity of mangrove forests. In addition, eutrophication, which is the process whereby nutrients build up to higher than normal levels in a natural system, is possibly one of the most serious threats to mangroves and associated ecosystems such as coral reefs. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the National Wetlands Research Center are working to more fully understand global impacts on these significant ecosystems.Changes in climate and other factors may also affect mangroves, but in complex ways. Global warming may promote expansion of mangrove forests to higher latitudes and accelerate sea-level rise through melting of polar ice or steric expansion of oceans. Changes in sea level would alter flooding patterns and the structure and areal extent of mangroves. Climate change may also alter rainfall patterns, which would in turn change local salinity regimes and competitive interactions of mangroves with other wetland species. Increases in frequency or intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes in combination with sea-level rise may alter erosion and sedimentation rates in mangrove forests. Another global change factor that may directly affect mangrove growth is increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), caused by burning of fossil fuels and other factors. Elevated CO2 concentration may increase mangrove growth by stimulating photosynthesis or improving water use

  19. The VULCAN Project: Toward a better understanding of the vulnerability of soil organic matter to climate change in permafrost ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plaza, C.; Schuur, E.; Maestre, F. T.

    2015-12-01

    Despite much recent research, high uncertainty persists concerning the extent to which global warming influences the rate of permafrost soil organic matter loss and how this affects the functioning of permafrost ecosystems and the net transfer of C to the atmosphere. This uncertainty continues, at least in part, because the processes that protect soil organic matter from decomposition and stabilize fresh plant-derived organic materials entering the soil are largely unknown. The objective of the VULCAN (VULnerability of soil organic CArboN to climate change in permafrost and dryland ecosystems) project is to gain a deeper insight into these processes, especially at the molecular level, and to explore potential implications in terms of permafrost ecosystem functioning and feedback to climate change. We will capitalize on a globally unique ecosystem warming experiment in Alaska, the C in Permafrost Experimental Heating Research (CiPEHR) project, which is monitoring soil temperature and moisture, thaw depth, water table depth, plant productivity, phenology, and nutrient status, and soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes. Soil samples have been collected from the CiPEHR experiment from strategic depths, depending on thaw depth, and allow us to examine effects related to freeze/thaw, waterlogging, and organic matter relocation along the soil profile. We will use physical fractionation methods to separate soil organic matter pools characterized by different preservation mechanisms of aggregation and mineral interaction. We will determine organic C and total N content, transformation rates, turnovers, ages, and structural composition of soil organic matter fractions by elemental analysis, stable and radioactive isotope techniques, and nuclear magnetic resonance tools. Acknowledgements: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 654132. Web site: http://vulcan.comule.com

  20. Impacts of Environmental Nanoparticles on Chemical, Biological and Hydrological Processes in Terrestrial Ecosystems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qafoku, Nikolla

    2012-01-01

    This chapter provides insights on nanoparticle (NP) influence or control on the extent and timescales of single or coupled physical, chemical, biological and hydrological reactions and processes that occur in terrestrial ecosystems. Examples taken from the literature that show how terrestrial NPs may determine the fate of the aqueous and sorbed (adsorbed or precipitated) chemical species of nutrients and contaminants, are also included in this chapter. Specifically, in the first section, chapter objectives, term definitions and discussions on size-dependent properties, the origin and occurrence of NP in terrestrial ecosystems and NP toxicity, are included. In the second section, the topic of the binary interactions of NPs of different sizes, shapes, concentrations and ages with the soil solution chemical species is covered, focusing on NP formation, stability, aggregation, ability to serve as sorbents, or surface-mediated precipitation catalysts, or electron donors and acceptors. In the third section, aspects of the interactions in the ternary systems composed of environmental NP, nutrient/contaminant chemical species, and the soil/sediment matrix are discussed, focusing on the inhibitory and catalytic effects of environmental NP on nutrient/contaminant advective mobility and mass transfer, adsorption and desorption, dissolution and precipitation and redox reactions that occur in terrestrial ecosystems. These three review sections are followed by a short summary of future research needs and directions, the acknowledgements, the list of the references, and the figures.

  1. Ecosystem service valuations of mangrove ecosystems to inform decision making and future valuation exercises.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nibedita Mukherjee

    Full Text Available The valuation of ecosystem services is a complex process as it includes several dimensions (ecological, socio-cultural and economic and not all of these can be quantified in monetary units. The aim of this paper is to conduct an ecosystem services valuation study for mangroves ecosystems, the results of which can be used to inform governance and management of mangroves. We used an expert-based participatory approach (the Delphi technique to identify, categorize and rank the various ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems at a global scale. Subsequently we looked for evidence in the existing ecosystem services literature for monetary valuations of these ecosystem service categories throughout the biogeographic distribution of mangroves. We then compared the relative ranking of ecosystem service categories between the monetary valuations and the expert based analysis. The experts identified 16 ecosystem service categories, six of which are not adequately represented in the literature. There was no significant correlation between the expert based valuation (the Delphi technique and the economic valuation, indicating that the scope of valuation of ecosystem services needs to be broadened. Acknowledging this diversity in different valuation approaches, and developing methodological frameworks that foster the pluralism of values in ecosystem services research, are crucial for maintaining the credibility of ecosystem services valuation. To conclude, we use the findings of our dual approach to valuation to make recommendations on how to assess and manage the ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems.

  2. Ecosystem service valuations of mangrove ecosystems to inform decision making and future valuation exercises.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukherjee, Nibedita; Sutherland, William J; Dicks, Lynn; Hugé, Jean; Koedam, Nico; Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid

    2014-01-01

    The valuation of ecosystem services is a complex process as it includes several dimensions (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) and not all of these can be quantified in monetary units. The aim of this paper is to conduct an ecosystem services valuation study for mangroves ecosystems, the results of which can be used to inform governance and management of mangroves. We used an expert-based participatory approach (the Delphi technique) to identify, categorize and rank the various ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems at a global scale. Subsequently we looked for evidence in the existing ecosystem services literature for monetary valuations of these ecosystem service categories throughout the biogeographic distribution of mangroves. We then compared the relative ranking of ecosystem service categories between the monetary valuations and the expert based analysis. The experts identified 16 ecosystem service categories, six of which are not adequately represented in the literature. There was no significant correlation between the expert based valuation (the Delphi technique) and the economic valuation, indicating that the scope of valuation of ecosystem services needs to be broadened. Acknowledging this diversity in different valuation approaches, and developing methodological frameworks that foster the pluralism of values in ecosystem services research, are crucial for maintaining the credibility of ecosystem services valuation. To conclude, we use the findings of our dual approach to valuation to make recommendations on how to assess and manage the ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems.

  3. The Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project: What we have learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helen Y. Smith

    2000-01-01

    The varied topics presented in these symposium proceedings represent the diverse nature of the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP). Separated into six sections, the papers cover the different themes researched by BEMRP collaborators as well as brief overviews of five other ecosystem management projects. The sections are: Understanding the Ecosystem...

  4. Using Targeted Active-Learning Exercises and Diagnostic Question Clusters to Improve Students' Understanding of Carbon Cycling in Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non–biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal. PMID:22383618

  5. Using targeted active-learning exercises and diagnostic question clusters to improve students' understanding of carbon cycling in ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Griscom, Heather Peckham; Welch, Nicole Turrill

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we used targeted active-learning activities to help students improve their ways of reasoning about carbon flow in ecosystems. The results of a validated ecology conceptual inventory (diagnostic question clusters [DQCs]) provided us with information about students' understanding of and reasoning about transformation of inorganic and organic carbon-containing compounds in biological systems. These results helped us identify specific active-learning exercises that would be responsive to students' existing knowledge. The effects of the active-learning interventions were then examined through analysis of students' pre- and postinstruction responses on the DQCs. The biology and non-biology majors participating in this study attended a range of institutions and the instructors varied in their use of active learning; one lecture-only comparison class was included. Changes in pre- to postinstruction scores on the DQCs showed that an instructor's teaching method had a highly significant effect on student reasoning following course instruction, especially for questions pertaining to cellular-level, carbon-transforming processes. We conclude that using targeted in-class activities had a beneficial effect on student learning regardless of major or class size, and argue that using diagnostic questions to identify effective learning activities is a valuable strategy for promoting learning, as gains from lecture-only classes were minimal.

  6. Integrating Climate and Ecosystem-Response Sciences in Temperate Western North American Mountains: The CIRMOUNT Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Millar, C. I.; Fagre, D. B.

    2004-12-01

    Mountain regions are uniquely sensitive to changes in climate, vulnerable to climate effects on biotic and physical factors of intense social concern, and serve as critical early-warning systems of climate impacts. Escalating demands on western North American (WNA) mountain ecosystems increasingly stress both natural resources and rural community capacities; changes in mountain systems cascade to issues of national concern. Although WNA has long been a focus for climate- and climate-related environmental research, these efforts remain disciplinary and poorly integrated, hindering interpretation into policy and management. Knowledge is further hampered by lack of standardized climate monitoring stations at high-elevations in WNA. An initiative is emerging as the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT) whose primary goal is to improve knowledge of high-elevation climate systems and to better integrate physical, ecological, and social sciences relevant to climate change, ecosystem response, and natural-resource policy in WNA. CIRMOUNT seeks to focus research on climate variability and ecosystem response (progress in understanding synoptic scale processes) that improves interpretation of linkages between ecosystem functions and human processing (progress in understanding human-environment integration), which in turn would yield applicable information and understanding on key societal issues such as mountains as water towers, biodiversity, carbon forest sinks, and wildland hazards such as fire and forest dieback (progress in understanding ecosystem services and key thresholds). Achieving such integration depends first on implementing a network of high-elevation climate-monitoring stations, and linking these with integrated ecosystem-response studies. Achievements since 2003 include convening the 2004 Mountain Climate Sciences Symposium (1, 2) and several special sessions at technical conferences; initiating a biennial mountain climate

  7. Understanding aquatic microbial processes using EEM's and in-situ fluorescence sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Bethany; Attridge, John; Rushworth, Cathy; Cox, Tim; Anesio, Alexandre; Reynolds, Darren

    2015-04-01

    The diverse origin of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic systems is well documented within the literature. Previous literature indicates that coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is, in part, transformed by aquatic microbial processes, and that dissolved organic material derived from a microbial origin exhibits tryptophan-like fluorescence. However, this phenomenon is not fully understood and very little data is available within the current literature. The overall aim of our work is to reveal the microbial-CDOM interactions that give rise to the observed tryptophan-like fluorescence. The work reported here investigates the microbial processes that occur within freshwater aquatic samples, as defined by the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test, as a function of the T1 peak (λex/em 280/330-370 nm). A series of standard water samples were prepared using glucose, glutamic acid, BOD dilution water and a bacterial seed (Cole-Parmer BOD microbe capsules). Samples were spiked with CDOM (derived from an environmental water body) and subjected to time resolved BOD analysis and as excitation-emission fluorescence spectroscopy. All EEM spectral data was interrogated using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) in an attempt to determine the presence and dominance (relative intensities) of the CDOM-related and T1-related fluorophores within the samples. In-situ fluorescence sensors (Chelsea Technologies Group Ltd.) were also used to monitor the T1 fluorescence peak (UviLux Tryptophan) and the CDOM fluorescence peak (UviLux CDOM) during experiments. Tryptophan-like fluorescence was observed (albeit transient) in both spiked and un-spiked standard water samples. By furthering our understanding of aquatic organic matter fluorescence, its origin, transformation, fate and interaction with aquatic microbiological processes, we aim to inform the design of a new generation in-situ fluorescence sensor for the monitoring of aquatic ecosystem health.

  8. A Dual Process Approach to Understand Tourists’ Destination Choice Processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kock, Florian; Josiassen, Alexander; Assaf, Albert

    2017-01-01

    Most studies that investigate tourists' choices of destinations apply the concept of mental destination representations, also referred to as destination image. The present study investigates tourists’ destination choice processes by conceptualizing how different components of destination image...... are mentally processed in tourists' minds. Specifically, the seminal dual processing approach is applied to the destination image literature. By doing this, we argue that some components of mental destination representations are processed systematically while others serve as inputs for heuristics...... that individuals apply to inform their decision making. Understanding how individuals make use of their mental destination representations and how they color their decision-making is essential in order to better explain tourist behavior....

  9. A Biochemist's View of Ecosystem Rates and their Response to Changing Temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arcus, V. L.

    2017-12-01

    activation energy and thus, it is important to understand this relationship. Finally, I will consider the Arrhenius and TST equations and their failure for ecosystem processes and the reasons for this failure. Understanding the failure is a first step towards a resolution to this long-standing problem in ecosystem science.

  10. Spatio-temporal trends and trade-offs in ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Braun, Daniela; Damm, Alexander; Hein, Lars; Petchey, Owen L.; Schaepman, Michael E.

    2018-01-01

    Understanding and monitoring pressures on ecosystems and their consequences for ecosystem services (ES) is essential for management decisions and verification of progress towards national and international policies (e.g. Aichi Biodiversity Targets, Sustainable Development Goals). Remote sensing (RS)

  11. Belowground dynamics in mangrove ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKee, Karen L.

    2004-01-01

    Mangrove ecosystems are tropical/subtropical communities of primarily tree species that grow in the intertidal zone. These tidal communities are important coastal ecosystems that are valued for a variety of ecological and societal goods and services (fig. 1). Mangrove wetlands are important filters of materials moving between the land and sea, trapping sediment, nutrients, and pollutants in runoff from uplands and preventing their direct introduction into sensitive marine ecosystems such as seagrass beds and coral reefs. Mangroves serve as nursery grounds and refuge for a variety of organisms and are consequently vital to the biological productivity of coastal waters. Furthermore, because mangroves are highly resilient to disturbances such as hurricanes, they represent a self-sustaining, protective barrier for human populations living in the coastal zone. Mangrove ecosystems also contribute to shoreline stabilization through consolidation of unstable mineral sediments and peat formation. In order to help conserve mangrove ecoystems, scientists with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the National Wetlands Research Center are working to more fully understand the dynamics that impact these vital ecosystems.

  12. Rare species support vulnerable functions in high-diversity ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mouillot, David; Bellwood, David R; Baraloto, Christopher; Chave, Jerome; Galzin, Rene; Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille; Kulbicki, Michel; Lavergne, Sebastien; Lavorel, Sandra; Mouquet, Nicolas; Paine, C E Timothy; Renaud, Julien; Thuiller, Wilfried

    2013-01-01

    Around the world, the human-induced collapses of populations and species have triggered a sixth mass extinction crisis, with rare species often being the first to disappear. Although the role of species diversity in the maintenance of ecosystem processes has been widely investigated, the role of rare species remains controversial. A critical issue is whether common species insure against the loss of functions supported by rare species. This issue is even more critical in species-rich ecosystems where high functional redundancy among species is likely and where it is thus often assumed that ecosystem functioning is buffered against species loss. Here, using extensive datasets of species occurrences and functional traits from three highly diverse ecosystems (846 coral reef fishes, 2,979 alpine plants, and 662 tropical trees), we demonstrate that the most distinct combinations of traits are supported predominantly by rare species both in terms of local abundance and regional occupancy. Moreover, species that have low functional redundancy and are likely to support the most vulnerable functions, with no other species carrying similar combinations of traits, are rarer than expected by chance in all three ecosystems. For instance, 63% and 98% of fish species that are likely to support highly vulnerable functions in coral reef ecosystems are locally and regionally rare, respectively. For alpine plants, 32% and 89% of such species are locally and regionally rare, respectively. Remarkably, 47% of fish species and 55% of tropical tree species that are likely to support highly vulnerable functions have only one individual per sample on average. Our results emphasize the importance of rare species conservation, even in highly diverse ecosystems, which are thought to exhibit high functional redundancy. Rare species offer more than aesthetic, cultural, or taxonomic diversity value; they disproportionately increase the potential breadth of functions provided by ecosystems across

  13. Evidence of Facilitation Cascade Processes as Drivers of Successional Patterns of Ecosystem Engineers at the Upper Altitudinal Limit of the Dry Puna.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Malatesta

    Full Text Available Facilitation processes constitute basic elements of vegetation dynamics in harsh systems. Recent studies in tropical alpine environments demonstrated how pioneer plant species defined as "ecosystem engineers" are capable of enhancing landscape-level richness by adding new species to the community through the modification of microhabitats, and also provided hints about the alternation of different ecosystem engineers over time. Nevertheless, most of the existing works analysed different ecosystem engineers separately, without considering the interaction of different ecosystem engineers. Focusing on the altitudinal limit of Peruvian Dry Puna vegetation, we hypothesized that positive interactions structure plant communities by facilitation cascades involving different ecosystem engineers, determining the evolution of the microhabitat patches in terms of abiotic resources and beneficiary species hosted. To analyze successional mechanisms, we used a "space-for-time" substitution to account for changes over time, and analyzed data on soil texture, composition, and temperature, facilitated species and their interaction with nurse species, and surface area of engineered patches by means of chemical analyses, indicator species analysis, and rarefaction curves. A successional process, resulting from the dynamic interaction of different ecosystem engineers, which determined a progressive amelioration of soil conditions (e.g. nitrogen and organic matter content, and temperature, was the main driver of species assemblage at the community scale, enhancing species richness. Cushion plants act as pioneers, by starting the successional processes that continue with shrubs and tussocks. Tussock grasses have sometimes been found to be capable of creating microhabitat patches independently. The dynamics of species assemblage seem to follow the nested assemblage mechanism, in which the first foundation species to colonize a habitat provides a novel substrate for

  14. Impacts of introduced Rangifer on ecosystem processes of maritime tundra on subarctic islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ricca, Mark; Miles, A. Keith; Van Vuren, Dirk H.; Eviner, Valerie T.

    2016-01-01

    Introductions of mammalian herbivores to remote islands without predators provide a natural experiment to ask how temporal and spatial variation in herbivory intensity alter feedbacks between plant and soil processes. We investigated ecosystem effects resulting from introductions of Rangifer tarandus (hereafter “Rangifer”) to native mammalian predator- and herbivore-free islands in the Aleutian archipelago of Alaska. We hypothesized that the maritime tundra of these islands would experience either: (1) accelerated ecosystem processes mediated by positive feedbacks between increased graminoid production and rapid nitrogen cycling; or (2) decelerated processes mediated by herbivory that stimulated shrub domination and lowered soil fertility. We measured summer plant and soil properties across three islands representing a chronosequence of elapsed time post-Rangifer introduction (Atka: ~100 yr; Adak: ~50; Kagalaska: ~0), with distinct stages of irruptive population dynamics of Rangifer nested within each island (Atka: irruption, K-overshoot, decline, K-re-equilibration; Adak: irruption, K-overshoot; Kagalaska: initial introduction). We also measured Rangifer spatial use within islands (indexed by pellet group counts) to determine how ecosystem processes responded to spatial variation in herbivory. Vegetation community response to herbivory varied with temporal and spatial scale. When comparing temporal effects using the island chronosequence, increased time since herbivore introduction led to more graminoids and fewer dwarf-shrubs, lichens, and mosses. Slow-growingCladonia lichens that are highly preferred winter forage were decimated on both long-termRangifer-occupied islands. In addition, linear relations between more concentrated Rangifer spatial use and reductions in graminoid and forb biomass within islands added spatial heterogeneity to long-term patterns identified by the chronosequence. These results support, in part, the hypothesis that

  15. Linking biogeomorphic feedbacks from ecosystem engineer to landscape scale: a panarchy approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichel, Jana

    2017-04-01

    Scale is a fundamental concept in both ecology and geomorphology. Therefore, scale-based approaches are a valuable tool to bridge the disciplines and improve the understanding of feedbacks between geomorphic processes, landforms, material and organisms and ecological processes in biogeomorphology. Yet, linkages between biogeomorphic feedbacks on different scales, e.g. between ecosystem engineering and landscape scale patterns and dynamics, are not well understood. A panarchy approach sensu Holling et al. (2002) can help to close this research gap and explain how structure and function are created in biogeomorphic ecosystems. Based on results from previous biogeomorphic research in Turtmann glacier foreland (Switzerland; Eichel, 2017; Eichel et al. 2013, 2016), a panarchy concept is presented for lateral moraine slope biogeomorphic ecosystems. It depicts biogeomorphic feedbacks on different spatiotemporal scales as a set of nested adaptive cycles and links them by 'remember' and 'revolt' connections. On a small scale (cm2 - m2; seconds to years), the life cycle of the ecosystem engineer Dryas octopetala L. is considered as an adaptive cycle. Biogeomorphic succession within patches created by geomorphic processes represents an intermediate scale adaptive cycle (m2 - ha, years to decades), while geomorphic and ecologic pattern development at a landscape scale (ha - km2, decades to centuries) can be illustrated by an adaptive cycle of ‚biogeomorphic patch dynamics' (Eichel, 2017). In the panarchy, revolt connections link the smaller scale adaptive cycles to larger scale cycles: on lateral moraine slopes, the development of ecosystem engineer biomass and cover controls the engineering threshold of the biogeomorphic feedback window (Eichel et al., 2016) and therefore the onset of the biogeomorphic phase during biogeomorphic succession. In this phase, engineer patches and biogeomorphic structures can be created in the patch mosaic of the landscape. Remember connections

  16. Biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity as key drivers of ecosystem services provided by soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, P.; Cotrufo, M. F.; Rumpel, C.; Paustian, K.; Kuikman, P. J.; Elliott, J. A.; McDowell, R.; Griffiths, R. I.; Asakawa, S.; Bustamante, M.; House, J. I.; Sobocká, J.; Harper, R.; Pan, G.; West, P. C.; Gerber, J. S.; Clark, J. M.; Adhya, T.; Scholes, R. J.; Scholes, M. C.

    2015-11-01

    Soils play a pivotal role in major global biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nutrient, and water), while hosting the largest diversity of organisms on land. Because of this, soils deliver fundamental ecosystem services, and management to change a soil process in support of one ecosystem service can either provide co-benefits to other services or result in trade-offs. In this critical review, we report the state-of-the-art understanding concerning the biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity in soil, and relate these to the provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services which they underpin. We then outline key knowledge gaps and research challenges, before providing recommendations for management activities to support the continued delivery of ecosystem services from soils. We conclude that, although soils are complex, there are still knowledge gaps, and fundamental research is still needed to better understand the relationships between different facets of soils and the array of ecosystem services they underpin, enough is known to implement best practices now. There is a tendency among soil scientists to dwell on the complexity and knowledge gaps rather than to focus on what we do know and how this knowledge can be put to use to improve the delivery of ecosystem services. A significant challenge is to find effective ways to share knowledge with soil managers and policy makers so that best management can be implemented. A key element of this knowledge exchange must be to raise awareness of the ecosystems services underpinned by soils and thus the natural capital they provide. We know enough to start moving in the right direction while we conduct research to fill in our knowledge gaps. The lasting legacy of the International Year of Soils in 2015 should be for soil scientists to work together with policy makers and land managers to put soils at the centre of environmental policy making and land management decisions.

  17. Emerging methods for the study of coastal ecosystem landscape structure and change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, John C.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Purkis, Sam

    2013-01-01

    Coastal landscapes are heterogeneous, dynamic, and evolve over a range of time scales due to intertwined climatic, geologic, hydrologic, biologic, and meteorological processes, and are also heavily impacted by human development, commercial activities, and resource extraction. A diversity of complex coastal systems around the globe, spanning glaciated shorelines to tropical atolls, wetlands, and barrier islands are responding to multiple human and natural drivers. Interdisciplinary research based on remote-sensing observations linked to process studies and models is required to understand coastal ecosystem landscape structure and change. Moreover, new techniques for coastal mapping and monitoring are increasingly serving the needs of policy-makers and resource managers across local, regional, and national scales. Emerging remote-sensing methods associated with a diversity of instruments and platforms are a key enabling element of integrated coastal ecosystem studies. These investigations require both targeted and synoptic mapping, and involve the monitoring of formative processes such as hydrodynamics, sediment transport, erosion, accretion, flooding, habitat modification, land-cover change, and biogeochemical fluxes.

  18. Future directions of ecosystem science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baron, Jill S.; Galvin, Kathleen A.

    1990-01-01

    Scientific knowledge about ecosystem structure and function has expanded greatly during the past few decades. Terrestrial and aquatic nutrient cycling, ecosystem energetics, population dynamics, belowground processes, and food webs have been studied at the plot, stand, watershed, and landscape levels at many locations around the globe. Ideas about terrestrial-atmospheric interactions and human interference in these processes have changed dramatically. There is new appreciation of the need to incorporate into ecosystem studies the interactions between human populations and the ecosystem, not only because humans affect ecosystem processes, but because these systems support human populations (Glantz 1988, Holden 1988, Parry et al. 1988, WCED 1987). Recent advances in ecosystem science are due, in part, to technological improvements in computing power, new laboratory and field physical and chemical analytical techniques, and satellite imagery for remote sensing of Earth's structure and dynamics. Modeling and geographic information systems have provided the capability for integrating multiple data sets with process simulations to generate hypotheses about regional ecosystem function. Concurrent with these scientific developments has been a growing concern about the links between the health of the environment and world-wide industrial, land, and resource-management practices. Environmental damage at the local level was widely recognized in the 1960s, prompting the environmental movement of that decade. Regional environmental problems with multiple effects and politically difficult solutions have been perceived more recently; the issue of acidic deposition provides an example of such a second-generation concern (Clark and Holling 1985). Today there is a growing awareness of global-scale environmental degradation brought about by the combined actions of all peoples on Earth (Clark 1989, Woodmansee et al. 1988). The three levels of environmental concern--local, regional

  19. How models can support ecosystem-based management of coral reefs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weijerman, Mariska; Fulton, Elizabeth A.; Janssen, Annette B. G.; Kuiper, Jan J.; Leemans, Rik; Robson, Barbara J.; van de Leemput, Ingrid A.; Mooij, Wolf M.

    2015-11-01

    Despite the importance of coral reef ecosystems to the social and economic welfare of coastal communities, the condition of these marine ecosystems have generally degraded over the past decades. With an increased knowledge of coral reef ecosystem processes and a rise in computer power, dynamic models are useful tools in assessing the synergistic effects of local and global stressors on ecosystem functions. We review representative approaches for dynamically modeling coral reef ecosystems and categorize them as minimal, intermediate and complex models. The categorization was based on the leading principle for model development and their level of realism and process detail. This review aims to improve the knowledge of concurrent approaches in coral reef ecosystem modeling and highlights the importance of choosing an appropriate approach based on the type of question(s) to be answered. We contend that minimal and intermediate models are generally valuable tools to assess the response of key states to main stressors and, hence, contribute to understanding ecological surprises. As has been shown in freshwater resources management, insight into these conceptual relations profoundly influences how natural resource managers perceive their systems and how they manage ecosystem recovery. We argue that adaptive resource management requires integrated thinking and decision support, which demands a diversity of modeling approaches. Integration can be achieved through complimentary use of models or through integrated models that systemically combine all relevant aspects in one model. Such whole-of-system models can be useful tools for quantitatively evaluating scenarios. These models allow an assessment of the interactive effects of multiple stressors on various, potentially conflicting, management objectives. All models simplify reality and, as such, have their weaknesses. While minimal models lack multidimensionality, system models are likely difficult to interpret as they

  20. Monitoring Termite-Mediated Ecosystem Processes Using Moderate and High Resolution Satellite Imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lind, B. M.; Hanan, N. P.

    2016-12-01

    Termites are considered dominant decomposers and prominent ecosystem engineers in the global tropics and they build some of the largest and architecturally most complex non-human-made structures in the world. Termite mounds significantly alter soil texture, structure, and nutrients, and have major implications for local hydrological dynamics, vegetation characteristics, and biological diversity. An understanding of how these processes change across large scales has been limited by our ability to detect termite mounds at high spatial resolutions. Our research develops methods to detect large termite mounds in savannas across extensive geographic areas using moderate and high resolution satellite imagery. We also investigate the effect of termite mounds on vegetation productivity using Landsat-8 maximum composite NDVI data as a proxy for production. Large termite mounds in arid and semi-arid Senegal generate highly reflective `mound scars' with diameters ranging from 10 m at minimum to greater than 30 m. As Sentinel-2 has several bands with 10 m resolution and Landsat-8 has improved calibration, higher radiometric resolution, 15 m spatial resolution (pansharpened), and improved contrast between vegetated and bare surfaces compared to previous Landsat missions, we found that the largest and most influential mounds in the landscape can be detected. Because mounds as small as 4 m in diameter are easily detected in high resolution imagery we used these data to validate detection results and quantify omission errors for smaller mounds.

  1. Risk and markets for ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bendor, Todd K; Riggsbee, J Adam; Doyle, Martin

    2011-12-15

    Market-based environmental regulations (e.g., cap and trade, "payments for ecosystem services") are increasingly common. However, few detailed studies of operating ecosystem markets have lent understanding to how such policies affect incentive structures for improving environmental quality. The largest U.S. market stems from the Clean Water Act provisions requiring ecosystem restoration to offset aquatic ecosystems damaged during development. We describe and test how variations in the rules governing this ecosystem market shift risk between regulators and entrepreneurs to promote ecological restoration. We analyze extensive national scale data to assess how two critical aspects of market structure - (a) the geographic scale of markets and (b) policies dictating the release of credits - affect the willingness of entrepreneurs to enter specific markets and produce credits. We find no discernible relationship between policies attempting to ease market entry and either the number of individual producers or total credits produced. Rather, market entry is primarily related to regional geography (the prevalence of aquatic ecosystems) and regional economic growth. Any improvements to policies governing ecosystem markets require explicit evaluation of the interplay between policy and risk elements affecting both regulators and entrepreneurial credit providers. Our findings extend to emerging, regulated ecosystem markets, including proposed carbon offset mechanisms, biodiversity banking, and water quality trading programs.

  2. Exploring the ecosystem engineering ability of Red Sea shallow benthic habitats using stocks and fluxes in carbon biogeochemistry

    KAUST Repository

    Baldry, Kimberlee

    2017-12-01

    The coastal ocean is a marginal region of the global ocean, but is home to metabolically intense ecosystems which increase the structural complexity of the benthos. These ecosystems have the ability to alter the carbon chemistry of surrounding waters through their metabolism, mainly through processes which directly release or consume carbon dioxide. In this way, coastal habitats can engineer their environment by acting as sources or sinks of carbon dioxide and altering their environmental chemistry from the regional norm. In most coastal water masses, it is difficult to resolve the ecosystem effect on coastal carbon biogeochemistry due to the mixing of multiple offshore end members, complex geography or the influence of variable freshwater inputs. The Red Sea provides a simple environment for the study of ecosystem processes at a coastal scale as it contains only one offshore end-member and negligible freshwater inputs due to the arid climate of adjacent land. This work explores the ability of three Red Sea benthic coastal habitats (coral reefs, seagrass meadows and mangrove forests) to create characteristic ecosystem end-members, which deviate from the biogeochemistry of offshore source waters. This is done by both calculating non-conservative deviations in carbonate stocks collected over each ecosystem, and by quantifying net carbonate fluxes (in seagrass meadows and mangrove forests only) using 24 hour incubations. Results illustrate that carbonate stocks over ecosystems conform to broad ecosystem trends, which are different to the offshore end-member, and are influenced by inherited properties from surrounding ecosystems. Carbonate fluxes also show ecosystem dependent trends and further illustrate the importance of sediment processes in influencing CaCO3 fluxes in blue carbon benthic habitats, which warrants further attention. These findings show the respective advantages of studying both carbonate stocks and fluxes of coastal benthic ecosystems in order to

  3. Climate change, cranes, and temperate floodplain ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Sammy L.

    2010-01-01

    Floodplain ecosystems provide important habitat to cranes globally. Lateral, longitudinal, vertical, and temporal hydrologic connectivity in rivers is essential to maintaining the functions and values of these systems. Agricultural development, flood control, water diversions, dams, and other anthropogenic activities have greatly affected hydrologic connectivity of river systems worldwide and altered the functional capacity of these systems. Although the specific effects of climate change in any given area are unknown, increased intensity and frequency of flooding and droughts and increased air and water temperatures are among many potential effects that can act synergistically with existing human modifications in these systems to create even greater challenges in maintaining ecosystem productivity. In this paper, I review basic hydrologic and geomorphic processes of river systems and use three North American rivers (Guadalupe, Platte, and Rio Grande) that are important to cranes as case studies to illustrate the challenges facing managers tasked with balancing the needs of cranes and people in the face of an uncertain climatic future. Each river system has unique natural and anthropogenic characteristics that will affect conservation strategies. Mitigating the effects of climate change on river systems necessitates an understanding of river/floodplain/landscape linkages, which include people and their laws as well as existing floodplain ecosystem conditions.

  4. Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilcox, Kevin R.; Tredennick, Andrew T.; Koerner, Sally E.

    2017-01-01

    Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy decisions. We used species-level abundance data from 62 plant communities...

  5. One carbon cycle: Impacts of model integration, ecosystem process detail, model resolution, and initialization data, on projections of future climate mitigation strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisk, J.; Hurtt, G. C.; le page, Y.; Patel, P. L.; Chini, L. P.; Sahajpal, R.; Dubayah, R.; Thomson, A. M.; Edmonds, J.; Janetos, A. C.

    2013-12-01

    Integrated assessment models (IAMs) simulate the interactions between human and natural systems at a global scale, representing a broad suite of phenomena across the global economy, energy system, land-use, and carbon cycling. Most proposed climate mitigation strategies rely on maintaining or enhancing the terrestrial carbon sink as a substantial contribution to restrain the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, however most IAMs rely on simplified regional representations of terrestrial carbon dynamics. Our research aims to reduce uncertainties associated with forest modeling within integrated assessments, and to quantify the impacts of climate change on forest growth and productivity for integrated assessments of terrestrial carbon management. We developed the new Integrated Ecosystem Demography (iED) to increase terrestrial ecosystem process detail, resolution, and the utilization of remote sensing in integrated assessments. iED brings together state-of-the-art models of human society (GCAM), spatial land-use patterns (GLM) and terrestrial ecosystems (ED) in a fully coupled framework. The major innovative feature of iED is a consistent, process-based representation of ecosystem dynamics and carbon cycle throughout the human, terrestrial, land-use, and atmospheric components. One of the most challenging aspects of ecosystem modeling is to provide accurate initialization of land surface conditions to reflect non-equilibrium conditions, i.e., the actual successional state of the forest. As all plants in ED have an explicit height, it is one of the few ecosystem models that can be initialized directly with vegetation height data. Previous work has demonstrated that ecosystem model resolution and initialization data quality have a large effect on flux predictions at continental scales. Here we use a factorial modeling experiment to quantify the impacts of model integration, process detail, model resolution, and initialization data on projections of

  6. The resilience and functional role of moss in boreal and arctic ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turetsky, M.; Bond-Lamberty, B.; Euskirchen, E.S.; Talbot, J. J.; Frolking, S.; McGuire, A.D.; Tuittila, E.S.

    2012-01-01

    Mosses in northern ecosystems are ubiquitous components of plant communities, and strongly influence nutrient, carbon and water cycling. We use literature review, synthesis and model simulations to explore the role of mosses in ecological stability and resilience. Moss community responses to disturbance showed all possible responses (increases, decreases, no change) within most disturbance categories. Simulations from two process-based models suggest that northern ecosystems would need to experience extreme perturbation before mosses were eliminated. But simulations with two other models suggest that loss of moss will reduce soil carbon accumulation primarily by influencing decomposition rates and soil nitrogen availability. It seems clear that mosses need to be incorporated into models as one or more plant functional types, but more empirical work is needed to determine how to best aggregate species. We highlight several issues that have not been adequately explored in moss communities, such as functional redundancy and singularity, relationships between response and effect traits, and parameter vs conceptual uncertainty in models. Mosses play an important role in several ecosystem processes that play out over centuries – permafrost formation and thaw, peat accumulation, development of microtopography – and there is a need for studies that increase our understanding of slow, long-term dynamical processes.

  7. The resilience and functional role of moss in boreal and arctic ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turetsky, M R; Bond-Lamberty, B; Euskirchen, E; Talbot, J; Frolking, S; McGuire, A D; Tuittila, E-S

    2012-10-01

    Mosses in northern ecosystems are ubiquitous components of plant communities, and strongly influence nutrient, carbon and water cycling. We use literature review, synthesis and model simulations to explore the role of mosses in ecological stability and resilience. Moss community responses to disturbance showed all possible responses (increases, decreases, no change) within most disturbance categories. Simulations from two process-based models suggest that northern ecosystems would need to experience extreme perturbation before mosses were eliminated. But simulations with two other models suggest that loss of moss will reduce soil carbon accumulation primarily by influencing decomposition rates and soil nitrogen availability. It seems clear that mosses need to be incorporated into models as one or more plant functional types, but more empirical work is needed to determine how to best aggregate species. We highlight several issues that have not been adequately explored in moss communities, such as functional redundancy and singularity, relationships between response and effect traits, and parameter vs conceptual uncertainty in models. Mosses play an important role in several ecosystem processes that play out over centuries - permafrost formation and thaw, peat accumulation, development of microtopography - and there is a need for studies that increase our understanding of slow, long-term dynamical processes. © 2012 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2012 New Phytologist Trust.

  8. Understanding and Managing Process Interaction in IS Development Projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bygstad, Bendik; Nielsen, Peter Axel

    2005-01-01

    Increasingly, information systems must be developed and implemented as a part of business change. This is a challenge for the IS project manager, since business change and information systems development usually are performed as separate processes. Thus, there is a need to understand and manage......-technical innovation in a situation where the organisational change process and the IS development process are parallel but incongruent. We also argue that iterative software engineering frameworks are well structured to support process interaction. Finally, we advocate that the IS project manager needs to manage...... the relationship between these two kinds of processes. To understand the interaction between information systems development and planned organisational change we introduce the concept of process interaction. We draw on a longitudinal case study of an IS development project that used an iterative and incremental...

  9. Controls on winter ecosystem respiration in temperate and boreal ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Wang

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Winter CO2 fluxes represent an important component of the annual carbon budget in northern ecosystems. Understanding winter respiration processes and their responses to climate change is also central to our ability to assess terrestrial carbon cycle and climate feedbacks in the future. However, the factors influencing the spatial and temporal patterns of winter ecosystem respiration (Reco of northern ecosystems are poorly understood. For this reason, we analyzed eddy covariance flux data from 57 ecosystem sites ranging from ~35° N to ~70° N. Deciduous forests were characterized by the highest winter Reco rates (0.90 ± 0.39 g C m−2 d−1, when winter is defined as the period during which daily air temperature remains below 0 °C. By contrast, arctic wetlands had the lowest winter Reco rates (0.02 ± 0.02 g C m−2 d−1. Mixed forests, evergreen needle-leaved forests, grasslands, croplands and boreal wetlands were characterized by intermediate winter Reco rates (g C m−2 d−1 of 0.70(±0.33, 0.60(±0.38, 0.62(±0.43, 0.49(±0.22 and 0.27(±0.08, respectively. Our cross site analysis showed that winter air (Tair and soil (Tsoil temperature played a dominating role in determining the spatial patterns of winter Reco in both forest and managed ecosystems (grasslands and croplands. Besides temperature, the seasonal amplitude of the leaf area index (LAI, inferred from satellite observation, or growing season gross primary productivity, which we use here as a proxy for the amount of recent carbon available for Reco in the subsequent winter, played a marginal role in winter CO2 emissions from forest ecosystems. We found that winter Reco sensitivity to temperature variation across space (

  10. The Ecology and Evolution of Constructed Ecosystems as Green Infrastructure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeremy eLundholm

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Green infrastructure consists of ecosystems that provide valuable services to urban areas. Constructed ecosystems, including green roofs, bioretention systems, constructed wetlands and bioreactors are artificial, custom-built components of green infrastructure that are becoming more common in cities. Small size, strong spatial boundaries, ecological novelty and the role of human design characterize all constructed ecosystems, influencing their functions and interactions with other urban ecosystems. Here I outline the relevance of ecology and evolution in understanding the functioning of constructed ecosystems. In turn, a research focus on the distinctive aspects of constructed ecosystems can contribute to fundamental science.

  11. A protocol for the intercomparison of marine fishery and ecosystem models: Fish-MIP v1.0

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tittensor, Derek P.; Eddy, Tyler D.; Lotze, Heike K.; Galbraith, Eric D.; Cheung, William; Barange, Manuel; Blanchard, Julia L.; Bopp, Laurent; Bryndum-Buchholz, Andrea; Büchner, Matthias; Bulman, Catherine; Carozza, David A.; Christensen, Villy; Coll, Marta; Dunne, John P.; Fernandes, Jose A.; Fulton, Elizabeth A.; Hobday, Alistair J.; Huber, Veronika; Jennings, Simon; Jones, Miranda; Lehodey, Patrick; Link, Jason S.; Mackinson, Steve; Maury, Olivier; Niiranen, Susa; Oliveros-Ramos, Ricardo; Roy, Tilla; Schewe, Jacob; Shin, Yunne-Jai; Silva, Tiago; Stock, Charles A.; Steenbeek, Jeroen; Underwood, Philip J.; Volkholz, Jan; Watson, James R.; Walker, Nicola D.

    2018-04-01

    Model intercomparison studies in the climate and Earth sciences communities have been crucial to building credibility and coherence for future projections. They have quantified variability among models, spurred model development, contrasted within- and among-model uncertainty, assessed model fits to historical data, and provided ensemble projections of future change under specified scenarios. Given the speed and magnitude of anthropogenic change in the marine environment and the consequent effects on food security, biodiversity, marine industries, and society, the time is ripe for similar comparisons among models of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Here, we describe the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project protocol version 1.0 (Fish-MIP v1.0), part of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP), which is a cross-sectoral network of climate impact modellers. Given the complexity of the marine ecosystem, this class of models has substantial heterogeneity of purpose, scope, theoretical underpinning, processes considered, parameterizations, resolution (grain size), and spatial extent. This heterogeneity reflects the lack of a unified understanding of the marine ecosystem and implies that the assemblage of all models is more likely to include a greater number of relevant processes than any single model. The current Fish-MIP protocol is designed to allow these heterogeneous models to be forced with common Earth System Model (ESM) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) outputs under prescribed scenarios for historic (from the 1950s) and future (to 2100) time periods; it will be adapted to CMIP phase 6 (CMIP6) in future iterations. It also describes a standardized set of outputs for each participating Fish-MIP model to produce. This enables the broad characterization of differences between and uncertainties within models and projections when assessing climate and fisheries impacts on marine ecosystems and the

  12. A protocol for the intercomparison of marine fishery and ecosystem models: Fish-MIP v1.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. P. Tittensor

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Model intercomparison studies in the climate and Earth sciences communities have been crucial to building credibility and coherence for future projections. They have quantified variability among models, spurred model development, contrasted within- and among-model uncertainty, assessed model fits to historical data, and provided ensemble projections of future change under specified scenarios. Given the speed and magnitude of anthropogenic change in the marine environment and the consequent effects on food security, biodiversity, marine industries, and society, the time is ripe for similar comparisons among models of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Here, we describe the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project protocol version 1.0 (Fish-MIP v1.0, part of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, which is a cross-sectoral network of climate impact modellers. Given the complexity of the marine ecosystem, this class of models has substantial heterogeneity of purpose, scope, theoretical underpinning, processes considered, parameterizations, resolution (grain size, and spatial extent. This heterogeneity reflects the lack of a unified understanding of the marine ecosystem and implies that the assemblage of all models is more likely to include a greater number of relevant processes than any single model. The current Fish-MIP protocol is designed to allow these heterogeneous models to be forced with common Earth System Model (ESM Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5 outputs under prescribed scenarios for historic (from the 1950s and future (to 2100 time periods; it will be adapted to CMIP phase 6 (CMIP6 in future iterations. It also describes a standardized set of outputs for each participating Fish-MIP model to produce. This enables the broad characterization of differences between and uncertainties within models and projections when assessing climate and fisheries impacts on marine ecosystems

  13. Increasing process understanding by analyzing complex interactions in experimental data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Naelapaa, Kaisa; Allesø, Morten; Kristensen, Henning Gjelstrup

    2009-01-01

    understanding of a coating process. It was possible to model the response, that is, the amount of drug released, using both mentioned techniques. However, the ANOVAmodel was difficult to interpret as several interactions between process parameters existed. In contrast to ANOVA, GEMANOVA is especially suited...... for modeling complex interactions and making easily understandable models of these. GEMANOVA modeling allowed a simple visualization of the entire experimental space. Furthermore, information was obtained on how relative changes in the settings of process parameters influence the film quality and thereby drug......There is a recognized need for new approaches to understand unit operations with pharmaceutical relevance. A method for analyzing complex interactions in experimental data is introduced. Higher-order interactions do exist between process parameters, which complicate the interpretation...

  14. Mineral nutrients in mediterranean ecosystems

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Day, JA

    1983-06-01

    Full Text Available The notion of ecological convergence has influenced taxonomists and biogeographers since the development of ecology in the mid-nineteenth century. Our initial understanding of the ecosystems of the world resulted from plant geographers...

  15. Experimental assessment of ecosystem services in agriculture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sandhu, Harpinder; Porter, John Roy; Wratten, Steve

    2013-01-01

    Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles. Agricul......Ecosystem services are the resources and processes supplied by natural ecosystems which benefit humankind (for example, pollination of crops by insects, or water filtration by wetlands). They underpin life on earth, provide major inputs to many economic sectors and support our lifestyles....... Agricultural and urban areas are by far the largest users of ecosystems and their services and (for the first time) this book explores the role that ecosystem services play in these managed environments. The book also explores methods of evaluating ecosystem services, and discusses how these services can...... be maintained and enhanced in our farmlands and cities. This book will be useful to students and researchers from a variety of fields, including applied ecology, environmental economics, agriculture and forestry, and also to local and regional planners and policy makers....

  16. The PEcAn Project: Accessible Tools for On-demand Ecosystem Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowdery, E.; Kooper, R.; LeBauer, D.; Desai, A. R.; Mantooth, J.; Dietze, M.

    2014-12-01

    Ecosystem models play a critical role in understanding the terrestrial biosphere and forecasting changes in the carbon cycle, however current forecasts have considerable uncertainty. The amount of data being collected and produced is increasing on daily basis as we enter the "big data" era, but only a fraction of this data is being used to constrain models. Until we can improve the problems of model accessibility and model-data communication, none of these resources can be used to their full potential. The Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) is an ecoinformatics toolbox and a set of workflows that wrap around an ecosystem model and manage the flow of information in and out of regional-scale TBMs. Here we present new modules developed in PEcAn to manage the processing of meteorological data, one of the primary driver dependencies for ecosystem models. The module downloads, reads, extracts, and converts meteorological observations to Unidata Climate Forecast (CF) NetCDF community standard, a convention used for most climate forecast and weather models. The module also automates the conversion from NetCDF to model specific formats, including basic merging, gap-filling, and downscaling procedures. PEcAn currently supports tower-based micrometeorological observations at Ameriflux and FluxNET sites, site-level CSV-formatted data, and regional and global reanalysis products such as the North American Regional Reanalysis and CRU-NCEP. The workflow is easily extensible to additional products and processing algorithms.These meteorological workflows have been coupled with the PEcAn web interface and now allow anyone to run multiple ecosystem models for any location on the Earth by simply clicking on an intuitive Google-map based interface. This will allow users to more readily compare models to observations at those sites, leading to better calibration and validation. Current work is extending these workflows to also process field, remotely-sensed, and historical

  17. Ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of carbon in a heathland under future climatic conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bang Selsted, M

    2010-07-15

    Global change is a reality. Atmospheric CO{sub 2} levels are rising as well as mean global temperature and precipitation patterns are changing. These three environmental factors have separately and in combination effect on ecosystem processes. Terrestrial ecosystems hold large amounts of carbon, why understanding plant and soil responses to such changes are necessary, as ecosystems potentially can ameliorate or accelerate global change. To predict the feedback of ecosystems to the atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations experiments imitating global change effects are therefore an important tool. This work on ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of carbon in a heathland under future climatic conditions, shows that extended summer drought in combination with elevated temperature will ensure permanent dryer soil conditions, which decreases carbon turnover, while elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations will increase carbon turnover. In the full future climate scenario, carbon turnover is over all expected to increase and the heathland to become a source of atmospheric CO{sub 2}. The methodology of static chamber CO{sub 2} flux measurements and applying the technology in a FACE (free air CO{sub 2} enrichment) facility is a challenge. Fluxes of CO{sub 2} from soil to atmosphere depend on a physical equilibrium between those two medias, why it is important to keep the CO{sub 2} gradient between soil and atmosphere unchanged during measurement. Uptake to plants via photosynthesis depends on a physiological process, which depends strongly on the atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration. Photosynthesis and respiration run in parallel during measurements of net ecosystem exchange, and these measurements should therefore be performed with care to both the atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration and the CO{sub 2} soil-atmosphere gradient. (author)

  18. Terrestrial ecosystems in a changing world

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Canadell, J.G. [CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Canberra, ACT (Australia). Global Carbon Project; Pataki, D.E. [California Univ., Irvine, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth System Science]|[California Univ., Irvine, CA (United States). Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Pitelka, L.F. (eds.) [Maryland Univ., Frostburg, MD (United States). Appalachian Lab.

    2007-07-01

    Over 100 authors present 25 contributions on the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems including: * key processes of the earth system such as the CO2 fertilization effect, shifts in disturbances and biome distribution, the saturation of the terrestrial carbon sink, and changes in functional biodiversity, * ecosystem services such the production of wheat, pest control, and carbon storage in croplands, and * sensitive regions in the world threaten by rapid changes in climate and land use such as high latitudes ecosystems, tropical forest in Southeast Asia, and ecosystems dominated by Monsoon climate. The book also explores new research developments on spatial thresholds and nonlinearities, the key role of urban development in global biogeochemical processes, and the integration of natural and social sciences to address complex problems of the human-environment system. (orig.)

  19. Are the Lake Victoria fisheries threatened by exploitation or eutrophication? Towards an ecosystem-based approach to management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kolding, J.; Zwieten, van P.A.M.; Mkumbo, O.; Silsbe, G.; Hecky, R.

    2008-01-01

    Lake Victoria’s ecosystem has shown fundamental changes over its past recorded history in terms of nutrient loadings, productivity, faunal composition and fisheries. As yet, however, no attempt has been made to link the driving processes of eutrophication and fisheries to understand the feedback

  20. Ocean-atmosphere pollutant circulation processes: The Heligoland Bight ecosystem (PRISMA). 2. interim report (1991)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-04-01

    The PRISMA BMFT project is an important stage on the way to a comprehensive knowledge of the impacts of pollutants on the North Sea/Heligoland Bight ecosystem. The overall project is dedicated to the development, verification and application of a complex shelf-sea model which provides qualitative and quantitative data about the causal interactions between the basic atmospheric conditions, the hydrodynamics and thermodynamics of the water, the chemical reactons in the air, in the water and the sediments, and the activity of organisms. The model comprises a compact set of formulae, process formulations, initial and marginal conditions and empirical parameters which serves to describe the origin, transport, reactions and final deposition of pollutants in the North Sea, helps to analyze and elucidate the present condition of the ecosystem and its spatial and temporal variability, and provides forecasts in accordance with the changing natural and anthropogenic environmental conditions. (orig.) [de

  1. Applying an ecosystem service approach to unravel links between ecosystems and society in the coast of central Chile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Juan, Silvia; Gelcich, Stefan; Ospina-Alvarez, Andres; Perez-Matus, Alejandro; Fernandez, Miriam

    2015-11-15

    Ecosystem-based management implies understanding feedbacks between ecosystems and society. Such understanding can be approached with the Drivers-Pressures-State change-Impacts-Response framework (DPSIR), incorporating stakeholders' preferences for ecosystem services to assess impacts on society. This framework was adapted to six locations in the central coast of Chile, where artisanal fisheries coexist with an increasing influx of tourists, and a set of fisheries management areas alternate with open access areas and a no-take Marine Protected Area (MPA). The ecosystem services in the study area were quantified using biomass and species richness in intertidal and subtidal areas as biological indicators. The demand for ecosystem services was elicited by interviews to the principal groups of users. Our results evidenced decreasing landings and a negative perception of fishermen on temporal trends of catches. The occurrence of recreational fishing was negligible, although the consumption of seafood by tourists was relatively high. Nevertheless, the consumption of organisms associated to the study system was low, which could be linked, amongst other factors, to decreasing catches. The comparison of biological indicators between management regimens provided variable results, but a positive effect of management areas and the MPA on some of the metrics was observed. The prioritising of ecosystem attributes by tourists was highly homogenous across the six locations, with "scenic beauty" consistently selected as the preferred attribute, followed by "diversity". The DPSIR framework illustrated the complex interactions existing in these locations, with weak linkages between society's priorities, existing management objectives and the state of biological communities. Overall, this work improved our knowledge on relations between components of coastal areas in central Chile, of paramount importance to advance towards an ecosystem-based management in the area. Copyright © 2015

  2. Mapping Ecosystem Services: An Integrated Biophysical and Economic Evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Hayha, T.

    2014-01-01

    Forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services, from timber and non-wood products (provisioning services) to carbon sequestration, hydrogeological protection (regulating services), and recreation and aesthetic experiences (cultural services). Nonmarketed forest ecosystem services tend to be undervalued due to the lack of a market price and a clear understanding of their vital support to socio-economic systems. Ecosystem services are interlinked, and therefore the optimization of one typol...

  3. Making eco logic and models work : An integrative approach to lake ecosystem modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuiper, Jan Jurjen

    2016-01-01

    Dynamical ecosystem models are important tools that can help ecologists understand complex systems, and turn understanding into predictions of how these systems respond to external changes. This thesis revolves around PCLake, an integrated ecosystem model of shallow lakes that is used by both

  4. Microbial Community Activity And Plant Biomass Are Insensitive To Passive Warming In A Semiarid Ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espinosa, N. J.; Fehmi, J. S.; Rasmussen, C.; Gallery, R. E.

    2017-12-01

    Soil microorganisms drive biogeochemical and nutrient cycling through the production of extracellular enzymes that facilitate organic matter decomposition and the flux of large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Although dryland ecosystems occupy over 40% of land cover and are projected to expand due to climate change, much of our current understanding of these processes comes from mesic temperate ecosystems. Understanding the responses of these globally predominant dryland ecosystems is therefore important yet complicated by co-occurring environmental changes. For example, the widespread and pervasive transition from grass to woody dominated landscapes is changing the hydrology, fire regimes, and carbon storage potential of semiarid ecosystems. In this study, we used a novel passive method of warming to conduct a warming experiment with added plant debris as either woodchip or biochar, to simulate different long-term carbon additions that accompany woody plant encroachment in semiarid ecosystems. The response of heterotrophic respiration, plant biomass, and microbial activity was monitored bi-annually. We hypothesized that the temperature manipulations would have direct and indirect effects on microbial activity. Warmer soils directly reduce the activity of soil extracellular enzymes through denaturation and dehydration of soil pores and indirectly through reducing microbe-available substrates and plant inputs. Overall, reduction in extracellular enzyme activity may reduce decomposition of coarse woody debris and potentially enhance soil carbon storage in semiarid ecosystems. For all seven hydrolytic enzymes examined as well as heterotrophic respiration, there was no consistent or significant response to experimental warming, regardless of seasonal climatic and soil moisture variation. The enzyme results observed here are consistent with the few other experimental results for warming in semiarid ecosystems and indicate that the controls over soil

  5. Elasticity in ecosystem services: exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tim M. Daw

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Although ecosystem services are increasingly recognized as benefits people obtain from nature, we still have a poor understanding of how they actually enhance multidimensional human well-being, and how well-being is affected by ecosystem change. We develop a concept of "ecosystem service elasticity" (ES elasticity that describes the sensitivity of human well-being to changes in ecosystems. ES Elasticity is a result of complex social and ecological dynamics and is context dependent, individually variable, and likely to demonstrate nonlinear dynamics such as thresholds and hysteresis. We present a conceptual framework that unpacks the chain of causality from ecosystem stocks through flows, goods, value, and shares to contribute to the well-being of different people. This framework builds on previous conceptualizations, but places multidimensional well-being of different people as the final element. This ultimately disaggregated approach emphasizes how different people access benefits and how benefits match their needs or aspirations. Applying this framework to case studies of individual coastal ecosystem services in East Africa illustrates a wide range of social and ecological factors that can affect ES elasticity. For example, food web and habitat dynamics affect the sensitivity of different fisheries ecosystem services to ecological change. Meanwhile high cultural significance, or lack of alternatives enhance ES elasticity, while social mechanisms that prevent access can reduce elasticity. Mapping out how chains are interlinked illustrates how different types of value and the well-being of different people are linked to each other and to common ecological stocks. We suggest that examining chains for individual ecosystem services can suggest potential interventions aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable ecosystems while mapping out of interlinkages between chains can help to identify possible ecosystem service trade-offs and winners and

  6. Are there links between responses of soil microbes and ecosystem functioning to elevated CO2, N deposition and warming? A global perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Palacios, Pablo; Vandegehuchte, Martijn L; Shaw, E Ashley; Dam, Marie; Post, Keith H; Ramirez, Kelly S; Sylvain, Zachary A; de Tomasel, Cecilia Milano; Wall, Diana H

    2015-04-01

    In recent years, there has been an increase in research to understand how global changes' impacts on soil biota translate into altered ecosystem functioning. However, results vary between global change effects, soil taxa, and ecosystem processes studied, and a synthesis of relationships is lacking. Therefore, here we initiate such a synthesis to assess whether the effect size of global change drivers (elevated CO2, N deposition, and warming) on soil microbial abundance is related with the effect size of these drivers on ecosystem functioning (plant biomass, soil C cycle, and soil N cycle) using meta-analysis and structural equation modeling. For N deposition and warming, the global change effect size on soil microbes was positively associated with the global change effect size on ecosystem functioning, and these relationships were consistent across taxa and ecosystem processes. However, for elevated CO2, such links were more taxon and ecosystem process specific. For example, fungal abundance responses to elevated CO2 were positively correlated with those of plant biomass but negatively with those of the N cycle. Our results go beyond previous assessments of the sensitivity of soil microbes and ecosystem processes to global change, and demonstrate the existence of general links between the responses of soil microbial abundance and ecosystem functioning. Further we identify critical areas for future research, specifically altered precipitation, soil fauna, soil community composition, and litter decomposition, that are need to better quantify the ecosystem consequences of global change impacts on soil biodiversity. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Ethnic and locational differences in ecosystem service values

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuni Sanchez, Aida; Pfeifer, Marion; Marchant, Rob

    2016-01-01

    location. Preferred plant species for food, fodder, medicine resources, poles and firewood followed the same pattern. Our results showed that ethnicity and location affect ecosystem services' identification and importance ranking. This should be taken into account by decision-makers, e.g. as restricted......Understanding cultural preferences toward different ecosystem services is of great importance for conservation and development planning. While cultural preferences toward plant species have been long studied in the field of plant utilisation, the effects of ethnicity on ecosystem services...... identification and valuation has received little attention. We assessed the effects of ethnicity toward different ecosystem services at three similar forest islands in northern Kenya inhabited by Samburu and Boran pastoralists. Twelve focus groups were organised in each mountain, to evaluate the ecosystem...

  8. The importance of understanding during the teaching process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dubljanin Saša

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Learning in the teaching process often goes on without proper understanding which is one of important problems that modern didactics tries to solve. In order to direct the totality of teaching towards understanding it is necessary to answer the question what understanding is, which is why we analysed different philosophical views on the concept of understanding and stressed their semblance to pedagogic explanations. Different kinds of understanding were analyzed as well as their role and contribution in different teaching situations, especially in the context of problem solving. As an alternative to the teaching based on accumulation of knowledge the characteristics and some principles of teaching focused on understanding are described, and the need for stimulating and developing understanding as an important goal of education. The results of our research unequivocally show that learning with understanding enables students to memorize the teaching material better, as well as to understand the whole teaching subject and efficiently apply the acquired knowledge out of school, and leads to more flexible behaviour and better coping in everyday life.

  9. Effects of ice storm on forest ecosystem of southern China in 2008 Shaoqiang Wang1, Lei Zhou1, Weimin Ju2, Kun Huang1 1Key Lab of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing, 10010

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shaoqiang

    2014-05-01

    Evidence is mounting that an increase in extreme climate events has begun to occur worldwide during the recent decades, which affect biosphere function and biodiversity. Ecosystems returned to its original structures and functions to maintain its sustainability, which was closely dependent on ecosystem resilience. Understanding the resilience and recovery capacity of ecosystem to extreme climate events is essential to predicting future ecosystem responses to climate change. Given the overwhelming importance of this region in the overall carbon cycle of forest ecosystems in China, south China suffered a destructive ice storm in 2008. In this study, we used the number of freezing day and a process-based model (Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator, BEPS) to characterize the spatial distribution of ice storm region in southeastern China and explore the impacts on carbon cycle of forest ecosystem over the past decade. The ecosystem variables, i.e. Net primary productivity (NPP), Evapotranspiration (ET), and Water use efficiency (WUE, the ratio of NPP to ET) from the outputs of BEPS models were used to detect the resistance and resilience of forest ecosystem in southern China. The pattern of ice storm-induced forest productivity widespread decline was closely related to the number of freezing day during the ice storm period. The NPP of forest area suffered heavy ice storm returned to normal status after five months with high temperature and ample moisture, indicated a high resilience of subtropical forest in China. The long-term changes of forest WUE remain stable, behaving an inherent sensitivity of ecosystem to extreme climate events. In addition, ground visits suggested that the recovery of forest productivity was attributed to rapid growth of understory. Understanding the variability and recovery threshold of ecosystem following extreme climate events help us to better simulate and predict the variability of ecosystem structure and function under current and

  10. Modelling natural disturbances in forest ecosystems: a review

    OpenAIRE

    Seidl, Rupert; Fernandes, Paulo M.; Fonseca, Teresa F.; Gillet, François; Jönsson, Anna Maria; Merganičová, Katarína; Netherer, Sigrid; Arpaci, Alexander; Bontemps, Jean-Daniel; Bugmann, Harald

    2011-01-01

    Natural disturbances play a key role in ecosystem dynamics and are important factors for sustainable forest ecosystem management. Quantitative models are frequently employed to tackle the complexities associated with disturbance processes. Here we review the wide variety of approaches to modelling natural disturbances in forest ecosystems, addressing the full spectrum of disturbance modelling from single events to integrated disturbance regimes. We applied a general, process-based framework f...

  11. Bacterial biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relations are modified by environmental complexity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langenheder, Silke; Bulling, Mark T; Solan, Martin; Prosser, James I

    2010-05-26

    With the recognition that environmental change resulting from anthropogenic activities is causing a global decline in biodiversity, much attention has been devoted to understanding how changes in biodiversity may alter levels of ecosystem functioning. Although environmental complexity has long been recognised as a major driving force in evolutionary processes, it has only recently been incorporated into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning investigations. Environmental complexity is expected to strengthen the positive effect of species richness on ecosystem functioning, mainly because it leads to stronger complementarity effects, such as resource partitioning and facilitative interactions among species when the number of available resource increases. Here we implemented an experiment to test the combined effect of species richness and environmental complexity, more specifically, resource richness on ecosystem functioning over time. We show, using all possible combinations of species within a bacterial community consisting of six species, and all possible combinations of three substrates, that diversity-functioning (metabolic activity) relationships change over time from linear to saturated. This was probably caused by a combination of limited complementarity effects and negative interactions among competing species as the experiment progressed. Even though species richness and resource richness both enhanced ecosystem functioning, they did so independently from each other. Instead there were complex interactions between particular species and substrate combinations. Our study shows clearly that both species richness and environmental complexity increase ecosystem functioning. The finding that there was no direct interaction between these two factors, but that instead rather complex interactions between combinations of certain species and resources underlie positive biodiversity ecosystem functioning relationships, suggests that detailed knowledge of how individual

  12. Bacterial biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relations are modified by environmental complexity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silke Langenheder

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: With the recognition that environmental change resulting from anthropogenic activities is causing a global decline in biodiversity, much attention has been devoted to understanding how changes in biodiversity may alter levels of ecosystem functioning. Although environmental complexity has long been recognised as a major driving force in evolutionary processes, it has only recently been incorporated into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning investigations. Environmental complexity is expected to strengthen the positive effect of species richness on ecosystem functioning, mainly because it leads to stronger complementarity effects, such as resource partitioning and facilitative interactions among species when the number of available resource increases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we implemented an experiment to test the combined effect of species richness and environmental complexity, more specifically, resource richness on ecosystem functioning over time. We show, using all possible combinations of species within a bacterial community consisting of six species, and all possible combinations of three substrates, that diversity-functioning (metabolic activity relationships change over time from linear to saturated. This was probably caused by a combination of limited complementarity effects and negative interactions among competing species as the experiment progressed. Even though species richness and resource richness both enhanced ecosystem functioning, they did so independently from each other. Instead there were complex interactions between particular species and substrate combinations. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study shows clearly that both species richness and environmental complexity increase ecosystem functioning. The finding that there was no direct interaction between these two factors, but that instead rather complex interactions between combinations of certain species and resources underlie positive biodiversity

  13. Applications of the First Law to Ecological Systems. Physical Processes in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems, Thermodynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, R. D.

    These materials were designed to be used by life science students for instruction in the application of physical theory to ecosystem operation. Most modules contain computer programs which are built around a particular application of a physical process. This report describes concepts presented in another module called "The First Law of…

  14. Task-specific visual cues for improving process model understanding

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Petrusel, Razvan; Mendling, Jan; Reijers, Hajo A.

    2016-01-01

    Context Business process models support various stakeholders in managing business processes and designing process-aware information systems. In order to make effective use of these models, they have to be readily understandable. Objective Prior research has emphasized the potential of visual cues to

  15. Regime shifts and resilience in China's coastal ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ke

    2016-02-01

    Regime shift often results in large, abrupt, and persistent changes in the provision of ecosystem services and can therefore have significant impacts on human wellbeing. Understanding regime shifts has profound implications for ecosystem recovery and management. China's coastal ecosystems have experienced substantial deterioration within the past decades, at a scale and speed the world has never seen before. Yet, information about this coastal ecosystem change from a dynamics perspective is quite limited. In this review, I synthesize existing information on coastal ecosystem regime shifts in China and discuss their interactions and cascading effects. The accumulation of regime shifts in China's coastal ecosystems suggests that the desired system resilience has been profoundly eroded, increasing the potential of abrupt shifts to undesirable states at a larger scale, especially given multiple escalating pressures. Policy and management strategies need to incorporate resilience approaches in order to cope with future challenges and avoid major losses in China's coastal ecosystem services.

  16. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: MA Ecosystems

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: MA Ecosystems provides data and information on the extent and classification of ecosystems circa 2000, including coastal,...

  17. Sustainable Ecosystem Services Framework for Tropical Catchment Management: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Zafirah

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The monsoon season is a natural phenomenon that occurs over the Asian continent, bringing extra precipitation which causes significant impact on most tropical watersheds. The tropical region’s countries are rich with natural rainforests and the economies of the countries situated within the region are mainly driven by the agricultural industry. In order to fulfill the agricultural demand, land clearing has worsened the situation by degrading the land surface areas. Rampant land use activities have led to land degradation and soil erosion, resulting in implications on water quality and sedimentation of the river networks. This affects the ecosystem services, especially the hydrological cycles. Intensification of the sedimentation process has resulted in shallower river systems, thus increasing their vulnerability to natural hazards (i.e., climate change, floods. Tropical forests which are essential in servicing their benefits have been depleted due to the increase in human exploitation. This paper provides an overview of the impact of land erosion caused by land use activities within tropical rainforest catchments, which lead to massive sedimentation in tropical rivers, as well as the effects of monsoon on fragile watersheds which can result in catastrophic floods. Forest ecosystems are very important in giving services to regional biogeochemical processes. Balanced ecosystems therefore, play a significant role in servicing humanity and ultimately, may create a new way of environmental management in a cost-effective manner. Essentially, such an understanding will help stakeholders to come up with better strategies in restoring the ecosystem services of tropical watersheds.

  18. Farmers’ Awareness of Ecosystem Services and the Associated Policy Implications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fangfang Xun

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzes the primary factors influencing farmers’ awareness of ecosystem services. This study, through questionnaires, conducts research on farmers’ awareness of and demand for ecosystem service functions. The research encapsulates 156 households from 21 groups of villagers in the Guangxi Karst Ecological Immigration District in China. The results of the factors influencing farmers’ awareness of ecosystem services, analyzed using a regression model, show that: (1 Farmers are concerned with ecosystem service functions that directly benefit them; however, they do not sufficiently understand the ecosystem’s ecological security maintenance or cultural landscape functions; (2 Farmers’ awareness of ecosystem service functions is not consistent with their corresponding demand, including the ecosystem’s leisure and entertainment, social security, disaster prevention and water purification services; (3 Education level, land area cultivated by the household, proportion of the household’s income from agriculture and immigration status directly affect farmers’ awareness of ecosystem services; (4 Farmers’ personal characteristics, family characteristics and subjective attitudes have different effects on the level of ecological service cognition. Understanding farmers’ awareness of ecosystem services, and the influencing factors can help policymakers and development managers plan local development and policies, and enable harmonious development of the human-earth system in immigration regions of China.

  19. Feedbacks between geomorphology and biota controlling Earth surface processes and landforms: A review of foundation concepts and current understandings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corenblit, Dov; Baas, Andreas C. W.; Bornette, Gudrun; Darrozes, José; Delmotte, Sébastien; Francis, Robert A.; Gurnell, Angela M.; Julien, Frédéric; Naiman, Robert J.; Steiger, Johannes

    2011-06-01

    This review article presents recent advances in the field of biogeomorphology related to the reciprocal coupling between Earth surface processes and landforms, and ecological and evolutionary processes. The aim is to present to the Earth Science community ecological and evolutionary concepts and associated recent conceptual developments for linking geomorphology and biota. The novelty of the proposed perspective is that (1) in the presence of geomorphologic-engineer species, which modify sediment and landform dynamics, natural selection operating at the scale of organisms may have consequences for the physical components of ecosystems, and particularly Earth surface processes and landforms; and (2) in return, these modifications of geomorphologic processes and landforms often feed back to the ecological characteristics of the ecosystem (structure and function) and thus to biological characteristics of engineer species and/or other species (adaptation and speciation). The main foundation concepts from ecology and evolutionary biology which have led only recently to an improved conception of landform dynamics in geomorphology are reviewed and discussed. The biogeomorphologic macroevolutionary insights proposed explicitly integrate geomorphologic niche-dimensions and processes within an ecosystem framework and reflect current theories of eco-evolutionary and ecological processes. Collectively, these lead to the definition of an integrated model describing the overall functioning of biogeomorphologic systems over ecological and evolutionary timescales.

  20. Terrestrial ecosystems: an ecological content for radionuclide research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heal, O.W.; Horrill, A.D.

    1983-01-01

    The distribution and retention of radionuclides within terrestrial ecosystems varies greatly with both the radionuclide and the environmental conditions. Physico-chemical conditions, particularly those of the soil, strongly influence element retention but superimposed and interacting with these conditions are the biological processes which control the dynamics of the labile fraction of most elements. Net ecosystem production expresses the complementary biological processes of primary production and decomposition which control the internal element dynamics and the balance of inputs to and outputs from terrestrial ecosystems. Analysis of ecosystem structure and function has shown that although research often concentrates on relatively stable stages of ecosystem development, element retention is high during the early stages of ecosystem succession through the accumulation of plant biomass and dead organic matter. Element output tends to increase with time reaching a balance with inputs in mature ecosystems. Following disturbance, plant uptake tends to be reduced and decomposition stimulated, resulting in increased output until secondary succession and accumulation is re-established. Research on element dynamics in ecosystems indicates that major factors influencing the mobility of radionuclides in terrestrial systems will be the successional state of the ecosystem and intensity of disturbance. (author)

  1. Are all intertidal wetlands naturally created equal? Bottlenecks, thresholds and knowledge gaps to mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friess, Daniel A.; Krauss, Ken W.; Horstman, Erik M.; Balke, Thorsten; Bouma, Tjeerd J.; Galli, Demis; Webb, Edward L.

    2011-01-01

    Intertidal wetlands such as saltmarshes and mangroves provide numerous important ecological functions, though they are in rapid and global decline. To better conserve and restore these wetland ecosystems, we need an understanding of the fundamental natural bottlenecks and thresholds to their establishment and long-term ecological maintenance. Despite inhabiting similar intertidal positions, the biological traits of these systems differ markedly in structure, phenology, life history, phylogeny and dispersal, suggesting large differences in biophysical interactions. By providing the first systematic comparison between saltmarshes and mangroves, we unravel how the interplay between species-specific life-history traits, biophysical interactions and biogeomorphological feedback processes determine where, when and what wetland can establish, the thresholds to long-term ecosystem stability, and constraints to genetic connectivity between intertidal wetland populations at the landscape level. To understand these process interactions, research into the constraints to wetland development, and biological adaptations to overcome these critical bottlenecks and thresholds requires a truly interdisciplinary approach.

  2. Human activities cause distinct dissolved organic matter composition across freshwater ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Clayton J.; Frost, Paul C.; Morales-Williams, Ana M.; Larson, James H.; Richardson, William B.; Chiandet, Aisha S.; Xenopoulos, Marguerite A.

    2016-01-01

    Dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition in freshwater ecosystems is influenced by interactions between physical, chemical, and biological processes that are controlled, at one level, by watershed landscape, hydrology, and their connections. Against this environmental template, humans may strongly influence DOM composition. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of DOM composition variation across freshwater ecosystems differentially affected by human activity. Using optical properties, we described DOM variation across five ecosystem groups of the Laurentian Great Lakes Region: large lakes, Kawartha Lakes, Experimental Lakes Area, urban stormwater ponds, and rivers (n = 184 sites). We determined how between ecosystem variation in DOM composition related to watershed size, land use and cover, water quality measures (conductivity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nutrient concentration, chlorophyll a), and human population density. The five freshwater ecosystem groups had distinctive DOM composition from each other. These significant differences were not explained completely through differences in watershed size nor spatial autocorrelation. Instead, multivariate partial least squares regression showed that DOM composition was related to differences in human impact across freshwater ecosystems. In particular, urban/developed watersheds with higher human population densities had a unique DOM composition with a clear anthropogenic influence that was distinct from DOM composition in natural land cover and/or agricultural watersheds. This nonagricultural, human developed impact on aquatic DOM was most evident through increased levels of a microbial, humic-like parallel factor analysis component (C6). Lotic and lentic ecosystems with low human population densities had DOM compositions more typical of clear water to humic-rich freshwater ecosystems but C6 was only present at trace to background levels. Consequently, humans are strongly altering the quality of DOM in

  3. Antecedent Moisture and Biological Inertia as Predictors of Plant and Ecosystem Productivity in Arid and Semiarid Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogle, K.

    2011-12-01

    Many plant and ecosystem processes in arid and semiarid systems may be affected by antecedent environmental conditions (e.g., precipitation patterns, soil water availability, temperature) that integrate over past days, weeks, months, seasons, or years. However, the importance of such antecedent exogenous effects relative to conditions occurring at the time of the observed process is relatively unexplored. Even less is known about the potential importance of antecedent endogenous effects that describe the influence of past ecosystem states on the current ecosystem state; e.g., how is current ecosystem productivity related to past productivity patterns? We hypothesize that incorporation of antecedent exogenous and endogenous factors can improve our predictive understanding of many plant and ecosystem processes, especially in arid and semiarid ecosystems. Furthermore, the common approach to quantifying the effects of antecedent (exogenous) variables relies on arbitrary, deterministic definitions of antecedent variables that (1) may not accurately describe the role of antecedent conditions and (2) ignore uncertainty associated with applying deterministic definitions. In this study, we employ a stochastic framework for (1) computing the antecedent variables that estimates the relative importance of conditions experienced each time unit into the past, also providing insight into potential lag responses, and (2) estimating the effect of antecedent factors on the response variable of interest. We employ this approach to explore the potential roles of antecedent exogenous and endogenous influences in three settings that illustrate the: (1) importance of antecedent precipitation for net primary productivity in the shortgrass steppe in northern Colorado, (2) dependency of tree growth on antecedent precipitation and past growth states for pinyon growing in western Colorado, and (3) influence of antecedent soil water and prior root status on observed root growth in the Mojave

  4. Balancing conservation needs with uses of river ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sabater, Sergi; Elosegui, Arturo

    2014-01-01

    Rivers are among the most diverse and threatened ecosystems on the earth, but their conservation are a requisite for sustainable development. Conservation must consider both the structure and the functioning of the elements (usually species), as well as of their ecosystem. Therefore, successful river conservation must go beyond protecting species to protecting entire ecosystems and the processes that give each ecosystem its special characteristics. River conservation has to meet the legitimate aspirations of human populations for clean, readily available supply of water, without compromising the water needs of ecosystems and nature. Therefore, it is essential to take a landscape perspective that incorporates processes occurring in the riverine riparian areas as well as on connectivity with the land and across the river network.

  5. Alternative states of a semiarid grassland ecosystem: implications for ecosystem services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Mark E.; Belote, R. Travis; Bowker, Matthew A.; Garman, Steven L.

    2011-01-01

    Ecosystems can shift between alternative states characterized by persistent differences in structure, function, and capacity to provide ecosystem services valued by society. We examined empirical evidence for alternative states in a semiarid grassland ecosystem where topographic complexity and contrasting management regimes have led to spatial variations in levels of livestock grazing. Using an inventory data set, we found that plots (n = 72) cluster into three groups corresponding to generalized alternative states identified in an a priori conceptual model. One cluster (biocrust) is notable for high coverage of a biological soil crust functional group in addition to vascular plants. Another (grass-bare) lacks biological crust but retains perennial grasses at levels similar to the biocrust cluster. A third (annualized-bare) is dominated by invasive annual plants. Occurrence of grass-bare and annualized-bare conditions in areas where livestock have been excluded for over 30 years demonstrates the persistence of these states. Significant differences among all three clusters were found for percent bare ground, percent total live cover, and functional group richness. Using data for vegetation structure and soil erodibility, we also found large among-cluster differences in average levels of dust emissions predicted by a wind-erosion model. Predicted emissions were highest for the annualized-bare cluster and lowest for the biocrust cluster, which was characterized by zero or minimal emissions even under conditions of extreme wind. Results illustrate potential trade-offs among ecosystem services including livestock production, soil retention, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation. Improved understanding of these trade-offs may assist ecosystem managers when evaluating alternative management strategies.

  6. Above and belowground connections and species interactions: Controls over ecosystem fluxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trowbridge, Amy Marie [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States); Phillips, Richard [Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States); Stoy, Paul Christopher [Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)

    2016-11-01

    The ultimate goal of this work was to quantify soil and volatile organic compound fluxes as a function of tree species and associated mycorrhizal associations in an intact forest, but also to describe the physical and biological factors that control these emissions. The results of this research lay the foundation toward an improved mechanistic understanding of carbon pathways, fluxes, and ecosystem function, ultimately improving the representation of forest ecosystems in Earth System models. To this end, a multidisciplinary approach was necessary to fill a critical gap in our understanding of how soil and root processes may influence whole-ecosystem carbon-based volatile fluxes in the face of a rapidly changing climate. We developed a series of novel sampling protocols and coupled a variety of advanced analytical techniques, resulting in findings relevant across disciplines. Furthermore, we leveraged existing infrastructure, research sites, and datasets to design a low-cost exploratory project that links belowground processes, soil volatile emissions, and total ecosystem carbon budgets. Measurements from soil collars installed across a species/mycorrhizal gradient at the DOE-supported Moran Monroe State Forest Ameriflux tower site suggest that leaf litter is the primary source of belowground and forest floor volatile emissions, but the strength of this source is significantly affected not only by leaf litter type, but the strength of the soil as a sink. Results suggest that the strength of the sink is influenced by tree species-specific associated microbial communities that change throughout the season as a function of temperature, soil moisture, leaf litter inputs, and phenology. The magnitude of the observed volatile fluxes from the forest floor is small relative to total aboveground ecosystem flux, but the contribution of these emissions to volatile-mediated ecological interactions and soil processes (e.g. nitrification) varies substantially across the growing

  7. Rare species support vulnerable functions in high-diversity ecosystems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Mouillot

    Full Text Available Around the world, the human-induced collapses of populations and species have triggered a sixth mass extinction crisis, with rare species often being the first to disappear. Although the role of species diversity in the maintenance of ecosystem processes has been widely investigated, the role of rare species remains controversial. A critical issue is whether common species insure against the loss of functions supported by rare species. This issue is even more critical in species-rich ecosystems where high functional redundancy among species is likely and where it is thus often assumed that ecosystem functioning is buffered against species loss. Here, using extensive datasets of species occurrences and functional traits from three highly diverse ecosystems (846 coral reef fishes, 2,979 alpine plants, and 662 tropical trees, we demonstrate that the most distinct combinations of traits are supported predominantly by rare species both in terms of local abundance and regional occupancy. Moreover, species that have low functional redundancy and are likely to support the most vulnerable functions, with no other species carrying similar combinations of traits, are rarer than expected by chance in all three ecosystems. For instance, 63% and 98% of fish species that are likely to support highly vulnerable functions in coral reef ecosystems are locally and regionally rare, respectively. For alpine plants, 32% and 89% of such species are locally and regionally rare, respectively. Remarkably, 47% of fish species and 55% of tropical tree species that are likely to support highly vulnerable functions have only one individual per sample on average. Our results emphasize the importance of rare species conservation, even in highly diverse ecosystems, which are thought to exhibit high functional redundancy. Rare species offer more than aesthetic, cultural, or taxonomic diversity value; they disproportionately increase the potential breadth of functions provided by

  8. Quantifying regional changes in terrestrial carbon storage by extrapolation from local ecosystem models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    King, A W

    1991-12-31

    A general procedure for quantifying regional carbon dynamics by spatial extrapolation of local ecosystem models is presented Monte Carlo simulation to calculate the expected value of one or more local models, explicitly integrating the spatial heterogeneity of variables that influence ecosystem carbon flux and storage. These variables are described by empirically derived probability distributions that are input to the Monte Carlo process. The procedure provides large-scale regional estimates based explicitly on information and understanding acquired at smaller and more accessible scales.Results are presented from an earlier application to seasonal atmosphere-biosphere CO{sub 2} exchange for circumpolar ``subarctic`` latitudes (64{degree}N-90{degree}N). Results suggest that, under certain climatic conditions, these high northern ecosystems could collectively release 0.2 Gt of carbon per year to the atmosphere. I interpret these results with respect to questions about global biospheric sinks for atmospheric CO{sub 2} .

  9. Distribution of transuranic nuclides in Mediterranean ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ballestra, S.; Thein, M.; Fukai, R.

    1982-01-01

    For the comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of transuranic elements in the marine environment, the knowledge on the distribution of these elements in various components of marine ecosystems is essential. Since the Mediterranean Sea is considered a sufficiently self-contained system, our approach for studying the processes controlling the transuranic cycling in the sea has been to follow, step by step, the redistribution of plutonium and americium in different components of the marine environment, taking Mediterranean ecosystems as examples. While the studies in the past years have supplied quantitative information on the inputs of plutonium and americium into the Mediterranean from atmospheric fallout and rivers as well as on their behaviour in the Mediterranean water column, only scattered data have been made available so far on the occurrence of the transuranic nuclides in the Mediterranean marine biota or sediments. In order to fill up this information gap, biological and sediment samples were collected from the northwestern Mediterranean region during 1975-1978 for the transuranic measurements. The results of these determinations are given in the present report

  10. An Ecosystem Model for the Simulation of Physical and Biological Oceanic Processes-IDAPAK User's Guide and Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClain, Charles R.; Arrigo, Kevin; Murtugudde, Ragu; Signorini, Sergio R.; Tai, King-Sheng

    1998-01-01

    This TM describes the development, testing, and application of a 4-component (phytoplankton, zooplankton, nitrate, and ammonium) ecosystem model capable of simulating oceanic biological processes. It also reports and documents an in-house software package (Interactive Data Analysis Package - IDAPAK) for interactive data analysis of geophysical fields, including those related to the forcing, verification, and analysis of the ecosystem model. Two regions were studied in the Pacific: the Warm Pool (WP) in the Equatorial Pacific (165 deg. E at the equator) and at Ocean Weather Station P (OWS P) in the Northeast Pacific (50 deg. N, 145 deg. W). The WP results clearly indicate that the upwelling at 100 meters correlates well with surface blooms. The upwelling events in late 1987 and 1990 produced dramatic increases in the surface layer values of all 4 ecosystem components, whereas the spring-summer deep mixing events, do not seem to incur a significant response in any of the ecosystem quantities. The OWS P results show that the monthly profiles of temperature, the annual cycles of solar irradiance, and 0- to 50-m integrated nitrate accurately reproduce observed values. Annual primary production is 190 gC/m(exp 2)/yr, which is consistent with recent observations but is much greater than earlier estimates.

  11. List identifies threatened ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Showstack, Randy

    2012-09-01

    The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on 9 September that it will develop a new Red List of Ecosystems that will identify which ecosystems are vulnerable or endangered. The list, which is modeled on the group's Red List of Threatened Species™, could help to guide conservation activities and influence policy processes such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, according to the group. “We will assess the status of marine, terrestrial, freshwater, and subterranean ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels,” stated Jon Paul Rodriguez, leader of IUCN's Ecosystems Red List Thematic Group. “The assessment can then form the basis for concerted implementation action so that we can manage them sustainably if their risk of collapse is low or restore them if they are threatened and then monitor their recovery.”

  12. Comparative analysis of marine ecosystems: workshop on predator-prey interactions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bailey, Kevin M.; Ciannelli, Lorenzo; Hunsicker, Mary

    2010-01-01

    in marine ecosystems was held at the Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA on 16–18 March 2010. The meeting brought together scientists from diverse fields of expertise including theoretical ecology, animal behaviour, fish and seabird ecology, statistics, fisheries science and ecosystem modelling......Climate and human influences on marine ecosystems are largely manifested by changes in predator–prey interactions. It follows that ecosystem-based management of the world's oceans requires a better understanding of food web relationships. An international workshop on predator–prey interactions...

  13. Global variation of carbon use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Xiaolu; Carvalhais, Nuno; Moura, Catarina; Reichstein, Markus

    2017-04-01

    Carbon use efficiency (CUE), defined as the ratio between net primary production (NPP) and gross primary production (GPP), is an emergent property of vegetation that describes its effectiveness in storing carbon (C) and is of significance for understanding C biosphere-atmosphere exchange dynamics. A constant CUE value of 0.5 has been widely used in terrestrial C-cycle models, such as the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach model, or the Marine Biological Laboratory/Soil Plant-Atmosphere Canopy Model, for regional or global modeling purposes. However, increasing evidence argues that CUE is not constant, but varies with ecosystem types, site fertility, climate, site management and forest age. Hence, the assumption of a constant CUE of 0.5 can produce great uncertainty in estimating global carbon dynamics between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Here, in order to analyze the global variations in CUE and understand how CUE varies with environmental variables, a global database was constructed based on published data for crops, forests, grasslands, wetlands and tundra ecosystems. In addition to CUE data, were also collected: GPP and NPP; site variables (e.g. climate zone, site management and plant function type); climate variables (e.g. temperature and precipitation); additional carbon fluxes (e.g. soil respiration, autotrophic respiration and heterotrophic respiration); and carbon pools (e.g. stem, leaf and root biomass). Different climate metrics were derived to diagnose seasonal temperature (mean annual temperature, MAT, and maximum temperature, Tmax) and water availability proxies (mean annual precipitation, MAP, and Palmer Drought Severity Index), in order to improve the local representation of environmental variables. Additionally were also included vegetation phenology dynamics as observed by different vegetation indices from the MODIS satellite. The mean CUE of all terrestrial ecosystems was 0.45, 10% lower than the previous assumed constant CUE of 0

  14. Electricity vs Ecosystemsunderstanding and predicting hydropower impact on Swedish river flow

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Arheimer

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The most radical anthropogenic impact on water systems in Sweden originates from the years 1900–1970, when the electricity network was developed in the country and almost all rivers were regulated. The construction of dams and changes in water flow caused problems for ecosystems. Therefore, when implementing the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD hydro-morphological indicators and targets were developed for rivers and lakes to achieve good ecological potential. The hydrological regime is one such indicator. To understand the change in flow regime we quantified the hydropower impact on river flow across Sweden by using the S-HYPE model and observations. The results show that the average redistribution of water during a year due to regulation is 19 % for the total discharge from Sweden. A distinct impact was found in seasonal flow patterns and flow duration curves. Moreover, we quantified the model skills in predicting hydropower impact on flow. The median NSE for simulating change in flow regime was 0.71 for eight dams studied. Results from the spatially distributed model are available for 37 000 sub-basins across the country, and will be used by the Swedish water authorities for reporting hydro-morphological indicators to the EU and for guiding the allocation of river restoration measures.

  15. From Cascade to Bottom-Up Ecosystem Services Model: How Does Social Cohesion Emerge from Urban Agriculture?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Petit-Boix

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Given the expansion of urban agriculture (UA, we need to understand how this system provides ecosystem services, including foundational societal needs such as social cohesion, i.e., people’s willingness to cooperate with one another. Although social cohesion in UA has been documented, there is no framework for its emergence and how it can be modeled within a sustainability framework. In this study, we address this literature gap by showing how the popular cascade ecosystem services model can be modified to include social structures. We then transform the cascade model into a bottom-up causal framework for UA. In this bottom-up framework, basic biophysical (e.g., land availability and social (e.g., leadership ecosystem structures and processes lead to human activities (e.g., learning that can foster specific human attitudes and feelings (e.g., trust. These attitudes and feelings, when aggregated (e.g., social network, generate an ecosystem value of social cohesion. These cause-effect relationships can support the development of causality pathways in social life cycle assessment (S-LCA and further our understanding of the mechanisms behind social impacts and benefits. The framework also supports UA studies by showing the sustainability of UA as an emergent food supplier in cities.

  16. Future changes in coastal upwelling ecosystems with global warming: The case of the California Current System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiu, Peng; Chai, Fei; Curchitser, Enrique N; Castruccio, Frederic S

    2018-02-12

    Coastal upwelling ecosystems are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, meaning that their response to climate change is of critical importance. Our understanding of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems is largely limited to the open ocean, mainly because coastal upwelling is poorly reproduced by current earth system models. Here, a high-resolution model is used to examine the response of nutrients and plankton dynamics to future climate change in the California Current System (CCS). The results show increased upwelling intensity associated with stronger alongshore winds in the coastal region, and enhanced upper-ocean stratification in both the CCS and open ocean. Warming of the open ocean forces isotherms downwards, where they make contact with water masses with higher nutrient concentrations, thereby enhancing the nutrient flux to the deep source waters of the CCS. Increased winds and eddy activity further facilitate upward nutrient transport to the euphotic zone. However, the plankton community exhibits a complex and nonlinear response to increased nutrient input, as the food web dynamics tend to interact differently. This analysis highlights the difficulty in understanding how the marine ecosystem responds to a future warming climate, given to range of relevant processes operating at different scales.

  17. Conditions favouring Bromus tectorum dominance of endangered sagebrush steppe ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reisner, Michael D.; Grace, James B.; Pyke, David A.; Doescher, Paul S.

    2013-01-01

    1. Ecosystem invasibility is determined by combinations of environmental variables, invader attributes, disturbance regimes, competitive abilities of resident species and evolutionary history between residents and disturbance regimes. Understanding the relative importance of each factor is critical to limiting future invasions and restoring ecosystems.

  18. An automated platform for phytoplankton ecology and aquatic ecosystem monitoring

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pomati, F.; Jokela, J.; Simona, M.; Veronesi, M.; Ibelings, B.W.

    2011-01-01

    High quality monitoring data are vital for tracking and understanding the causes of ecosystem change. We present a potentially powerful approach for phytoplankton and aquatic ecosystem monitoring, based on integration of scanning flow-cytometry for the characterization and counting of algal cells

  19. Dynamics of radioecological and genetic processes in populations of mammalian model species at contamination of ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryabokon', N.I.; Goncharova, R.I.

    2008-01-01

    A short review of data on the time course of radiobiological and genetic processes in natural populations of mammalian model species inhabiting radiocontaminated ecosystems over many generations is presented here. The described time-courses of biological end-points in these populations do not reflect the time course of the whole-body dose rates, but do the outcome of multiple processes, including the direct response to individual irradiation, the transgeneration transmission and accumulation of induced damages and the development of adaptation. (authors)

  20. Terrestrial ecosystem responses to global change: A research strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-09-01

    Uncertainty about the magnitude of global change effects on terrestrial ecosystems and consequent feedbacks to the atmosphere impedes sound policy planning at regional, national, and global scales. A strategy to reduce these uncertainties must include a substantial increase in funding for large-scale ecosystem experiments and a careful prioritization of research efforts. Prioritization criteria should be based on the magnitude of potential changes in environmental properties of concern to society, including productivity; biodiversity; the storage and cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients; and sensitivity of specific ecosystems to environmental change. A research strategy is proposed that builds on existing knowledge of ecosystem responses to global change by (1) expanding the spatial and temporal scale of experimental ecosystem manipulations to include processes known to occur at large scales and over long time periods; (2) quantifying poorly understood linkages among processes through the use of experiments that manipulate multiple interacting environmental factors over a broader range of relevant conditions than did past experiments; and (3) prioritizing ecosystems for major experimental manipulations on the basis of potential positive and negative impacts on ecosystem properties and processes of intrinsic and/or utilitarian value to humans and on feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere.

  1. Understanding Combustion Processes Through Microgravity Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronney, Paul D.

    1998-01-01

    A review of research on the effects of gravity on combustion processes is presented, with an emphasis on a discussion of the ways in which reduced-gravity experiments and modeling has led to new understanding. Comparison of time scales shows that the removal of buoyancy-induced convection leads to manifestations of other transport mechanisms, notably radiative heat transfer and diffusional processes such as Lewis number effects. Examples from premixed-gas combustion, non-premixed gas-jet flames, droplet combustion, flame spread over solid and liquid fuels, and other fields are presented. Promising directions for new research are outlined, the most important of which is suggested to be radiative reabsorption effects in weakly burning flames.

  2. Assessing Ecosystem Model Performance in Semiarid Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, A.; Dietze, M.; Scott, R. L.; Biederman, J. A.

    2017-12-01

    In ecosystem process modelling, comparing outputs to benchmark datasets observed in the field is an important way to validate models, allowing the modelling community to track model performance over time and compare models at specific sites. Multi-model comparison projects as well as models themselves have largely been focused on temperate forests and similar biomes. Semiarid regions, on the other hand, are underrepresented in land surface and ecosystem modelling efforts, and yet will be disproportionately impacted by disturbances such as climate change due to their sensitivity to changes in the water balance. Benchmarking models at semiarid sites is an important step in assessing and improving models' suitability for predicting the impact of disturbance on semiarid ecosystems. In this study, several ecosystem models were compared at a semiarid grassland in southwestern Arizona using PEcAn, or the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer, an open-source eco-informatics toolbox ideal for creating the repeatable model workflows necessary for benchmarking. Models included SIPNET, DALEC, JULES, ED2, GDAY, LPJ-GUESS, MAESPA, CLM, CABLE, and FATES. Comparison between model output and benchmarks such as net ecosystem exchange (NEE) tended to produce high root mean square error and low correlation coefficients, reflecting poor simulation of seasonality and the tendency for models to create much higher carbon sources than observed. These results indicate that ecosystem models do not currently adequately represent semiarid ecosystem processes.

  3. DOC removal paradigms in highly humic aquatic ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farjalla, Vinicius F; Amado, André M; Suhett, Albert L; Meirelles-Pereira, Frederico

    2009-07-01

    Dissolved humic substances (HS) usually comprise 50-80% of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in aquatic ecosystems. From a trophic and biogeochemical perspective, HS has been considered to be highly refractory and is supposed to accumulate in the water. The upsurge of the microbial loop paradigm and the studies on HS photo-degradation into labile DOC gave rise to the belief that microbial processing of DOC should sustain aquatic food webs in humic waters. However, this has not been extensively supported by the literature, since most HS and their photo-products are often oxidized by microbes through respiration in most nutrient-poor humic waters. Here, we review basic concepts, classical studies, and recent data on bacterial and photo-degradation of DOC, comparing the rates of these processes in highly humic ecosystems and other aquatic ecosystems. We based our review on classical and recent findings from the fields of biogeochemistry and microbial ecology, highlighting some odd results from highly humic Brazilian tropical lagoons, which can reach up to 160 mg C L(-1). Highly humic tropical lagoons showed proportionally lower bacterial production rates and higher bacterial respiration rates (i.e., lower bacterial growth efficiency) than other lakes. Zooplankton showed similar delta(13)C to microalgae but not to humic DOC in these highly humic lagoons. Thus, the data reviewed here do not support the microbial loop as an efficient matter transfer pathway in highly humic ecosystems, where it is supposed to play its major role. In addition, we found that some tropical humic ecosystems presented the highest potential DOC photo-chemical mineralization (PM) rates reported in the literature, exceeding up to threefold the rates reported for temperate humic ecosystems. We propose that these atypically high PM rates are the result of a joint effect of the seasonal dynamics of allochthonous humic DOC input to these ecosystems and the high sunlight incidence throughout the year

  4. Parallel ecological networks in ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olff, Han; Alonso, David; Berg, Matty P.; Eriksson, B. Klemens; Loreau, Michel; Piersma, Theunis; Rooney, Neil

    2009-01-01

    In ecosystems, species interact with other species directly and through abiotic factors in multiple ways, often forming complex networks of various types of ecological interaction. Out of this suite of interactions, predator–prey interactions have received most attention. The resulting food webs, however, will always operate simultaneously with networks based on other types of ecological interaction, such as through the activities of ecosystem engineers or mutualistic interactions. Little is known about how to classify, organize and quantify these other ecological networks and their mutual interplay. The aim of this paper is to provide new and testable ideas on how to understand and model ecosystems in which many different types of ecological interaction operate simultaneously. We approach this problem by first identifying six main types of interaction that operate within ecosystems, of which food web interactions are one. Then, we propose that food webs are structured among two main axes of organization: a vertical (classic) axis representing trophic position and a new horizontal ‘ecological stoichiometry’ axis representing decreasing palatability of plant parts and detritus for herbivores and detrivores and slower turnover times. The usefulness of these new ideas is then explored with three very different ecosystems as test cases: temperate intertidal mudflats; temperate short grass prairie; and tropical savannah. PMID:19451126

  5. Multivariate Spatio-Temporal Clustering: A Framework for Integrating Disparate Data to Understand Network Representativeness and Scaling Up Sparse Ecosystem Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, F. M.; Kumar, J.; Maddalena, D. M.; Langford, Z.; Hargrove, W. W.

    2014-12-01

    Disparate in situ and remote sensing time series data are being collected to understand the structure and function of ecosystems and how they may be affected by climate change. However, resource and logistical constraints limit the frequency and extent of observations, particularly in the harsh environments of the arctic and the tropics, necessitating the development of a systematic sampling strategy to maximize coverage and objectively represent variability at desired scales. These regions host large areas of potentially vulnerable ecosystems that are poorly represented in Earth system models (ESMs), motivating two new field campaigns, called Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) for the Arctic and Tropics, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Multivariate Spatio-Temporal Clustering (MSTC) provides a quantitative methodology for stratifying sampling domains, informing site selection, and determining the representativeness of measurement sites and networks. We applied MSTC to down-scaled general circulation model results and data for the State of Alaska at a 4 km2 resolution to define maps of ecoregions for the present (2000-2009) and future (2090-2099), showing how combinations of 37 bioclimatic characteristics are distributed and how they may shift in the future. Optimal representative sampling locations were identified on present and future ecoregion maps, and representativeness maps for candidate sampling locations were produced. We also applied MSTC to remotely sensed LiDAR measurements and multi-spectral imagery from the WorldView-2 satellite at a resolution of about 5 m2 within the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) in Alaska. At this resolution, polygonal ground features—such as centers, edges, rims, and troughs—can be distinguished. Using these remote sensing data, we up-scaled vegetation distribution data collected on these polygonal ground features to a large area of the BEO to provide distributions of plant functional types that can

  6. Estimating California ecosystem carbon change using process model and land cover disturbance data: 1951-2000

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jinxun; Vogelmann, James E.; Zhu, Zhiliang; Key, Carl H.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Price, D.T.; Chen, Jing M.; Cochrane, Mark A.; Eidenshink, Jeffery C.; Howard, Stephen M.; Bliss, Norman B.; Jiang, Hong

    2011-01-01

    Land use change, natural disturbance, and climate change directly alter ecosystem productivity and carbon stock level. The estimation of ecosystem carbon dynamics depends on the quality of land cover change data and the effectiveness of the ecosystem models that represent the vegetation growth processes and disturbance effects. We used the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) and a set of 30- to 60-m resolution fire and land cover change data to examine the carbon changes of California's forests, shrublands, and grasslands. Simulation results indicate that during 1951–2000, the net primary productivity (NPP) increased by 7%, from 72.2 to 77.1 Tg C yr−1 (1 teragram = 1012 g), mainly due to CO2 fertilization, since the climate hardly changed during this period. Similarly, heterotrophic respiration increased by 5%, from 69.4 to 73.1 Tg C yr−1, mainly due to increased forest soil carbon and temperature. Net ecosystem production (NEP) was highly variable in the 50-year period but on average equalled 3.0 Tg C yr−1 (total of 149 Tg C). As with NEP, the net biome production (NBP) was also highly variable but averaged −0.55 Tg C yr−1 (total of –27.3 Tg C) because NBP in the 1980s was very low (–5.34 Tg C yr−1). During the study period, a total of 126 Tg carbon were removed by logging and land use change, and 50 Tg carbon were directly removed by wildland fires. For carbon pools, the estimated total living upper canopy (tree) biomass decreased from 928 to 834 Tg C, and the understory (including shrub and grass) biomass increased from 59 to 63 Tg C. Soil carbon and dead biomass carbon increased from 1136 to 1197 Tg C.Our analyses suggest that both natural and human processes have significant influence on the carbon change in California. During 1951–2000, climate interannual variability was the key driving force for the large interannual changes of ecosystem carbon source and sink at the state level, while logging and fire

  7. A Demonstration Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON): Understanding Marine Life and its Role in Maintaining Ecosystem Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller-Karger, F. E.; Iken, K.; Miller, R. J.; Duffy, J. E.; Chavez, F.; Montes, E.

    2016-02-01

    The U.S. Federal government (NOAA, NASA, BOEM, and the Smithsonian Institution), academic researchers, and private partners are laying the foundation for a Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). The goals of the network are to: 1) Observe and understand life, from microbes to whales, in different coastal and continental shelf habitats; 2) Define an efficient set of observations required for implementing a useful MBON; 3) Develop technology for biodiversity assessments including emerging environmental DNA (eDNA), remote sensing, and image analysis methods to coordinate with classical sampling; 4) Integrate and synthesize information in coordination with the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), the international Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network(GEO BON), and the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) sponsored by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC); and 5) Understand the linkages between marine biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and the social-economic context of a region. Pilot projects have been implemented within three NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries (Florida Keys, Monterey Bay, and Channel Islands), the wider Santa Barbara Channel, in the Chukchi Sea, and through the Smithsonian's Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network (TMON) at several sites in the U.S. and collaborating countries. Together, these MBON sites encompass a wide range of marine environments, including deep sea, continental shelves, and coastal habitats including estuaries, wetlands, and coral reefs. The present MBON partners are open to growth of the MBON through additional collaborations. Given these initiatives, GEO BON is proposing an MBON effort that spans from pole to pole, with a pathfinder effort among countries in the Americas. By specializing in coastal ecosystems—where marine biodiversity and people are concentrated and interact most—the MBON and TMON initiatives aim to provide policymakers with the science to

  8. A framework to assess biogeochemical response to ecosystem disturbance using nutrient partitioning ratios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kranabetter, J. Marty; McLauchlan, Kendra K.; Enders, Sara K.; Fraterrigo, Jennifer M.; Higuera, Philip E.; Morris, Jesse L.; Rastetter, Edward B.; Barnes, Rebecca; Buma, Brian; Gavin, Daniel G.; Gerhart, Laci M.; Gillson, Lindsey; Hietz, Peter; Mack, Michelle C.; McNeil, Brenden; Perakis, Steven

    2016-01-01

    Disturbances affect almost all terrestrial ecosystems, but it has been difficult to identify general principles regarding these influences. To improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of disturbance on terrestrial ecosystems, we present a conceptual framework that analyzes disturbances by their biogeochemical impacts. We posit that the ratio of soil and plant nutrient stocks in mature ecosystems represents a characteristic site property. Focusing on nitrogen (N), we hypothesize that this partitioning ratio (soil N: plant N) will undergo a predictable trajectory after disturbance. We investigate the nature of this partitioning ratio with three approaches: (1) nutrient stock data from forested ecosystems in North America, (2) a process-based ecosystem model, and (3) conceptual shifts in site nutrient availability with altered disturbance frequency. Partitioning ratios could be applied to a variety of ecosystems and successional states, allowing for improved temporal scaling of disturbance events. The generally short-term empirical evidence for recovery trajectories of nutrient stocks and partitioning ratios suggests two areas for future research. First, we need to recognize and quantify how disturbance effects can be accreting or depleting, depending on whether their net effect is to increase or decrease ecosystem nutrient stocks. Second, we need to test how altered disturbance frequencies from the present state may be constructive or destructive in their effects on biogeochemical cycling and nutrient availability. Long-term studies, with repeated sampling of soils and vegetation, will be essential in further developing this framework of biogeochemical response to disturbance.

  9. The forest has a story: cultural ecosystem services in Kona, Hawai'i

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachelle K. Gould

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Understanding cultural dimensions of human/environment relationships is now widely seen as key to effective management, yet characterizing these dimensions remains a challenge. We report on an approach for considering the nonmaterial values associated with ecosystems, i.e., cultural ecosystem services. We applied the approach in Kona, Hawai'i, using 30 semistructured interviews and 205 in-person surveys, striving to balance pragmatism and depth. We found spirituality, heritage, and identity-related values to be particularly salient, with expression of some of these values varying among respondents by ethnicity and duration of residence in Hawai'i. Although people of various backgrounds reported strong spirituality and heritage-related values, Native Hawaiians rated heritage connections as deeper, and lifetime residents portrayed ecosystem-identity connections as more integral to their well-being than did people from other backgrounds. The approach also proved useful in identifying concerns not addressed in survey and interview prompts, including postcolonial issues, access to ecosystems, and relationships between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Although understanding these nonmaterial dimensions of human-ecosystem relationships can be complex, emerging techniques eliciting qualitative and quantitative data provide feasible ways of deepening that understanding.

  10. Developing improved MD codes for understanding processive cellulases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crowley, M F; Nimlos, M R; Himmel, M E; Uberbacher, E C; Iii, C L Brooks; Walker, R C

    2008-01-01

    The mechanism of action of cellulose-degrading enzymes is illuminated through a multidisciplinary collaboration that uses molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and expands the capabilities of MD codes to allow simulations of enzymes and substrates on petascale computational facilities. There is a class of glycoside hydrolase enzymes called cellulases that are thought to decrystallize and processively depolymerize cellulose using biochemical processes that are largely not understood. Understanding the mechanisms involved and improving the efficiency of this hydrolysis process through computational models and protein engineering presents a compelling grand challenge. A detailed understanding of cellulose structure, dynamics and enzyme function at the molecular level is required to direct protein engineers to the right modifications or to understand if natural thermodynamic or kinetic limits are in play. Much can be learned about processivity by conducting carefully designed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the binding and catalytic domains of cellulases with various substrate configurations, solvation models and thermodynamic protocols. Most of these numerical experiments, however, will require significant modification of existing code and algorithms in order to efficiently use current (terascale) and future (petascale) hardware to the degree of parallelism necessary to simulate a system of the size proposed here. This work will develop MD codes that can efficiently use terascale and petascale systems, not just for simple classical MD simulations, but also for more advanced methods, including umbrella sampling with complex restraints and reaction coordinates, transition path sampling, steered molecular dynamics, and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical simulations of systems the size of cellulose degrading enzymes acting on cellulose

  11. Causes and consequences of ecosystem service regionalization in a coastal suburban watershed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wollheim, Wilfred M.; Mark B. Green,; Pellerin, Brian A.; Morse, Nathaniel B.; Hopkinson, Charles S.

    2015-01-01

    and nearby urban centers. Historical reconstruction of ecosystem service activity provides a perspective that may help to better understand coupled human–natural system processes and lead to more sustainable management of coastal ecosystems.

  12. Riparian ecosystems and buffers - multiscale structure, function, and management: introduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kathleen A. Dwire; Richard R. Lowrance

    2006-01-01

    Given the importance of issues related to improved understanding and management of riparian ecosystems and buffers, the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) sponsored a Summer Specialty Conference in June 2004 at Olympic Valley, California, entitled 'Riparian Ecosystems and Buffers: Multiscale Structure, Function, and Management.' The primary objective...

  13. Species richness alone does not predict cultural ecosystem service value

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose A. Graves; Scott M. Pearson; Monica G. Turner

    2017-01-01

    Sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services are common conservation goals. However, understanding relationships between biodiversity and cultural ecosystem services (CES) and determining the best indicators to represent CES remain crucial challenges. We combined ecological and social data to compare CES value of wildflower communities based on observed...

  14. Fort Collins Science Center Ecosystem Dynamics branch--interdisciplinary research for addressing complex natural resource issues across landscapes and time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Zachary H.; Melcher, Cynthia P.; Wilson, Juliette T.

    2013-01-01

    The Ecosystem Dynamics Branch of the Fort Collins Science Center offers an interdisciplinary team of talented and creative scientists with expertise in biology, botany, ecology, geology, biogeochemistry, physical sciences, geographic information systems, and remote-sensing, for tackling complex questions about natural resources. As demand for natural resources increases, the issues facing natural resource managers, planners, policy makers, industry, and private landowners are increasing in spatial and temporal scope, often involving entire regions, multiple jurisdictions, and long timeframes. Needs for addressing these issues include (1) a better understanding of biotic and abiotic ecosystem components and their complex interactions; (2) the ability to easily monitor, assess, and visualize the spatially complex movements of animals, plants, water, and elements across highly variable landscapes; and (3) the techniques for accurately predicting both immediate and long-term responses of system components to natural and human-caused change. The overall objectives of our research are to provide the knowledge, tools, and techniques needed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, state agencies, and other stakeholders in their endeavors to meet the demand for natural resources while conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecosystem Dynamics scientists use field and laboratory research, data assimilation, and ecological modeling to understand ecosystem patterns, trends, and mechanistic processes. This information is used to predict the outcomes of changes imposed on species, habitats, landscapes, and climate across spatiotemporal scales. The products we develop include conceptual models to illustrate system structure and processes; regional baseline and integrated assessments; predictive spatial and mathematical models; literature syntheses; and frameworks or protocols for improved ecosystem monitoring, adaptive management, and program evaluation. The descriptions

  15. Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

    OpenAIRE

    Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K.; Fenichel, Eli P.

    2017-01-01

    Ecosystems store vast quantities of wealth, but difficulties measuring wealth held in ecosystems prevent its inclusion in accounting systems. Ecosystem-based management endeavors to manage ecosystems holistically. However, ecosystem-based management lacks headline indicators to evaluate performance. We unify the inclusive wealth and ecosystem-based management paradigms, allowing apples-to-apples comparisons between the wealth of the ecosystem and other forms of wealth, while providing a headl...

  16. Inter-annual variabilities in biogeophysical feedback of terrestrial ecosystem to atmosphere using a land surface model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, C.; Hong, S.; Jeong, H. M.; Jeon, J.

    2017-12-01

    Biogeophysical processes of terrestrial ecosystem such as water vapor and energy flux are the key features to understand ecological feedback to atmospheric processes and thus role of terrestrial ecosystem in climate system. For example, it has been recently known that the ecological feedback through water vapor and energy flux results in regulating regional weathers and climates which is one of the fundamental functions of terrestrial ecosystem. In regional scale, water vapor flux has been known to give negative feedback to atmospheric warming, while energy flux from the surface has been known to positive feedback. In this study, we explored the inter-annual variabilities in these two biogeophysical features to see how the climate regulating functions of terrestrial ecosystem have been changed with climate change. We selected a land surface model involving vegetation dynamics that is forced by atmospheric data from NASA including precipitation, temperature, wind, surface pressure, humidity, and incoming radiations. From the land surface model, we simulated 60-year water vapor and energy fluxes from 1961 to 2010, and calculates feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystem as in radiation amount into atmosphere. Then, we analyzed the inter-annual variabilities in the feedbacks. The results showed that some mid-latitude areas showing very high variabilities in precipitation showed higher positive feedback and/or lower negative feedback. These results suggest deterioration of the biogeophyisical factor of climate regulating function over those regions.

  17. Atmo-metabolomics: a new measurement approach for investigating aerosol composition and ecosystem functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivas-Ubach, A.; Liu, Y.; Sardans, J.; Tfaily, M. M.; Kim, Y. M.; Bourrianne, E.; Paša-Tolić, L.; Penuelas, J.; Guenther, A. B.

    2016-12-01

    Aerosols play crucial roles in the processes controlling the composition of the atmosphere and the functioning of ecosystems. Gaining a deeper understanding of the chemical composition of aerosols is one of the major challenges for atmospheric and climate scientists and is beginning to be recognized as important for ecological research. Better comprehension of aerosol chemistry can potentially provide valuable information on atmospheric processes such as oxidation of organics and the production of cloud condensation nuclei as well as provide an approximation of the general status of an ecosystem through the measurement of certain stress biomarkers. In this study, we describe an efficient aerosol sampling method, the metabolite extraction and the analytical procedures for the chemical characterization of aerosols, namely, the atmo-metabolome. We used mass spectrometry (MS) coupled to liquid chromatography (LC-MS), gas chromatography (GC-MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR-MS) to characterize the atmo-metabolome of two marked seasons; spring and summer. Our sampling and extraction methods demonstrated to be suitable for aerosol chemical characterization with any of the analytical platforms used in this study. The atmo-metabolome between spring and summer showed overall statistically differences. We identified several metabolites that can be attributed to pollen and other plant-related aerosols. Spring aerosols exhibit higher concentrations of metabolites linked to higher plant activity while summer samples had higher concentrations of metabolites that may reflect certain oxidative stresses in primary producers. Moreover, the elemental composition of aerosols showed clear different between seasons. Summer aerosols were generally higher in molecular weight and with higher O/C ratios, indicating higher oxidation levels and condensation of compounds relative to spring. Our method represents an advanced approach for characterizing the composition of

  18. Deer Island Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-07-01

    across the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) requires that a broad base of EWN understanding and support be built . The Deer Island Aquatic...USACE) requires that a broad base of EWN understanding and support be built . The Deer Island Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project (Deer Island AERP...Mississippi Wetlands Restoration Projects). The project received additional funding through several public laws in response to hurricane damages

  19. Social-Ecological Transformation for Ecosystem Management: the Development of Adaptive Co-management of a Wetland Landscape in Southern Sweden

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Per Olsson

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available We analyze the emergence of an adaptive co-management system for wetland landscape governance in southern Sweden, a process where unconnected management by several actors in the landscape was mobilized, renewed, and reconfigured into ecosystem management within about a decade. Our analysis highlights the social mechanisms behind the transformation toward ecosystem management. The self-organizing process was triggered by perceived threats among members of various local stewardship associations and local government to the area's cultural and ecological values. These threats challenged the development of ecosystem services in the area. We show how one individual, a key leader, played an instrumental role in directing change and transforming governance. The transformation involved three phases: 1 preparing the system for change, 2 seizing a window of opportunity, and 3 building social-ecological resilience of the new desired state. This local policy entrepreneur initiated trust-building dialogue, mobilized social networks with actors across scales, and started processes for coordinating people, information flows and ongoing activities, and for compiling and generating knowledge, understanding, and management practices of ecosystem dynamics. Understanding, collaborative learning, and creating public awareness were part of the process. A comprehensive framework was developed with a shared vision and goals that presented conservation as development, turned problems into possibilities, and contributed to a shift in perception among key actors regarding the values of the wetland landscape. A window of opportunity at the political level opened, which made it possible to transform the governance system toward a trajectory of ecosystem management. The transformation involved establishing a new municipal organization, the Ecomuseum Kristianstads Vattenrike (EKV. This flexible organization serves as a bridge between local actors and governmental bodies and is

  20. The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert K. Swihart; Michael R. Saunders; Rebecca A. Kalb; G. Scott Haulton; Charles H., eds. Michler

    2013-01-01

    Conditions in forested ecosystems of southern Indiana are described before initiation of silvicultural treatments for the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE). The HEE is a 100-year study begun in 2006 in Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests to improve the sustainability of forest resources and quality of life of Indiana residents by understanding ecosystem and...

  1. Ecosystem stability in space: α, β and γ variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shaopeng; Loreau, Michel

    2014-08-01

    The past two decades have seen great progress in understanding the mechanisms of ecosystem stability in local ecological systems. There is, however, an urgent need to extend existing knowledge to larger spatial scales to match the scale of management and conservation. Here, we develop a general theoretical framework to study the stability and variability of ecosystems at multiple scales. Analogously to the partitioning of biodiversity, we propose the concepts of alpha, beta and gamma variability. Gamma variability at regional (metacommunity) scale can be partitioned into local alpha variability and spatial beta variability, either multiplicatively or additively. On average, variability decreases from local to regional scales, which creates a negative variability-area relationship. Our partitioning framework suggests that mechanisms of regional ecosystem stability can be understood by investigating the influence of ecological factors on alpha and beta variability. Diversity can provide insurance effects at the various levels of variability, thus generating alpha, beta and gamma diversity-stability relationships. As a consequence, the loss of biodiversity and habitat impairs ecosystem stability at the regional scale. Overall, our framework enables a synthetic understanding of ecosystem stability at multiple scales and has practical implications for landscape management. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  2. Fire management in some California ecosystems: a cautionary note

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmut S. Walter; Teresa Brennan; Christian Albrecht

    2005-01-01

    Fire has been recognized as a natural and important physical factor in many ecoregions of North America. We wish to point out that our understanding of the biocomplexity of our natural ecosystems is far from complete; in particular, the role of fire in vegetation succession and ecosystem health deserves more scrutiny where biodiversity conservation is a primary or...

  3. Ecosystem Services in the Great Lakes – Results of a Summit

    Science.gov (United States)

    A comprehensive inventory of ecosystem services across the entire Great Lakes basin is currently lacking and is needed to make informed management decisions. A greater appreciation and understanding of ecosystem services, including both use and non-use services, may have avoided ...

  4. Reconciling top-down and bottom-up estimates of CO2 fluxes to understand increased seasonal exchange in Northern ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastos, A.; Ciais, P.; Zhu, D.; Maignan, F.; Wang, X.; Chevallier, F.; Ballantyne, A.

    2017-12-01

    Continuous atmospheric CO2 monitoring data indicate enhanced seasonal exchange in the high-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (above 40oN), mainly attributed to terrestrial ecosystems. Whether this enhancement is mostly explained by increased vegetation growth due to CO2 fertilization and warming, or by changes in land-use and land-management practices is still an unsettled question (e.g. Forkel et al. (2016) and Zeng et al. (2013)). Previous studies have shown that models present variable performance in capturing trends in CO2 amplitude at CO2 monitoring sites, and that Earth System Models present large spread in their estimates of such trends. Here we integrate data of atmospheric CO2 exchange in terrestrial ecosystems by a set of atmospheric CO2 inversions and a range of land-surface models to evaluate the ability of models to reproduce changes in CO2 seasonal exchange within the observation uncertainty. We then analyze the factors that explain the model spread to understand if the trend in seasonal CO2 amplitude may indeed be a useful metric to constrain future changes in terrestrial photosynthesis (Wenzel et al., 2016). We then compare model simulations with satellite and other observation-based datasets of vegetation productivity, biomass stocks and land-cover change to test the contribution of natural (CO2 fertilization, climate) and human (land-use change) factors to the increasing trend in seasonal CO2 amplitude. Forkel, Matthias, et al. "Enhanced seasonal CO2 exchange caused by amplified plant productivity in northern ecosystems." Science 351.6274 (2016): 696-699. Wenzel, Sabrina, et al. "Projected land photosynthesis constrained by changes in the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2." Nature 538, no. 7626 (2016): 499-501.Zeng, Ning, et al. "Agricultural Green Revolution as a driver of increasing atmospheric CO2 seasonal amplitude." Nature 515.7527 (2014): 394.

  5. Disentangling drought-induced variation in ecosystem and soil respiration using stable carbon isotopes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unger, Stephan; Máguas, Cristina; Pereira, João S; Aires, Luis M; David, Teresa S; Werner, Christiane

    2010-08-01

    Combining C flux measurements with information on their isotopic composition can yield a process-based understanding of ecosystem C dynamics. We studied the variations in both respiratory fluxes and their stable C isotopic compositions (delta(13)C) for all major components (trees, understory, roots and soil microorganisms) in a Mediterranean oak savannah during a period with increasing drought. We found large drought-induced and diurnal dynamics in isotopic compositions of soil, root and foliage respiration (delta(13)C(res)). Soil respiration was the largest contributor to ecosystem respiration (R (eco)), exhibiting a depleted isotopic signature and no marked variations with increasing drought, similar to ecosystem respired delta(13)CO(2), providing evidence for a stable C-source and minor influence of recent photosynthate from plants. Short-term and diurnal variations in delta(13)C(res) of foliage and roots (up to 8 and 4 per thousand, respectively) were in agreement with: (1) recent hypotheses on post-photosynthetic fractionation processes, (2) substrate changes with decreasing assimilation rates in combination with increased respiratory demand, and (3) decreased phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity in drying roots, while altered photosynthetic discrimination was not responsible for the observed changes in delta(13)C(res). We applied a flux-based and an isotopic flux-based mass balance, yielding good agreement at the soil scale, while the isotopic mass balance at the ecosystem scale was not conserved. This was mainly caused by uncertainties in Keeling plot intercepts at the ecosystem scale due to small CO(2) gradients and large differences in delta(13)C(res) of the different component fluxes. Overall, stable isotopes provided valuable new insights into the drought-related variations of ecosystem C dynamics, encouraging future studies but also highlighting the need of improved methodology to disentangle short-term dynamics of isotopic composition of R (eco).

  6. Linking microbial and ecosystem ecology using ecological stoichiometry: a synthesis of conceptual and empirical approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, E.K.; Maixner, F.; Franklin, O.; Daims, H.; Richter, A.; Battin, T.

    2011-01-01

    Currently, one of the biggest challenges in microbial and ecosystem ecology is to develop conceptual models that organize the growing body of information on environmental microbiology into a clear mechanistic framework with a direct link to ecosystem processes. Doing so will enable development of testable hypotheses to better direct future research and increase understanding of key constraints on biogeochemical networks. Although the understanding of phenotypic and genotypic diversity of microorganisms in the environment is rapidly accumulating, how controls on microbial physiology ultimately affect biogeochemical fluxes remains poorly understood. We propose that insight into constraints on biogeochemical cycles can be achieved by a more rigorous evaluation of microbial community biomass composition within the context of ecological stoichiometry. Multiple recent studies have pointed to microbial biomass stoichiometry as an important determinant of when microorganisms retain or recycle mineral nutrients. We identify the relevant cellular components that most likely drive changes in microbial biomass stoichiometry by defining a conceptual model rooted in ecological stoichiometry. More importantly, we show how X-ray microanalysis (XRMA), nanoscale secondary ion mass spectroscopy (NanoSIMS), Raman microspectroscopy, and in situ hybridization techniques (for example, FISH) can be applied in concert to allow for direct empirical evaluation of the proposed conceptual framework. This approach links an important piece of the ecological literature, ecological stoichiometry, with the molecular front of the microbial revolution, in an attempt to provide new insight into how microbial physiology could constrain ecosystem processes.

  7. Payment for Ecosystem Services | Benjamin | Potchefstroom ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This address focuses on the legislative design for payment or ecosystem services (PES) since most countries do not have specific legislation that addresses the subject. Brazil is in the process of drafting national legislation on ecosystem services and there are several important issues that can be learnt from this experience.

  8. DayCent-Chem Simulations of Ecological and Biogeochemical Processes of Eight Mountain Ecosystems in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartman, Melannie D.; Baron, Jill S.; Clow, David W.; Creed, Irena F.; Driscoll, Charles T.; Ewing, Holly A.; Haines, Bruce D.; Knoepp, Jennifer; Lajtha, Kate; Ojima, Dennis S.; Parton, William J.; Renfro, Jim; Robinson, R. Bruce; Van Miegroet, Helga; Weathers, Kathleen C.; Williams, Mark W.

    2009-01-01

    deposition as a result of dry and fog inputs. The uncertainties related to weathering reactions, deposition, soil cation exchange capacity, and groundwater contributions influenced how well the simulated acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and pH estimates compared to observed values. Daily discharge was well represented by the model for most sites. The chapters of this report describe the parameterization for each site and summarize model results for ecosystem variables, stream discharge, and stream chemistry. This intersite comparison exercise provided insight about important and possibly not well understood processes.

  9. Research frontiers for improving our understanding of drought‐induced tree and forest mortality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, Henrik; Moura, Catarina; Anderegg, William R. L.; Ruehr, Nadine; Salmon, Yann; Allen, Craig D.; Arndt, Stefan K.; Breshears, David D.; Davi, Hendrik; Galbraith, David; Ruthrof, Katinka X.; Wunder, Jan; Adams, Henry D.; Bloemen, Jasper; Cailleret, Maxime; Cobb, Richard; Gessler, Arthur; Grams, Thorsten E. E.; Jansen, Steven; Kautz, Markus; Lloret, Francisco; O’Brien, Michael

    2018-01-01

    Accumulating evidence highlights increased mortality risks for trees during severe drought, particularly under warmer temperatures and increasing vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Resulting forest die‐off events have severe consequences for ecosystem services, biophysical and biogeochemical land–atmosphere processes. Despite advances in monitoring, modelling and experimental studies of the causes and consequences of tree death from individual tree to ecosystem and global scale, a general mechanistic understanding and realistic predictions of drought mortality under future climate conditions are still lacking. We update a global tree mortality map and present a roadmap to a more holistic understanding of forest mortality across scales. We highlight priority research frontiers that promote: (1) new avenues for research on key tree ecophysiological responses to drought; (2) scaling from the tree/plot level to the ecosystem and region; (3) improvements of mortality risk predictions based on both empirical and mechanistic insights; and (4) a global monitoring network of forest mortality. In light of recent and anticipated large forest die‐off events such a research agenda is timely and needed to achieve scientific understanding for realistic predictions of drought‐induced tree mortality. The implementation of a sustainable network will require support by stakeholders and political authorities at the international level.

  10. Socioecological Approaches for Combining Ecosystem-Based and Customary Management in Oceania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shankar Aswani

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper summarizes various integrated methodological approaches for studying Customary Management for the purpose of designing hybrid CM-Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM systems in Oceania. Using marine conservation in the Western Solomon Islands as an example, the paper illustrates various interdisciplinary human ecological methods that can assist in designing hybrid conservation programs. The study of human-environmental interactions from a socio-ecological perspective allows us to discern people's understanding of their immediate environment, differential forms of local resource governance and use (e.g., sea tenure and foraging strategies, and existing conflicts between various stakeholders, among other social and ecological factors. More generally, the paper shows how coupled studies of natural and social processes can foster management regimes that are more adaptive and effective and that move toward holistic, ecosystem-based marine conservation in the Pacific Island region.

  11. Ontogenetic functional diversity: size structure of a keystone predator drives functioning of a complex ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudolf, Volker H W; Rasmussen, Nick L

    2013-05-01

    A central challenge in community ecology is to understand the connection between biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. While traditional approaches have largely focused on species-level diversity, increasing evidence indicates that there exists substantial ecological diversity among individuals within species. By far, the largest source of this intraspecific diversity stems from variation among individuals in ontogenetic stage and size. Although such ontogenetic shifts are ubiquitous in natural communities, whether and how they scale up to influence the structure and functioning of complex ecosystems is largely unknown. Here we take an experimental approach to examine the consequences of ontogenetic niche shifts for the structure of communities and ecosystem processes. In particular we experimentally manipulated the stage structure in a keystone predator, larvae of the dragonfly Anax junius, in complex experimental pond communities to test whether changes in the population stage or size structure of a keystone species scale up to alter community structure and ecosystem processes, and how functional differences scale with relative differences in size among stages. We found that the functional role of A. junius was stage-specific. Altering what stages were present in a pond led to concurrent changes in community structure, primary producer biomass (periphyton and phytoplankton), and ultimately altered ecosystem processes (respiration and net primary productivity), indicating a strong, but stage-specific, trophic cascade. Interestingly, the stage-specific effects did not simply scale with size or biomass of the predator, but instead indicated clear ontogenetic niche shifts in ecological interactions. Thus, functional differences among stages within a keystone species scaled up to alter the functioning of entire ecosystems. Therefore, our results indicate that the classical approach of assuming an average functional role of a species can be misleading because

  12. Interannual variability of Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange and its component fluxes in a subalpine Mediterranean ecosystem (SE Spain)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamizo, Sonia; Serrano-Ortiz, Penélope; Sánchez-Cañete, Enrique P.; Domingo, Francisco; Arnau-Rosalén, Eva; Oyonarte, Cecilio; Pérez-Priego, Óscar; López-Ballesteros, Ana; Kowalski, Andrew S.

    2015-04-01

    Recent decades under climate change have seen increasing interest in quantifying the carbon (C) balance of different terrestrial ecosystems, and their behavior as sources or sinks of C. Both CO2 exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere and identification of its drivers are key to understanding land-surface feedbacks to climate change. The eddy covariance (EC) technique allows measurements of net ecosystem C exchange (NEE) from short to long time scales. In addition, flux partitioning models can extract the components of net CO2 fluxes, including both biological processes of photosynthesis or gross primary production (GPP) and respiration (Reco), and also abiotic drivers like subsoil CO2 ventilation (VE), which is of particular relevance in semiarid environments. The importance of abiotic processes together with the strong interannual variability of precipitation, which strongly affects CO2 fluxes, complicates the accurate characterization of the C balance in semiarid landscapes. In this study, we examine 10 years of interannual variability of NEE and its components at a subalpine karstic plateau, El Llano de los Juanes, in the Sierra de Gádor (Almería, SE Spain). Results show annual NEE ranging from 55 g C m-2 (net emission) to -54 g C m-2 (net uptake). Among C flux components, GPP was the greatest contributing 42-57% of summed component magnitudes, while contributions by Reco and VE ranged from 27 to 46% and from 3 to 18%, respectively. Annual precipitation during the studied period exhibited high interannual variability, ranging from 210 mm to 1374 mm. Annual precipitation explained 50% of the variance in Reco, 59% of that in GPP, and 56% for VE. While Reco and GPP were positively correlated with annual precipitation (correlation coefficient, R, of 0.71 and 0.77, respectively), VE showed negative correlation with this driver (R = -0.74). During the driest year (2004-2005), annual GPP and Reco reached their lowest values, while contribution of

  13. National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS): Framework Design and Policy Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Understanding the ways in which ecosystems provide flows of “services” to humans is critical for decision making in many contexts; however, relationships between natural and human systems are complex. A well-defined framework for classifying ecosystem services is essential for sy...

  14. Research Award: Ecosystems and Human Health (Ecohealth ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Jean-Claude Dumais

    2012-09-12

    Sep 12, 2012 ... Research Award: Ecosystems and Human Health (Ecohealth) ... Your proposal should demonstrate an understanding of the ... demonstrated ability to work independently, and strong written and oral communications skills are ...

  15. Implications of agricultural transitions and urbanization for ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cumming, Graeme S; Buerkert, Andreas; Hoffmann, Ellen M; Schlecht, Eva; von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan; Tscharntke, Teja

    2014-11-06

    Historically, farmers and hunter-gatherers relied directly on ecosystem services, which they both exploited and enjoyed. Urban populations still rely on ecosystems, but prioritize non-ecosystem services (socioeconomic). Population growth and densification increase the scale and change the nature of both ecosystem- and non-ecosystem-service supply and demand, weakening direct feedbacks between ecosystems and societies and potentially pushing social-ecological systems into traps that can lead to collapse. The interacting and mutually reinforcing processes of technological change, population growth and urbanization contribute to over-exploitation of ecosystems through complex feedbacks that have important implications for sustainable resource use.

  16. Stability measures in arid ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nosshi, M. I.; Brunsell, N. A.; Koerner, S.

    2015-12-01

    Stability, the capacity of ecosystems to persist in the face of change, has proven its relevance as a fundamental component of ecological theory. Here, we would like to explore meaningful and quantifiable metrics to define stability, with a focus on highly variable arid and semi-arid savanna ecosystems. Recognizing the importance of a characteristic timescale to any definition of stability, our metrics will be focused scales from annual to multi-annual, capturing different aspects of stability. Our three measures of stability, in increasing order of temporal scale, are: (1) Ecosystem resistance, quantified as the degree to which the system maintains its mean state in response to a perturbation (drought), based on inter-annual variability in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). (2) An optimization approach, relevant to arid systems with pulse dynamics, that models vegetation structure and function based on a trade off between the ability to respond to resource availability and avoid stress. (3) Community resilience, measured as species turnover rate (β diversity). Understanding the nature of stability in structurally-diverse arid ecosystems, which are highly variable, yields theoretical insight which has practical implications.

  17. Terrestrial ecosystem process model Biome-BGCMuSo v4.0: summary of improvements and new modeling possibilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidy, Dóra; Barcza, Zoltán; Marjanović, Hrvoje; Zorana Ostrogović Sever, Maša; Dobor, Laura; Gelybó, Györgyi; Fodor, Nándor; Pintér, Krisztina; Churkina, Galina; Running, Steven; Thornton, Peter; Bellocchi, Gianni; Haszpra, László; Horváth, Ferenc; Suyker, Andrew; Nagy, Zoltán

    2016-12-01

    The process-based biogeochemical model Biome-BGC was enhanced to improve its ability to simulate carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles of various terrestrial ecosystems under contrasting management activities. Biome-BGC version 4.1.1 was used as a base model. Improvements included addition of new modules such as the multilayer soil module, implementation of processes related to soil moisture and nitrogen balance, soil-moisture-related plant senescence, and phenological development. Vegetation management modules with annually varying options were also implemented to simulate management practices of grasslands (mowing, grazing), croplands (ploughing, fertilizer application, planting, harvesting), and forests (thinning). New carbon and nitrogen pools have been defined to simulate yield and soft stem development of herbaceous ecosystems. The model version containing all developments is referred to as Biome-BGCMuSo (Biome-BGC with multilayer soil module; in this paper, Biome-BGCMuSo v4.0 is documented). Case studies on a managed forest, cropland, and grassland are presented to demonstrate the effect of model developments on the simulation of plant growth as well as on carbon and water balance.

  18. Chemistry teachers’ understanding of science process skills in relation of science process skills assessment in chemistry learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hikmah, N.; Yamtinah, S.; Ashadi; Indriyanti, N. Y.

    2018-05-01

    A Science process skill (SPS) is a fundamental scientific method to achieve good knowledge. SPS can be categorized into two levels: basic and integrated. Learning SPS helps children to grow as individuals who can access knowledge and know how to acquire it. The primary outcomes of the scientific process in learning are the application of scientific processes, scientific reasoning, accurate knowledge, problem-solving, and understanding of the relationship between science, technology, society, and everyday life’s events. Teachers’ understanding of SPS is central to the application of SPS in a learning process. Following this point, this study aims to investigate the high school chemistry teachers’ understanding of SPS pertains to their assessment of SPS in chemistry learning. The understanding of SPS is measured from the conceptual and operational aspects of SPS. This research uses qualitative analysis method, and the sample consists of eight chemistry teachers selected by random sampling. A semi-structured interview procedure is used to collect the data. The result of the analysis shows that teachers’ conceptual and operational understanding of SPS is weak. It affects the accuracy and appropriateness of the teacher’s selection of SPS assessment in chemistry learning.

  19. Decadal-Scale Reduction in Forest Net Ecosystem Production Following Insect Defoliation Contrasts with Short-Term Impacts of Prescribed Fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenneth L. Clark; Heidi J. Renninger; Nicholas Skowronski; Michael Gallagher; Karina V.R.  Schäfer

    2018-01-01

    Understanding processes underlying forest carbon dynamics is essential for accurately predicting the outcomes of non-stand-replacing disturbance in intermediate-age forests. We quantified net ecosystem production (NEP), aboveground net primary production (ANPP), and the dynamics of major carbon (C) pools before and during the decade following invasive insect...

  20. Methodology to explore emergent behaviours of the interactions between water resources and ecosystem under a pluralistic approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Santos, Glenda; Madruga de Brito, Mariana; Höllermann, Britta; Taft, Linda; Almoradie, Adrian; Evers, Mariele

    2018-06-01

    Understanding the interactions between water resources and its social dimensions is crucial for an effective and sustainable water management. The identification of sensitive control variables and feedback loops of a specific human-hydro-scape can enhance the knowledge about the potential factors and/or agents leading to the current water resources and ecosystems situation, which in turn supports the decision-making process of desirable futures. Our study presents the utility of a system dynamics modeling approach for water management and decision-making for the case of a forest ecosystem under risk of wildfires. We use the pluralistic water research concept to explore different scenarios and simulate the emergent behaviour of water interception and net precipitation after a wildfire in a forest ecosystem. Through a case study, we illustrate the applicability of this new methodology.

  1. Tundra biome research in Alaska: the structure and function of cold-dominated ecosystems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, J.; West, G.C.

    1970-11-01

    The objective of the Tundra Biome Program is to acquire a basic understanding of tundra, both alpine and arctic, and taiga. Collectively these are referred to as the cold-dominated ecosystems. The program's broad objectives are threefold: To develop a predictive understanding of how the wet arctic tundra ecosystem operates, particularly as exemplified in the Barrow, Alaska, area; to obtain the necessary data base from the variety of cold-dominated ecosystem types represented in the United States, so that their behavior can be modeled and simulated, and the results compared with similar studies underway in other circumpolar countries; to bring basic environmental knowledge to bear on problems of degradation, maintenance, and restoration of the temperature-sensitive and cold-dominated tundra/taiga ecosystems. (GRA)

  2. Forest ecosystems: Vegetation, disturbance, and economics: Chapter 5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Littell, Jeremy S.; Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Shafer, Sarah L.; Capalbo, Susan M.; Houston, Laurie L.; Glick, Patty

    2013-01-01

    Forests cover about 47% of the Northwest (NW–Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) (Smith et al. 2009, fig. 5.1, table 5.1). The impacts of current and future climate change on NW forest ecosystems are a product of the sensitivities of ecosystem processes to climate and the degree to which humans depend on and interact with those systems. Forest ecosystem structure and function, particularly in relatively unmanaged forests where timber harvest and other land use have smaller effects, is sensitive to climate change because climate has a strong influence on ecosystem processes. Climate can affect forest structure directly through its control of plan physiology and life history (establishment, individual growth, productivity, and morality) or indirectly through its control of disturbance (fire, insects, disease). As climate changes, many forest processes will be affected, altering ecosystem services such as timber production and recreation. These changes have socioeconomic implications (e.g. for timber economies) and will require changes to current management of forests. Climate and management will interact to determine the forests of the future, and the scientific basis for adaptation to climate change in forests thus depends significantly on how forests will be affected.

  3. Responses in Arctic marine carbon cycle processes: conceptual scenarios and implications for ecosystem function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helen S. Findlay

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The Arctic Ocean is one of the fastest changing oceans, plays an important role in global carbon cycling and yet is a particularly challenging ocean to study. Hence, observations tend to be relatively sparse in both space and time. How the Arctic functions, geophysically, but also ecologically, can have significant consequences for the internal cycling of carbon, and subsequently influence carbon export, atmospheric CO2 uptake and food chain productivity. Here we assess the major carbon pools and associated processes, specifically summarizing the current knowledge of each of these processes in terms of data availability and ranges of rates and values for four geophysical Arctic Ocean domains originally described by Carmack & Wassmann (2006: inflow shelves, which are Pacific-influenced and Atlantic-influenced; interior, river-influenced shelves; and central basins. We attempt to bring together knowledge of the carbon cycle with the ecosystem within each of these different geophysical settings, in order to provide specialist information in a holistic context. We assess the current state of models and how they can be improved and/or used to provide assessments of the current and future functioning when observational data are limited or sparse. In doing so, we highlight potential links in the physical oceanographic regime, primary production and the flow of carbon within the ecosystem that will change in the future. Finally, we are able to highlight priority areas for research, taking a holistic pan-Arctic approach.

  4. Humans and ecosystems over the coming millennia: overview of a biosphere assessment of radioactive waste disposal in Sweden.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kautsky, Ulrik; Lindborg, Tobias; Valentin, Jack

    2013-05-01

    This is an overview of the strategy used to describe the effects of a potential release from a radioactive waste repository on human exposure and future environments. It introduces a special issue of AMBIO, in which 13 articles show ways of understanding and characterizing the future. The study relies mainly on research performed in the context of a recent safety report concerning a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (the so-called SR-Site project). The development of a good understanding of on-site processes and acquisition of site-specific data facilitated the development of new approaches for assessment of surface ecosystems. A systematic and scientifically coherent methodology utilizes the understanding of the current spatial and temporal dynamics as an analog for future conditions. We conclude that future ecosystem can be inferred from a few variables and that this multidisciplinary approach is relevant in a much wider context than radioactive waste.

  5. Creating Robust STEM Research Ecosystems in Schools: Joining the Dots for Young Researchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritchard, M.; Ibarra, D. L.

    2017-12-01

    Developing an intelligent curiosity about the world in school-aged learners is one of the key purposes of education. Nurturing this intelligent curiosity in a systematic and integrated manner is essential for rigorous, scientific literacy, which in turn inspires advanced research and innovation in post-school life. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has been widely adopted as the conceptual framework to achieve this goal. For young learners, their experienced world is largely confined to the spaces within the boundaries of educational institutions. This type of environment might be perceived as sterile or even hostile to genuine research, as institutional endeavor is largely shaped by examination syllabi. This can be changed by viewing the school as a living laboratory of processes and products, all of which offer enormous potential for meaningful and valuable student-led STEM research. Creating research-focused ecosystems within schools, however, requires considerable effort to create a learning culture that defragments knowledge systems and connects isolated pools of inquiry. The existing parameters and processes of school ecosystems, such as energy generation, consumption, waste creation and disposal offer opportunities for school students to utilize STEM-related skills observe and measure their own ecological footprint, undertake research into these living processes in an integrated manner, and develop solutions to create closed loops of optimally managed and measured consumption with the institution. For example, connecting a deep understanding of the principles of renewable energy generation with close, real-time monitoring of classroom energy usage creates the opportunity to develop a higher level of user awareness and more optimized consumption habits. Food waste, when composted and recycled on-site, similarly offers the potential to connect the sociological issue of excess consumption with a scientific understanding of

  6. A protocol for eliciting nonmaterial values through a cultural ecosystem services frame.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gould, Rachelle K; Klain, Sarah C; Ardoin, Nicole M; Satterfield, Terre; Woodside, Ulalia; Hannahs, Neil; Daily, Gretchen C; Chan, Kai M

    2015-04-01

    Stakeholders' nonmaterial desires, needs, and values often critically influence the success of conservation projects. These considerations are challenging to articulate and characterize, resulting in their limited uptake in management and policy. We devised an interview protocol designed to enhance understanding of cultural ecosystem services (CES). The protocol begins with discussion of ecosystem-related activities (e.g., recreation, hunting) and management and then addresses CES, prompting for values encompassing concepts identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and explored in other CES research. We piloted the protocol in Hawaii and British Columbia. In each location, we interviewed 30 individuals from diverse backgrounds. We analyzed results from the 2 locations to determine the effectiveness of the interview protocol in elucidating nonmaterial values. The qualitative and spatial components of the protocol helped characterize cultural, social, and ethical values associated with ecosystems in multiple ways. Maps and situational, or vignette-like, questions helped respondents articulate difficult-to-discuss values. Open-ended prompts allowed respondents to express a diversity of ecosystem-related values and proved sufficiently flexible for interviewees to communicate values for which the protocol did not explicitly probe. Finally, the results suggest that certain values, those mentioned frequently throughout the interview, are particularly salient for particular populations. The protocol can provide efficient, contextual, and place-based data on the importance of particular ecosystem attributes for human well-being. Qualitative data are complementary to quantitative and spatial assessments in the comprehensive representation of people's values pertaining to ecosystems, and this protocol may assist in incorporating values frequently overlooked in decision making processes. © 2014 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals

  7. How natural capital delivers ecosystem services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smith, A.C.; Harrison, P.A.; Pérez Soba, M.; Archaux, F.; Blicharska, M.; Egoh, B.N.; Erős, T.; Fabrega Domenech, N.; György, I.; Haines-Young, R.; Li, S.; Lommelen, E.; Meiresonne, L.; Miguel Ayala, L.; Mononen, L.; Simpson, G.; Stange, E.; Turkelboom, F.; Uiterwijk, M.; Veerkamp, C.J.; Wyllie de Echeverria, V.

    2017-01-01

    There is no unified evidence base to help decision-makers understand how the multiple components of natural capital interact to deliver ecosystem services. We systematically reviewed 780 papers, recording how natural capital attributes (29 biotic attributes and 11 abiotic factors) affect the

  8. UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — UNDERSTANDING SEVERE WEATHER PROCESSES THROUGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RELATIONAL RANDOM FORESTS AMY MCGOVERN, TIMOTHY SUPINIE, DAVID JOHN GAGNE II, NATHANIEL TROUTMAN,...

  9. The need to disentangle key concepts from ecosystem-approach jargon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waylen, K A; Hastings, E J; Banks, E A; Holstead, K L; Irvine, R J; Blackstock, K L

    2014-10-01

    The ecosystem approach--as endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) in 2000-is a strategy for holistic, sustainable, and equitable natural resource management, to be implemented via the 12 Malawi Principles. These principles describe the need to manage nature in terms of dynamic ecosystems, while fully engaging with local peoples. It is an ambitious concept. Today, the term is common throughout the research and policy literature on environmental management. However, multiple meanings have been attached to the term, resulting in confusion. We reviewed references to the ecosystem approach from 1957 to 2012 and identified 3 primary uses: as an alternative to ecosystem management or ecosystem-based management; in reference to an integrated and equitable approach to resource management as per the CBD; and as a term signifying a focus on understanding and valuing ecosystem services. Although uses of this term and its variants may overlap in meaning, typically, they do not entirely reflect the ethos of the ecosystem approach as defined by the CBD. For example, there is presently an increasing emphasis on ecosystem services, but focusing on these alone does not promote decentralization of management or use of all forms of knowledge, both of which are integral to the CBD's concept. We highlight that the Malawi Principles are at risk of being forgotten. To better understand these principles, more effort to implement them is required. Such efforts should be evaluated, ideally with comparative approaches, before allowing the CBD's concept of holistic and socially engaged management to be abandoned or superseded. It is possible that attempts to implement all 12 principles together will face many challenges, but they may also offer a unique way to promote holistic and equitable governance of natural resources. Therefore, we believe that the CBD's concept of the ecosystem approach demands more attention. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  10. Reading New Environments: Students' Ability to Generalise Their Understanding between Different Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magntorn, Ola; Hellden, Gustav

    2007-01-01

    This paper is based on a study of how students' read nature in different ecosystems. Its focus is on ecology and the context is outdoors. This literacy has to do with an ability to recognise organisms and relate them to material cycling and energy flow in the specific habitat that is to be read. A teaching sequence was designed in order to develop…

  11. The ecosystem services valuation tool and its future developments

    OpenAIRE

    Liekens, Inge; Broekx, Steven; Smeets, Nele; Staes, Jan; Biest, Van der, Katrien; Schaafsma, Marije; Nocker, De, Leo; Meire, Patrick; Cerulus, Tanya

    2014-01-01

    Abstract: Although methodologies for classification, quantification, and valuation of ecosystem services are improving drastically, applications of the ecosystem services concept in day-to-day decision-making processes remain limited, especially at the planning level. Nevertheless, spatial planning decisions would benefit from systematic considerations of their effects on ecosystem services. Assessing the impacts of policy on a wide range of ecosystem services contributes to more cost-effecti...

  12. Developing an Analytical Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making - Proceedings of a Workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, Dianna; Arthaud, Greg; Pattison, Malka; Sayre, Roger G.; Shapiro, Carl

    2010-01-01

    The analytical framework for understanding ecosystem services in conservation, resource management, and development decisions is multidisciplinary, encompassing a combination of the natural and social sciences. This report summarizes a workshop on 'Developing an Analytical Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' which focused on the analytical process and on identifying research priorities for assessing ecosystem services, their production and use, their spatial and temporal characteristics, their relationship with natural systems, and their interdependencies. Attendees discussed research directions and solutions to key challenges in developing the analytical framework. The discussion was divided into two sessions: (1) the measurement framework: quantities and values, and (2) the spatial framework: mapping and spatial relationships. This workshop was the second of three preconference workshops associated with ACES 2008 (A Conference on Ecosystem Services): Using Science for Decision Making in Dynamic Systems. These three workshops were designed to explore the ACES 2008 theme on decision making and how the concept of ecosystem services can be more effectively incorporated into conservation, restoration, resource management, and development decisions. Preconference workshop 1, 'Developing a Vision: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' was held on April 15, 2008, in Cambridge, MA. In preconference workshop 1, participants addressed what would have to happen to make ecosystem services be used more routinely and effectively in conservation, restoration, resource management, and development decisions, and they identified some key challenges in developing the analytical framework. Preconference workshop 3, 'Developing an Institutional Framework: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,' was held on October 30, 2008, in Albuquerque, NM; participants examined the relationship between the institutional framework and

  13. [Ecosystem services supply and consumption and their relationships with human well-being].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Da-Shang; Zheng, Hua; Ouyang, Zhi-Yun

    2013-06-01

    Sustainable ecosystem services supply is the basis of regional sustainable development, and human beings can satisfy and improve their well-being through ecosystem services consumption. To understand the relationships between ecosystem services supply and consumption and human well-being is of vital importance for coordinating the relationships between the conservation of ecosystem services and the improvement of human well-being. This paper summarized the diversity, complexity, and regionality of ecosystem services supply, the diversity and indispensability of ecosystem services consumption, and the multi-dimension, regionality, and various evaluation indices of human well-being, analyzed the uncertainty and multi-scale correlations between ecosystem services supply and consumption, and elaborated the feedback and asynchronous relationships between ecosystem services and human well-being. Some further research directions for the relationships between ecosystem services supply and consumption and human well-being were recommended.

  14. Biotic Processes Regulating the Carbon Balance of Desert Ecosystems - Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nowak, Robert S [UNR; Smith, Stanley D [UNLV; Evans, Dave [WSU; Ogle, Kiona [ASU; Fenstermaker, Lynn [DRI

    2012-12-13

    Our results from the 10-year elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration study at the Nevada Desert FACE (Free-air CO{sub 2} Enrichment) Facility (NDFF) indicate that the Mojave Desert is a dynamic ecosystem with the capacity to respond quickly to environmental changes. The Mojave Desert ecosystem is accumulating carbon (C), and over the 10-year experiment, C accumulation was significantly greater under elevated [CO{sub 2}] than under ambient, despite great fluctuations in C inputs from year to year and even apparent reversals in which [CO{sub 2}] treatment had greater C accumulations.

  15. Pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchiness in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKey, Doyle; Rostain, Stéphen; Iriarte, José; Glaser, Bruno; Birk, Jago Jonathan; Holst, Irene; Renard, Delphine

    2010-04-27

    The scale and nature of pre-Columbian human impacts in Amazonia are currently hotly debated. Whereas pre-Columbian people dramatically changed the distribution and abundance of species and habitats in some parts of Amazonia, their impact in other parts is less clear. Pioneer research asked whether their effects reached even further, changing how ecosystems function, but few in-depth studies have examined mechanisms underpinning the resilience of these modifications. Combining archeology, archeobotany, paleoecology, soil science, ecology, and aerial imagery, we show that pre-Columbian farmers of the Guianas coast constructed large raised-field complexes, growing on them crops including maize, manioc, and squash. Farmers created physical and biogeochemical heterogeneity in flat, marshy environments by constructing raised fields. When these fields were later abandoned, the mosaic of well-drained islands in the flooded matrix set in motion self-organizing processes driven by ecosystem engineers (ants, termites, earthworms, and woody plants) that occur preferentially on abandoned raised fields. Today, feedbacks generated by these ecosystem engineers maintain the human-initiated concentration of resources in these structures. Engineer organisms transport materials to abandoned raised fields and modify the structure and composition of their soils, reducing erodibility. The profound alteration of ecosystem functioning in these landscapes coconstructed by humans and nature has important implications for understanding Amazonian history and biodiversity. Furthermore, these landscapes show how sustainability of food-production systems can be enhanced by engineering into them follows that maintain ecosystem services and biodiversity. Like anthropogenic dark earths in forested Amazonia, these self-organizing ecosystems illustrate the ecological complexity of the legacy of pre-Columbian land use.

  16. Seagrass sediments reveal the long-term deterioration of an estuarine ecosystem

    KAUST Repository

    Serrano, Oscar

    2016-01-28

    © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The study of a Posidonia australis sediment archive has provided a record of ecosystem dynamics and processes over the last 600 years in Oyster Harbour (SW Australia). Ecosystem shifts are a widespread phenomenon in coastal areas, and this study identifies baseline conditions and the time-course of ecological change (cycles, trends, resilience and thresholds of ecosystem change) under environmental stress in seagrass-dominated ecosystem. The shifts in the concentrations of chemical elements, carbonates, sediments <0.125 mm and stable carbon isotope signatures (δ13C) of the organic matter were detected between 1850s and 1920s, whereas the shift detected in P concentration occurred several decades later (1960s). The first degradation phase (1850s-1950s) follows the onset of European settlement in Australia and was characterized by a strong increase in sediment accumulation rates and fine-grained particles, driven primarily by enhanced run-off due to land clearance and agriculture in the catchment. About 80% of total seagrass area at Oyster Harbour was lost during the second phase of environmental degradation (1960s until present). The sharp increase in P concentration and the increasing contribution of algae and terrestrial inputs into the sedimentary organic matter pool around 1960s provides compelling evidence of the documented eutrophication of the estuary and the subsequent loss of seagrass meadows. The results presented demonstrate the power of seagrass sedimentary archives to reconstruct the trajectories of anthropogenic pressures on estuarine ecosystem and the associated regime shifts, which can be used to improve the capacity of scientists and environmental managers to understand, predict and better manage ecological change in these ecosystems.

  17. Seagrass sediments reveal the long-term deterioration of an estuarine ecosystem

    KAUST Repository

    Serrano, Oscar; Lavery, Paul; Masque, Pere; Inostroza, Karina; Bongiovanni, James; Duarte, Carlos M.

    2016-01-01

    © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The study of a Posidonia australis sediment archive has provided a record of ecosystem dynamics and processes over the last 600 years in Oyster Harbour (SW Australia). Ecosystem shifts are a widespread phenomenon in coastal areas, and this study identifies baseline conditions and the time-course of ecological change (cycles, trends, resilience and thresholds of ecosystem change) under environmental stress in seagrass-dominated ecosystem. The shifts in the concentrations of chemical elements, carbonates, sediments <0.125 mm and stable carbon isotope signatures (δ13C) of the organic matter were detected between 1850s and 1920s, whereas the shift detected in P concentration occurred several decades later (1960s). The first degradation phase (1850s-1950s) follows the onset of European settlement in Australia and was characterized by a strong increase in sediment accumulation rates and fine-grained particles, driven primarily by enhanced run-off due to land clearance and agriculture in the catchment. About 80% of total seagrass area at Oyster Harbour was lost during the second phase of environmental degradation (1960s until present). The sharp increase in P concentration and the increasing contribution of algae and terrestrial inputs into the sedimentary organic matter pool around 1960s provides compelling evidence of the documented eutrophication of the estuary and the subsequent loss of seagrass meadows. The results presented demonstrate the power of seagrass sedimentary archives to reconstruct the trajectories of anthropogenic pressures on estuarine ecosystem and the associated regime shifts, which can be used to improve the capacity of scientists and environmental managers to understand, predict and better manage ecological change in these ecosystems.

  18. Testing Paradigms of Ecosystem Change under Climate Warming in Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melbourne-Thomas, Jessica; Constable, Andrew; Wotherspoon, Simon; Raymond, Ben

    2013-01-01

    Antarctic marine ecosystems have undergone significant changes as a result of human activities in the past and are now responding in varied and often complicated ways to climate change impacts. Recent years have seen the emergence of large-scale mechanistic explanations–or “paradigms of change”–that attempt to synthesize our understanding of past and current changes. In many cases, these paradigms are based on observations that are spatially and temporally patchy. The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), one of Earth’s most rapidly changing regions, has been an area of particular research focus. A recently proposed mechanistic explanation for observed changes in the WAP region relates changes in penguin populations to variability in krill biomass and regional warming. While this scheme is attractive for its simplicity and chronology, it may not account for complex spatio-temporal processes that drive ecosystem dynamics in the region. It might also be difficult to apply to other Antarctic regions that are experiencing some, though not all, of the changes documented for the WAP. We use qualitative network models of differing levels of complexity to test paradigms of change for the WAP ecosystem. Importantly, our approach captures the emergent effects of feedback processes in complex ecological networks and provides a means to identify and incorporate uncertain linkages between network elements. Our findings highlight key areas of uncertainty in the drivers of documented trends, and suggest that a greater level of model complexity is needed in devising explanations for ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean. We suggest that our network approach to evaluating a recent and widely cited paradigm of change for the Antarctic region could be broadly applied in hypothesis testing for other regions and research fields. PMID:23405116

  19. Ecosystem impacts of exotic annual invaders in the genus Bromus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthew J. Germino; Jayne Belnap; John M. Stark; Edith B Allen; Benjamin Rau

    2016-01-01

    An understanding of the impacts of exotic plant species on ecosystems is necessary to justify and guide efforts to limit their spread, restore natives, and plan for conservation. Invasive annual grasses such as Bromus tectorum, B. rubens, B. hordeaceus, and B. diandrus (hereafter collectively referred to as Bromus) transform the structure and function of ecosystems...

  20. Continental-Scale Effects of Nutrient Pollution on Stream Ecosystem Functioning

    OpenAIRE

    Woodward , Guy; Gessner , Mark O.; Giller , Paul S.; Gulis , Vladislav; Hladyz , Sally; Lecerf , Antoine; Malmqvist , Björn; McKie , Brendan G.; Tiegs , Scott D.; Cariss , Helen; Dobson , Mike; Elosegi , Arturo; Ferreira , Veronica; Graça , Manuel A. S.; Fleituch , Tadeusz

    2012-01-01

    International audience; Excessive nutrient loading is a major threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide that leads to profound changes in aquatic biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. Systematic quantitative assessment of functional ecosystem measures for river networks is, however, lacking, especially at continental scales. Here, we narrow this gap by means of a pan-European field experiment on a fundamental ecosystem process--leaf-litter breakdown--in 100 streams across a greater than 100...

  1. New tendencies in wildland fire simulation for understanding fire phenomena: An overview of the WFDS system capabilities in Mediterranean ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pastor, E.; Tarragó, D.; Planas, E.

    2012-04-01

    Wildfire theoretical modeling endeavors predicting fire behavior characteristics, such as the rate of spread, the flames geometry and the energy released by the fire front by applying the physics and the chemistry laws that govern fire phenomena. Its ultimate aim is to help fire managers to improve fire prevention and suppression and hence reducing damage to population and protecting ecosystems. WFDS is a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a fire-driven flow. It is particularly appropriate for predicting the fire behaviour burning through the wildland-urban interface, since it is able to predict the fire behaviour in the intermix of vegetative and structural fuels that comprise the wildland urban interface. This model is not suitable for operational fire management yet due to computational costs constrains, but given the fact that it is open-source and that it has a detailed description of the fuels and of the combustion and heat transfer mechanisms it is currently a suitable system for research purposes. In this paper we present the most important characteristics of the WFDS simulation tool in terms of the models implemented, the input information required and the outputs that the simulator gives useful for understanding fire phenomena. We briefly discuss its advantages and opportunities through some simulation exercises of Mediterranean ecosystems.

  2. Disruption of the Gut Ecosystem by Antibiotics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    The intestinal microbiota is a complex ecosystem consisting of various microorganisms that expands human genetic repertoire and therefore affects human health and disease. The metabolic processes and signal transduction pathways of the host and intestinal microorganisms are intimately linked, and abnormal progression of each process leads to changes in the intestinal environment. Alterations in microbial communities lead to changes in functional structures based on the metabolites produced in the gut, and these environmental changes result in various bacterial infections and chronic enteric inflammatory diseases. Here, we illustrate how antibiotics are associated with an increased risk of antibiotic-associated diseases by driving intestinal environment changes that favor the proliferation and virulence of pathogens. Understanding the pathogenesis caused by antibiotics would be a crucial key to the treatment of antibiotic-associated diseases by mitigating changes in the intestinal environment and restoring it to its original state. PMID:29214770

  3. Bioaerosols in the Earth system: Climate, health, and ecosystem interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fröhlich-Nowoisky, Janine; Kampf, Christopher J.; Weber, Bettina; Huffman, J. Alex; Pöhlker, Christopher; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Lang-Yona, Naama; Burrows, Susannah M.; Gunthe, Sachin S.; Elbert, Wolfgang; Su, Hang; Hoor, Peter; Thines, Eckhard; Hoffmann, Thorsten; Després, Viviane R.; Pöschl, Ulrich

    2016-12-01

    Aerosols of biological origin play a vital role in the Earth system, particularly in the in-teractions between atmosphere, biosphere, climate, and public health. Airborne bacteria, fungal spores, pollen, and other bioparticles are essential for the reproduction and spread of organisms across various ecosystems, and they can cause or enhance human, animal, and plant diseases. Moreover, they can serve as nuclei for cloud droplets, ice crystals, and precipitation, thus influencing the hydrological cycle and climate. The actual formation, abundance, composition, and effects of biological aerosols and the atmospheric microbi-ome are, however, not yet well characterized and constitute a large gap in the scientific understanding of the interaction and co-evolution of life and climate in the Earth system. This review presents an overview of the state of bioaerosol research and highlights recent advances in terms of bioaerosol identification, characterization, transport, and transfor-mation processes, as well as their interactions with climate, health, and ecosystems, focus-ing on the role bioaerosols play in the Earth system.

  4. Toward understanding dynamic annealing processes in irradiated ceramics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Myers, Michael Thomas [Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

    2013-05-01

    High energy particle irradiation inevitably generates defects in solids. The ballistic formation and thermalization of the defect creation process occur rapidly, and are believed to be reasonably well understood. However, knowledge of the evolution of defects after damage cascade thermalization, referred to as dynamic annealing, is quite limited. Unraveling the mechanisms associated with dynamic annealing is crucial since such processes play an important role in the formation of stable postirradiation disorder in ion-beam-processing of semiconductors, and determines the “radiation tolerance” of many nuclear materials. The purpose of this dissertation is to further our understanding of the processes involved in dynamic annealing. In order to achieve this, two main tasks are undertaken.

  5. Biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity as key drivers of ecosystem services provided by soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, P.; Cotrufo, M. F.; Rumpel, C.; Paustian, K.; Kuikman, P. J.; Elliott, J. A.; McDowell, R.; Griffiths, R. I.; Asakawa, S.; Bustamante, M.; House, J. I.; Sobocká, J.; Harper, R.; Pan, G.; West, P. C.; Gerber, J. S.; Clark, J. M.; Adhya, T.; Scholes, R. J.; Scholes, M. C.

    2015-06-01

    Soils play a pivotal role in major global biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nutrient and water), while hosting the largest diversity of organisms on land. Because of this, soils deliver fundamental ecosystem services, and management to change a soil process in support of one ecosystem service can either provide co-benefits to other services or can result in trade-offs. In this critical review, we report the state-of-the-art understanding concerning the biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity in soil, and relate these to the provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural ecosystem services which they underpin. We then outline key knowledge gaps and research challenges, before providing recommendations for management activities to support the continued delivery of ecosystem services from soils. We conclude that although there are knowledge gaps that require further research, enough is known to start improving soils globally. The main challenge is in finding ways to share knowledge with soil managers and policy-makers, so that best-practice management can be implemented. A key element of this knowledge sharing must be in raising awareness of the multiple ecosystem services underpinned by soils, and the natural capital they provide. The International Year of Soils in 2015 presents the perfect opportunity to begin a step-change in how we harness scientific knowledge to bring about more sustainable use of soils for a secure global society.

  6. Interaction webs in arctic ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Niels M.; Hardwick, Bess; Gilg, Olivier

    2017-01-01

    How species interact modulate their dynamics, their response to environmental change, and ultimately the functioning and stability of entire communities. Work conducted at Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland, has changed our view on how networks of arctic biotic interactions are structured, how...... they vary in time, and how they are changing with current environmental change: firstly, the high arctic interaction webs are much more complex than previously envisaged, and with a structure mainly dictated by its arthropod component. Secondly, the dynamics of species within these webs reflect changes...... that the combination of long-term, ecosystem-based monitoring, and targeted research projects offers the most fruitful basis for understanding and predicting the future of arctic ecosystems....

  7. Linkages of plant stoichiometry to ecosystem production and carbon fluxes with increasing nitrogen inputs in an alpine steppe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yunfeng; Li, Fei; Zhou, Guoying; Fang, Kai; Zhang, Dianye; Li, Changbin; Yang, Guibiao; Wang, Guanqin; Wang, Jun; Yang, Yuanhe

    2017-12-01

    Unprecedented levels of nitrogen (N) have entered terrestrial ecosystems over the past century, which substantially influences the carbon (C) exchange between the atmosphere and biosphere. Temperature and moisture are generally regarded as the major controllers over the N effects on ecosystem C uptake and release. N-phosphorous (P) stoichiometry regulates the growth and metabolisms of plants and soil organisms, thereby affecting many ecosystem C processes. However, it remains unclear how the N-induced shift in the plant N:P ratio affects ecosystem production and C fluxes and its relative importance. We conducted a field manipulative experiment with eight N addition levels in a Tibetan alpine steppe and assessed the influences of N on aboveground net primary production (ANPP), gross ecosystem productivity (GEP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE); we used linear mixed-effects models to further determine the relative contributions of various factors to the N-induced changes in these parameters. Our results showed that the ANPP, GEP, ER, and NEE all exhibited nonlinear responses to increasing N additions. Further analysis demonstrated that the plant N:P ratio played a dominate role in shaping these C exchange processes. There was a positive relationship between the N-induced changes in ANPP (ΔANPP) and the plant N:P ratio (ΔN:P), whereas the ΔGEP, ΔER, and ΔNEE exhibited quadratic correlations with the ΔN:P. In contrast, soil temperature and moisture were only secondary predictors for the changes in ecosystem production and C fluxes along the N addition gradient. These findings highlight the importance of plant N:P ratio in regulating ecosystem C exchange, which is crucial for improving our understanding of C cycles under the scenarios of global N enrichment. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Understanding and Managing the Effects of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services in the Rocky Mountains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica E. Halofsky

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Public lands in the US Rocky Mountains provide critical ecosystem services, especially to rural communities that rely on these lands for fuel, food, water, and recreation. Climate change will likely affect the ability of these lands to provide ecosystem services. We describe 2 efforts to assess climate change vulnerabilities and develop adaptation options on federal lands in the Rocky Mountains. We specifically focus on aspects that affect community economic security and livelihood security, including water quality and quantity, timber, livestock grazing, and recreation. Headwaters of the Rocky Mountains serve as the primary source of water for large populations, and these headwaters are located primarily on public land. Thus, federal agencies will play a key role in helping to protect water quantity and quality by promoting watershed function and water conservation. Although increased temperatures and atmospheric concentration of CO2 have the potential to increase timber and forage production in the Rocky Mountains, those gains may be offset by wildfires, droughts, insect outbreaks, non-native species, and altered species composition. Our assessment identified ways in which federal land managers can help sustain forest and range productivity, primarily by increasing ecosystem resilience and minimizing current stressors, such as invasive species. Climate change will likely increase recreation participation. However, recreation managers will need more flexibility to adjust practices, provide recreation opportunities, and sustain economic benefits to communities. Federal agencies are now transitioning from the planning phase of climate change adaptation to implementation to ensure that ecosystem services will continue to be provided from federal lands in a changing climate.

  9. Safeguarding the provision of ecosystem services in catchment systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Everard, Mark

    2013-04-01

    A narrow technocentric focus on a few favored ecosystem services (generally provisioning services) has led to ecosystem degradation globally, including catchment systems and their capacities to support human well-being. Increasing recognition of the multiple benefits provided by ecosystems is slowly being translated into policy and some areas of practice, although there remains a significant shortfall in the incorporation of a systemic perspective into operation management and decision-making tools. Nevertheless, a range of ecosystem-based solutions to issues as diverse as flooding and green space provision in the urban environment offers hope for improving habitat and optimization of beneficial services. The value of catchment ecosystem processes and their associated services is also being increasingly recognized and internalized by the water industry, improving water quality and quantity through catchment land management rather than at greater expense in the treatment costs of contaminated water abstracted lower in catchments. Parallel recognition of the value of working with natural processes, rather than "defending" built assets when catchment hydrology is adversely affected by unsympathetic upstream development, is being progressively incorporated into flood risk management policy. This focus on wider catchment processes also yields a range of cobenefits for fishery, wildlife, amenity, flood risk, and other interests, which may be optimized if multiple stakeholders and their diverse value systems are included in decision-making processes. Ecosystem services, particularly implemented as a central element of the ecosystem approach, provide an integrated framework for building in these different perspectives and values, many of them formerly excluded, into commercial and resource management decision-making processes, thereby making tractable the integrative aspirations of sustainable development. This can help redress deeply entrenched inherited assumptions

  10. Incorporating Ecosystem Processes Controlling Carbon Balance Into Models of Coupled Human-Natural Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Currie, W.; Brown, D. G.; Brunner, A.; Fouladbash, L.; Hadzick, Z.; Hutchins, M.; Kiger, S. E.; Makino, Y.; Nassauer, J. I.; Robinson, D. T.; Riolo, R. L.; Sun, S.

    2012-12-01

    A key element in the study of coupled human-natural systems is the interactions of human populations with vegetation and soils. In human-dominated landscapes, vegetation production and change results from a combination of ecological processes and human decision-making and behavior. Vegetation is often dramatically altered, whether to produce food for humans and livestock, to harvest fiber for construction and other materials, to harvest fuel wood or feedstock for biofuels, or simply for cultural preferences as in the case of residential lawns with sparse trees in the exurban landscape. This alteration of vegetation and its management has a substantial impact on the landscape carbon balance. Models can be used to simulate scenarios in human-natural systems and to examine the integration of processes that determine future trajectories of carbon balance. However, most models of human-natural systems include little integration of the human alteration of vegetation with the ecosystem processes that regulate carbon balance. Here we illustrate a few case studies of pilot-study models that strive for this integration from our research across various types of landscapes. We focus greater detail on a fully developed research model linked to a field study of vegetation and soils in the exurban residential landscape of Southeastern Michigan, USA. The field study characterized vegetation and soil carbon storage in 5 types of ecological zones. Field-observed carbon storage in the vegetation in these zones ranged widely, from 150 g C/m2 in turfgrass zones, to 6,000 g C/m2 in zones defined as turfgrass with sparse woody vegetation, to 16,000 g C/m2 in a zone defined as dense trees and shrubs. Use of these zones facilitated the scaling of carbon pools to the landscape, where the areal mixtures of zone types had a significant impact on landscape C storage. Use of these zones also facilitated the use of the ecosystem process model Biome-BGC to simulate C trajectories and also

  11. Characterizing canopy biochemistry from imaging spectroscopy and its application to ecosystem studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokaly, R.F.; Asner, Gregory P.; Ollinger, S.V.; Martin, M.E.; Wessman, C.A.

    2009-01-01

    For two decades, remotely sensed data from imaging spectrometers have been used to estimate non-pigment biochemical constituents of vegetation, including water, nitrogen, cellulose, and lignin. This interest has been motivated by the important role that these substances play in physiological processes such as photosynthesis, their relationships with ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition and nutrient cycling, and their use in identifying key plant species and functional groups. This paper reviews three areas of research to improve the application of imaging spectrometers to quantify non-pigment biochemical constituents of plants. First, we examine recent empirical and modeling studies that have advanced our understanding of leaf and canopy reflectance spectra in relation to plant biochemistry. Next, we present recent examples of how spectroscopic remote sensing methods are applied to characterize vegetation canopies, communities and ecosystems. Third, we highlight the latest developments in using imaging spectrometer data to quantify net primary production (NPP) over large geographic areas. Finally, we discuss the major challenges in quantifying non-pigment biochemical constituents of plant canopies from remotely sensed spectra.

  12. Evaluating the Contribution of Climate Forcing and Forest Dynamics to Accelerating Carbon Sequestration by Forest Ecosystems in the Northeastern U.S.: Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Munger, J. William [Harvard University, SEAS; Foster, David R. [Harvard University, Harvard Forest; Richardson, Andrew D. [Harvard University, OEB

    2014-10-01

    This report summarizes work to improve quantitative understanding of the terrestrial ecosystem processes that control carbon sequestration in unmanaged forests It builds upon the comprehensive long-term observations of CO2 fluxes, climate and forest structure and function at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA. This record includes the longest CO2 flux time series in the world. The site is a keystone for the AmeriFlux network. Project Description The project synthesizes observations made at the Harvard Forest HFEMS and Hemlock towers, which represent the dominant mixed deciduous and coniferous forest types in the northeastern United States. The 20+ year record of carbon uptake at Harvard Forest and the associated comprehensive meteorological and biometric data, comprise one of the best data sets to challenge ecosystem models on time scales spanning hourly, daily, monthly, interannual and multi-decadal intervals, as needed to understand ecosystem change and climate feedbacks.

  13. Nutrient limitation on ecosystem productivity and processes of mature and old-growth subtropical forests in China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enqing Hou

    Full Text Available Nitrogen (N is considered the dominant limiting nutrient in temperate regions, while phosphorus (P limitation frequently occurs in tropical regions, but in subtropical regions nutrient limitation is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated N and P contents and N:P ratios of foliage, forest floors, fine roots and mineral soils, and their relationships with community biomass, litterfall C, N and P productions, forest floor turnover rate, and microbial processes in eight mature and old-growth subtropical forests (stand age >80 yr at Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, China. Average N:P ratios (mass based in foliage, litter (L layer and mixture of fermentation and humus (F/H layer, and fine roots were 28.3, 42.3, 32.0 and 32.7, respectively. These values are higher than the critical N:P ratios for P limitation proposed (16-20 for foliage, ca. 25 for forest floors. The markedly high N:P ratios were mainly attributed to the high N concentrations of these plant materials. Community biomass, litterfall C, N and P productions, forest floor turnover rate and microbial properties were more strongly related to measures of P than N and frequently negatively related to the N:P ratios, suggesting a significant role of P availability in determining ecosystem production and productivity and nutrient cycling at all the study sites except for one prescribed disturbed site where N availability may also be important. We propose that N enrichment is probably a significant driver of the potential P limitation in the study area. Low P parent material may also contribute to the potential P limitation. In general, our results provided strong evidence supporting a significant role for P availability, rather than N availability, in determining ecosystem primary productivity and ecosystem processes in subtropical forests of China.

  14. Coastal livelihood transitions under globalization with implications for trans-ecosystem interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, Daniel B; Stevens, Kara; Williams, Nicholas E; Sistla, Seeta A; Roddy, Adam B; Urquhart, Gerald R

    2017-01-01

    Anthropogenic threats to natural systems can be exacerbated due to connectivity between marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, complicating the already daunting task of governance across the land-sea interface. Globalization, including new access to markets, can change social-ecological, land-sea linkages via livelihood responses and adaptations by local people. As a first step in understanding these trans-ecosystem effects, we examined exit and entry decisions of artisanal fishers and smallholder farmers on the rapidly globalizing Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. We found that exit and entry decisions demonstrated clear temporal and spatial patterns and that these decisions differed by livelihood. In addition to household characteristics, livelihood exit and entry decisions were strongly affected by new access to regional and global markets. The natural resource implications of these livelihood decisions are potentially profound as they provide novel linkages and spatially-explicit feedbacks between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Our findings support the need for more scientific inquiry in understanding trans-ecosystem tradeoffs due to linked-livelihood transitions as well as the need for a trans-ecosystem approach to natural resource management and development policy in rapidly changing coastal regions.

  15. Coastal livelihood transitions under globalization with implications for trans-ecosystem interactions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel B Kramer

    Full Text Available Anthropogenic threats to natural systems can be exacerbated due to connectivity between marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, complicating the already daunting task of governance across the land-sea interface. Globalization, including new access to markets, can change social-ecological, land-sea linkages via livelihood responses and adaptations by local people. As a first step in understanding these trans-ecosystem effects, we examined exit and entry decisions of artisanal fishers and smallholder farmers on the rapidly globalizing Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. We found that exit and entry decisions demonstrated clear temporal and spatial patterns and that these decisions differed by livelihood. In addition to household characteristics, livelihood exit and entry decisions were strongly affected by new access to regional and global markets. The natural resource implications of these livelihood decisions are potentially profound as they provide novel linkages and spatially-explicit feedbacks between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Our findings support the need for more scientific inquiry in understanding trans-ecosystem tradeoffs due to linked-livelihood transitions as well as the need for a trans-ecosystem approach to natural resource management and development policy in rapidly changing coastal regions.

  16. Looking Past Primary Productivity: Benchmarking System Processes that Drive Ecosystem Level Responses in Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowdery, E.; Dietze, M.

    2017-12-01

    As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide levels continue to increase, it is critical that terrestrial ecosystem models can accurately predict ecological responses to the changing environment. Current predictions of net primary productivity (NPP) in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration are highly variable and contain a considerable amount of uncertainty. Benchmarking model predictions against data are necessary to assess their ability to replicate observed patterns, but also to identify and evaluate the assumptions causing inter-model differences. We have implemented a novel benchmarking workflow as part of the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) that is automated, repeatable, and generalized to incorporate different sites and ecological models. Building on the recent Free-Air CO2 Enrichment Model Data Synthesis (FACE-MDS) project, we used observational data from the FACE experiments to test this flexible, extensible benchmarking approach aimed at providing repeatable tests of model process representation that can be performed quickly and frequently. Model performance assessments are often limited to traditional residual error analysis; however, this can result in a loss of critical information. Models that fail tests of relative measures of fit may still perform well under measures of absolute fit and mathematical similarity. This implies that models that are discounted as poor predictors of ecological productivity may still be capturing important patterns. Conversely, models that have been found to be good predictors of productivity may be hiding error in their sub-process that result in the right answers for the wrong reasons. Our suite of tests have not only highlighted process based sources of uncertainty in model productivity calculations, they have also quantified the patterns and scale of this error. Combining these findings with PEcAn's model sensitivity analysis and variance decomposition strengthen our ability to identify which processes

  17. Direct and terrestrial vegetation-mediated effects of environmental change on aquatic ecosystem processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becky A. Ball; John S. Kominoski; Heather E. Adams; Stuart E. Jones; Evan S. Kane; Terrance D. Loecke; Wendy M. Mahaney; Jason P. Martina; Chelse M. Prather; Todd M.P. Robinson; Christopher T. Solomon

    2010-01-01

    Global environmental changes have direct effects on aquatic ecosystems, as well as indirect effects through alterations of adjacent terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning. For example, shifts in terrestrial vegetation communities resulting from global changes can affect the quantity and quality of water, organic matter, and nutrient inputs to aquatic...

  18. Integrating a process-based ecosystem model with Landsat imagery to assess impacts of forest disturbance on terrestrial carbon dynamics: Case studies in Alabama and Mississippi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forest ecosystems in the southern United States are dramatically altered by three major 26 disturbances: timber harvesting, hurricane, and permanent land conversion. Understanding and quantifying effects of disturbance on forest carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles is critical for sustainable forest m...

  19. Agroecology: the key role of arbuscular mycorrhizas in ecosystem services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gianinazzi, Silvio; Gollotte, Armelle; Binet, Marie-Noëlle; van Tuinen, Diederik; Redecker, Dirk; Wipf, Daniel

    2010-11-01

    The beneficial effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on plant performance and soil health are essential for the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems. Nevertheless, since the 'first green revolution', less attention has been given to beneficial soil microorganisms in general and to AM fungi in particular. Human society benefits from a multitude of resources and processes from natural and managed ecosystems, to which AM make a crucial contribution. These resources and processes, which are called ecosystem services, include products like food and processes like nutrient transfer. Many people have been under the illusion that these ecosystem services are free, invulnerable and infinitely available; taken for granted as public benefits, they lack a formal market and are traditionally absent from society's balance sheet. In 1997, a team of researchers from the USA, Argentina and the Netherlands put an average price tag of US $33 trillion a year on these fundamental ecosystem services. The present review highlights the key role that the AM symbiosis can play as an ecosystem service provider to guarantee plant productivity and quality in emerging systems of sustainable agriculture. The appropriate management of ecosystem services rendered by AM will impact on natural resource conservation and utilisation with an obvious net gain for human society.

  20. Towards a remote sensing based indicator of rangeland ecosystem resistance and resilience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Understanding ecosystem resistance and resilience to disturbance and invasive species is critical to the sustainable management of rangeland systems. In this context, resistance refers to the inherent ability of an ecosystem to resist disturbance, while resilience refers to the capacity of an ecosys...

  1. Exploring, exploiting and evolving diversity of aquatic ecosystem models: a community perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, A.B.G.; Gerla, D.J.

    2015-01-01

    Here, we present a community perspective on how to explore, exploit and evolve the diversity in aquatic ecosystem models. These models play an important role in understanding the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, filling in observation gaps and developing effective strategies for water quality

  2. Ecosystem Restoration: Fact or Fancy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    John A. Stanturf; Callie J. Schweitzer; Stephen H. Schoenholtz; James P. Barnett; Charles K. McMahon; Donald J. Tomszak

    1998-01-01

    Ecological restoration is generally accepted as the reestablishment of natural ecological processes that produce certain dynamic ecosystem properties of structure, function, and processes. But restore to what? The most frequently used conceptual model for the restoration process is the shift of conditions from some current (degraded) dynamic state to some past dynamic...

  3. Evosystem Services: Rapid Evolution and the Provision of Ecosystem Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudman, Seth M; Kreitzman, Maayan; Chan, Kai M A; Schluter, Dolph

    2017-06-01

    Evolution is recognized as the source of all organisms, and hence many ecosystem services. However, the role that contemporary evolution might play in maintaining and enhancing specific ecosystem services has largely been overlooked. Recent advances at the interface of ecology and evolution have demonstrated how contemporary evolution can shape ecological communities and ecosystem functions. We propose a definition and quantitative criteria to study how rapid evolution affects ecosystem services (here termed contemporary evosystem services) and present plausible scenarios where such services might exist. We advocate for the direct measurement of contemporary evosystem services to improve understanding of how changing environments will alter resource availability and human well-being, and highlight the potential utility of managing rapid evolution for future ecosystem services. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Dynamics of radionuclides in forest ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steiner, M.

    2004-01-01

    The unique physiology and the layered structure of forest ecosystems result in dynamic transport and transfer processes which greatly differ from those in agricultural ecosystems. Radionuclides are retained in the upper organic horizons of forest soil for several decades and remain highly available for uptake by fungi and green plants. Contamination levels of mushrooms and game may therefore by far exceed those of agricultural produce. The efficient cycling of nutrients and radionuclides, which is characteristic for ecosystems poor in nutrients, can largely be attributed to forest soil with its complex and multi-layered structure and fungal activity. Fungi directly affect dynamic processes, playing a key role in the mobilization, uptake and translocation of nutrients and radionuclides. Fungal fruit bodies may be highly contaminated foodstuff and fodder. They are most likely the cause of the surprising trend of increasing contamination of wild boar which has been observed in the last few years in Germany. This paper is intended to give a qualitative survey of dynamic transport processes in forests and their relevance for radiation exposure to man. (orig.)

  5. Scenarios reveal pathways to sustain future ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Jiangxiao; Carpenter, Stephen R; Booth, Eric G; Motew, Melissa; Zipper, Samuel C; Kucharik, Christopher J; Chen, Xi; Loheide, Steven P; Seifert, Jenny; Turner, Monica G

    2018-01-01

    Sustaining food production, water quality, soil retention, flood, and climate regulation in agricultural landscapes is a pressing global challenge given accelerating environmental changes. Scenarios are stories about plausible futures, and scenarios can be integrated with biophysical simulation models to explore quantitatively how the future might unfold. However, few studies have incorporated a wide range of drivers (e.g., climate, land-use, management, population, human diet) in spatially explicit, process-based models to investigate spatial-temporal dynamics and relationships of a portfolio of ecosystem services. Here, we simulated nine ecosystem services (three provisioning and six regulating services) at 220 × 220 m from 2010 to 2070 under four contrasting scenarios in the 1,345-km 2 Yahara Watershed (Wisconsin, USA) using Agro-IBIS, a dynamic model of terrestrial ecosystem processes, biogeochemistry, water, and energy balance. We asked (1) How does ecosystem service supply vary among alternative future scenarios? (2) Where on the landscape is the provision of ecosystem services most susceptible to future social-ecological changes? (3) Among alternative future scenarios, are relationships (i.e., trade-offs, synergies) among food production, water, and biogeochemical services consistent over time? Our results showed that food production varied substantially with future land-use choices and management, and its trade-offs with water quality and soil retention persisted under most scenarios. However, pathways to mitigate or even reverse such trade-offs through technological advances and sustainable agricultural practices were apparent. Consistent relationships among regulating services were identified across scenarios (e.g., trade-offs of freshwater supply vs. flood and climate regulation, and synergies among water quality, soil retention, and climate regulation), suggesting opportunities and challenges to sustaining these services. In particular, proactive

  6. Embedding ecosystem services in coastal planning leads to better outcomes for people and nature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arkema, Katie K; Verutes, Gregory M; Wood, Spencer A; Clarke-Samuels, Chantalle; Rosado, Samir; Canto, Maritza; Rosenthal, Amy; Ruckelshaus, Mary; Guannel, Gregory; Toft, Jodie; Faries, Joe; Silver, Jessica M; Griffin, Robert; Guerry, Anne D

    2015-06-16

    Recent calls for ocean planning envision informed management of social and ecological systems to sustain delivery of ecosystem services to people. However, until now, no coastal and marine planning process has applied an ecosystem-services framework to understand how human activities affect the flow of benefits, to create scenarios, and to design a management plan. We developed models that quantify services provided by corals, mangroves, and seagrasses. We used these models within an extensive engagement process to design a national spatial plan for Belize's coastal zone. Through iteration of modeling and stakeholder engagement, we developed a preferred plan, currently under formal consideration by the Belizean government. Our results suggest that the preferred plan will lead to greater returns from coastal protection and tourism than outcomes from scenarios oriented toward achieving either conservation or development goals. The plan will also reduce impacts to coastal habitat and increase revenues from lobster fishing relative to current management. By accounting for spatial variation in the impacts of coastal and ocean activities on benefits that ecosystems provide to people, our models allowed stakeholders and policymakers to refine zones of human use. The final version of the preferred plan improved expected coastal protection by >25% and more than doubled the revenue from fishing, compared with earlier versions based on stakeholder preferences alone. Including outcomes in terms of ecosystem-service supply and value allowed for explicit consideration of multiple benefits from oceans and coasts that typically are evaluated separately in management decisions.

  7. Predicting Plant-Accessible Water in the Critical Zone: Mountain Ecosystems in a Mediterranean Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klos, P. Z.; Goulden, M.; Riebe, C. S.; Tague, C.; O'Geen, A. T.; Flinchum, B. A.; Safeeq, M.; Conklin, M. H.; Hart, S. C.; Asefaw Berhe, A.; Hartsough, P. C.; Holbrook, S.; Bales, R. C.

    2017-12-01

    Enhanced understanding of subsurface water storage, and the below-ground architecture and processes that create it, will advance our ability to predict how the impacts of climate change - including drought, forest mortality, wildland fire, and strained water security - will take form in the decades to come. Previous research has examined the importance of plant-accessible water in soil, but in upland landscapes within Mediterranean climates the soil is often only the upper extent of subsurface water storage. We draw insights from both this previous research and a case study of the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory to: define attributes of subsurface storage, review observed patterns in its distribution, highlight nested methods for its estimation across scales, and showcase the fundamental processes controlling its formation. We observe that forest ecosystems at our sites subsist on lasting plant-accessible stores of subsurface water during the summer dry period and during multi-year droughts. This indicates that trees in these forest ecosystems are rooted deeply in the weathered, highly porous saprolite, which reaches up to 10-20 m beneath the surface. This confirms the importance of large volumes of subsurface water in supporting ecosystem resistance to climate and landscape change across a range of spatiotemporal scales. This research enhances the ability to predict the extent of deep subsurface storage across landscapes; aiding in the advancement of both critical zone science and the management of natural resources emanating from similar mountain ecosystems worldwide.

  8. Understanding of Coupled Terrestrial Carbon, Nitrogen and Water Dynamics—An Overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas C. Coops

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Coupled terrestrial carbon (C, nitrogen (N and hydrological processes play a crucial role in the climate system, providing both positive and negative feedbacks to climate change. In this review we summarize published research results to gain an increased understanding of the dynamics between vegetation and atmosphere processes. A variety of methods, including monitoring (e.g., eddy covariance flux tower, remote sensing, etc. and modeling (i.e., ecosystem, hydrology and atmospheric inversion modeling the terrestrial carbon and water budgeting, are evaluated and compared. We highlight two major research areas where additional research could be focused: (i Conceptually, the hydrological and biogeochemical processes are closely linked, however, the coupling processes between terrestrial C, N and hydrological processes are far from well understood; and (ii there are significant uncertainties in estimates of the components of the C balance, especially at landscape and regional scales. To address these two questions, a synthetic research framework is needed which includes both bottom-up and top-down approaches integrating scalable (footprint and ecosystem models and a spatially nested hierarchy of observations which include multispectral remote sensing, inventories, existing regional clusters of eddy-covariance flux towers and CO2 mixing ratio towers and chambers.

  9. Understanding of coupled terrestrial carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics-an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Baozhang; Coops, Nicholas C

    2009-01-01

    Coupled terrestrial carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and hydrological processes play a crucial role in the climate system, providing both positive and negative feedbacks to climate change. In this review we summarize published research results to gain an increased understanding of the dynamics between vegetation and atmosphere processes. A variety of methods, including monitoring (e.g., eddy covariance flux tower, remote sensing, etc.) and modeling (i.e., ecosystem, hydrology and atmospheric inversion modeling) the terrestrial carbon and water budgeting, are evaluated and compared. We highlight two major research areas where additional research could be focused: (i) Conceptually, the hydrological and biogeochemical processes are closely linked, however, the coupling processes between terrestrial C, N and hydrological processes are far from well understood; and (ii) there are significant uncertainties in estimates of the components of the C balance, especially at landscape and regional scales. To address these two questions, a synthetic research framework is needed which includes both bottom-up and top-down approaches integrating scalable (footprint and ecosystem) models and a spatially nested hierarchy of observations which include multispectral remote sensing, inventories, existing regional clusters of eddy-covariance flux towers and CO(2) mixing ratio towers and chambers.

  10. Understanding dissolved organic matter reactivity in a global context: tribute to Dr. George Aiken's many contributions

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKnight, Diane

    2017-04-01

    As Dr. George Aiken emphasized throughout his distinguished research career, the diversity of sources of dissolved organic material (DOM) is associated with a diversity of dissolved organic compounds with a range of chemistries and reactivities that are present in the natural environment. From a limnological perspective, dissolved organic matter (DOM) can originate from allochthonous sources on the landscape which drains into a lake, river, wetland, coastal region, or other aquatic ecosystem, or from autochthonous sources within the given aquatic ecosystem. In many landscapes, the precursor organic materials that contribute to the DOM of the associated aquatic ecosystem can be derived from diverse sources, e.g. terrestrial plants, plant litter, organic material in different soil horizons, and the products of microbial growth and decay. Yet, through his focus on the underlying chemical processes a clear, chemically robust foundation for understanding DOM reactivity has emerged from Aiken's research. These processes include the enhancement in solubility due to ionized carboxylic acid functional groups and the reactions of organic sulfur groups with mercury. This approach has advanced understand of carbon cycling in the lakes of the Mars-like barren landscapes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica and the rivers draining the warming tundra of the Arctic.

  11. Diverse effects of invasive ecosystem engineers on marine biodiversity and ecosystem functions: A global review and meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guy-Haim, Tamar; Lyons, Devin A; Kotta, Jonne; Ojaveer, Henn; Queirós, Ana M; Chatzinikolaou, Eva; Arvanitidis, Christos; Como, Serena; Magni, Paolo; Blight, Andrew J; Orav-Kotta, Helen; Somerfield, Paul J; Crowe, Tasman P; Rilov, Gil

    2018-03-01

    Invasive ecosystem engineers (IEE) are potentially one of the most influential types of biological invaders. They are expected to have extensive ecological impacts by altering the physical-chemical structure of ecosystems, thereby changing the rules of existence for a broad range of resident biota. To test the generality of this expectation, we used a global systematic review and meta-analysis to examine IEE effects on the abundance of individual species and communities, biodiversity (using several indices) and ecosystem functions, focusing on marine and estuarine environments. We found that IEE had a significant effect (positive and negative) in most studies testing impacts on individual species, but the overall (cumulative) effect size was small and negative. Many individual studies showed strong IEE effects on community abundance and diversity, but the direction of effects was variable, leading to statistically non-significant overall effects in most categories. In contrast, there was a strong overall effect on most ecosystem functions we examined. IEE negatively affected metabolic functions and primary production, but positively affected nutrient flux, sedimentation and decomposition. We use the results to develop a conceptual model by highlighting pathways whereby IEE impact communities and ecosystem functions, and identify several sources of research bias in the IEE-related invasion literature. Only a few of the studies simultaneously quantified IEE effects on community/diversity and ecosystem functions. Therefore, understanding how IEE may alter biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships should be a primary focus of future studies of invasion biology. Moreover, the clear effects of IEE on ecosystem functions detected in our study suggest that scientists and environmental managers ought to examine how the effects of IEE might be manifested in the services that marine ecosystems provide to humans. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services concepts to improve natural resource management: Challenges and opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S.; Boyd, James W.; Macauley, Molly K.; Scarlett, Lynn; Shapiro, Carl D.; Williams, Byron K.

    2018-05-07

    resource systems, both must confront the analytical challenges of systems modeling—in terms of complexity, dynamics, and uncertainty.Given this affinity, the integration of ecosystem services analysis and adaptive management poses few conceptual hurdles. In this report, we synthesize discussions from two workshops that considered ways in which adaptive management approaches and ecosystem service concepts may be complementary, such that integrating them into a common framework may lead to improved natural resource management outcomes. Although the literature on adaptive management and ecosystem services is vast and growing, the report focuses specifically on the integration of these two concepts rather than aiming to provide new definitions or an indepth review or primer of the concepts individually.Key issues considered include the bidirectional links between adaptive decision making and ecosystem services, as well as the potential benefits and inevitable challenges arising in the development and use of an integrated framework. Specifically, the workshops addressed the following questions:How can application of ecosystem service analysis within an adaptive decision process improve the outcomes of management and advance understanding of ecosystem service identification, production, and valuation?How can these concepts be integrated in concept and practice?What are the constraints and challenges to integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services?And, should the integration of these concepts be moved forward to wider application—and if so, how?

  13. Towards an Understanding of Enabling Process Knowing in Global Software Development: A Case Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zahedi, Mansooreh; Babar, Muhammad Ali

    2014-01-01

    Shared understanding of Software Engineering (SE) processes, that we call process knowing, is required for effective communication and coordination and communication within a team in order to improve team performance. SE Process knowledge can include roles, responsibilities and flow of informatio...... challenges of lack of process knowing and how an organization can enable process knowing for achieving the desired results that also help in increasing social interactions and positive behavioral changes......Shared understanding of Software Engineering (SE) processes, that we call process knowing, is required for effective communication and coordination and communication within a team in order to improve team performance. SE Process knowledge can include roles, responsibilities and flow of information...... over a project lifecycle. Developing and sustaining process knowledge can be more challenging in Global Software Development (GSD). GSD distances can limit the ability of a team to develop a common understanding of processes. Anecdotes of the problems caused by lack of common understanding of processes...

  14. Off-stage ecosystem service burdens: A blind spot for global sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pascual, Unai; Palomo, Ignacio; Adams, William M.; Chan, Kai M. A.; Daw, Tim M.; Garmendia, Eneko; Gómez-Baggethun, Erik; de Groot, Rudolf S.; Mace, Georgina M.; Martín-López, Berta; Phelps, Jacob

    2017-07-01

    The connected nature of social-ecological systems has never been more apparent than in today’s globalized world. The ecosystem service framework and associated ecosystem assessments aim to better inform the science-policy response to sustainability challenges. Such assessments, however, often overlook distant, diffuse and delayed impacts that are critical for global sustainability. Ecosystem-services science must better recognise the off-stage impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services of place-based ecosystem management, which we term ‘ecosystem service burdens’. These are particularly important since they are often negative, and have a potentially significant effect on ecosystem management decisions. Ecosystem-services research can better recognise these off-stage burdens through integration with other analytical approaches, such as life cycle analysis and risk-based approaches that better account for the uncertainties involved. We argue that off-stage ecosystem service burdens should be incorporated in ecosystem assessments such as those led by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Taking better account of these off-stage burdens is essential to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of cross-scale interactions, a pre-requisite for any sustainability transition.

  15. A Evaluation of Effects on a Ecosystem and Countermeasures in accordance with Climate Change I- Forest Ecosystem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Yong Ha; Jeon, Seong Woo; Choi, Jae Yong; Jeong Hwi Chol; Kim, Jeong Won [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

    2000-12-01

    Climate change requests a lot of changes in the existing life style and economic developing system, which form the foundation of modern culture and economic/social development. Especially, in Korea, whose economic basis is mainly dependent on fossil energy, it is expected that the change of policies on climate change have a bigger effect on many-sided fields including ecosystem than other nations. Therefore, even though all of the Government, academic organizations, and private organizations have made efforts to estimate effects of climate change and to prepare countermeasures, the focus has been on forecast and evaluation of the mutual effect between industrial/economic activities and climate change. Forecast of ecosystem change and preservation of ecosystem according to climate change is another political field to promote. However, such a field has not been promoted systematically in Korea. The Institute recognizing such a current state, as part of the policy on ecosystem preservation according to climate change, forecasted the effect on forest ecosystem, analyzed the economic effects according to the effect of forest ecosystem, and started this study to prepare the countermeasures of the Government-level. This study collected and analyzed international trend and necessary data to develop the model, which would be executed in future, and then suggested the selection and development of the model fitted to Korea. There could be differences between Institute's view and the Government/other institutes. However, such differences are caused by the different methods in capturing the effects of various ecosystems. Such various approaching methods will be of great help to estimate the correct effects and to establish the Government's policies as base data. I hope that this study cannot only be applied to analyze the effects of forest ecosystem according to climate change but contribute to enlarging the understanding of various problems according to climate

  16. Evaluation of the Steel Creek ecosystem in relation to the proposed restart of the L-reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, M.H.; Sharitz, R.R.; Gladden, J.B.

    1982-10-01

    This report summarizes the findings of slightly more than one year's study of the Steel Creek ecosystem. Generally, the findings have allowed us to refine our understanding of the structural and functional organization of the Steel Creek ecosystem which is an essential prerequisite for predicting the impacts associated with L-reactor restart. Reanalysis of the Steel Creek plant community relationships using 1981 aerial photography revealed that this component of the delta ecosystem continues to change as a result of natural successional processes. The major detectable changes have occurred on the more elevated portions of Steel Creek delta where coverage by woody species (especially willow) is continuing to increase. This successional woody community is invading areas previously dominated by persistent herbaceous species such as cut grass. Eleven vegetation associations were identified in the Steel Creek delta area, including two associations that were not apparently affected by the earlier reactor operations

  17. Cycling indices for ecosystem models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carney, J.H.; Gardner, R.H.; Mankin, J.B.; DeAngelis, D.L.

    1979-01-01

    The study of ecosystems is aided by representing structural and functional groups of organisms or processes as discrete components. A complex compartment model will explicitly map pathways from one compartment to another and specify transfer rates. This quantitative description allows insight into the dynamics of flow of nutrients, toxic chemicals, radionuclides, or energy. Three new indices that calculate compartment-specific probabilities of occurrence and recycling and illustrate the problem of applying these indices to ecosystem models are presented

  18. Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dreyer, Pia; Haahr, Anita; Martinsen, Bente

    2011-01-01

    The creative processes of understanding patients’ experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905–1981), this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients’ experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an “flash of insight” is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients’ experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients’ experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience. PMID:22076123

  19. Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annelise Norlyk

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available The creative processes of understanding patients’ experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905–1981, this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients’ experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an “flash of insight” is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients’ experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients’ experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience.

  20. Understanding the creative processes of phenomenological research: The life philosophy of Løgstrup.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norlyk, Annelise; Dreyer, Pia; Haahr, Anita; Martinsen, Bente

    2011-01-01

    The creative processes of understanding patients' experiences in phenomenological research are difficult to articulate. Drawing on life philosophy as represented by the Danish philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905-1981), this article aims to illustrate Løgstrup's thinking as a way to elaborate the creation of cognition and understanding of patients' experiences. We suggest that Løgstrup's thoughts on sensation can add new dimensions to an increased understanding of the creative process of phenomenological research, and that his thinking can be seen as an epistemological ground for these processes. We argue with Løgstrup that sense-based impressions can facilitate an flash of insight, i.e., the spontaneous, intuitive flash of an idea. Løgstrup stresses that an "flash of insight" is an important source in the creation of cognition and understanding. Relating to three empirical phenomenological studies of patients' experiences, we illustrate how the notions of impression and flash of insight can add new dimensions to increased understanding of the creative processes in phenomenological research that have previously not been discussed. We illustrate that sense-based impressions can facilitate creative flash of insights that open for understanding of patients' experiences in the research process as well as in the communication of the findings. The nature of impression and flash of insight and their relevance in the creation of cognition and understanding contributes to the sparse descriptions in the methodological phenomenological research literature of the creative processes of this research. An elaboration of the creative processes in phenomenological research can help researchers to articulate these processes. Thus, Løgstrup's life philosophy has proven to be valuable in adding new dimensions to phenomenological empirical research as well as embracing lived experience.

  1. Nutrient controls on biocomplexity of mangrove ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKee, Karen L.

    2004-01-01

    Mangrove forests are important coastal ecosystems that provide a variety of ecological and societal services. These intertidal, tree-dominated communities along tropical coastlines are often described as “simple systems,” compared to other tropical forests with larger numbers of plant species and multiple understory strata; however, mangrove ecosystems have complex trophic structures, and organisms exhibit unique physiological, morphological, and behavioral adaptations to environmental conditions characteristic of the land-sea interface. Biogeochemical functioning of mangrove forests is also controlled by interactions among the microbial, plant, and animal communities and feedback linkages mediated by hydrology and other forcing functions. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the National Wetlands Research Center are working to understand more fully the impact of nutrient variability on these delicate and important ecosystems.

  2. Neighbourhood-scale urban forest ecosystem classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steenberg, James W N; Millward, Andrew A; Duinker, Peter N; Nowak, David J; Robinson, Pamela J

    2015-11-01

    Urban forests are now recognized as essential components of sustainable cities, but there remains uncertainty concerning how to stratify and classify urban landscapes into units of ecological significance at spatial scales appropriate for management. Ecosystem classification is an approach that entails quantifying the social and ecological processes that shape ecosystem conditions into logical and relatively homogeneous management units, making the potential for ecosystem-based decision support available to urban planners. The purpose of this study is to develop and propose a framework for urban forest ecosystem classification (UFEC). The multifactor framework integrates 12 ecosystem components that characterize the biophysical landscape, built environment, and human population. This framework is then applied at the neighbourhood scale in Toronto, Canada, using hierarchical cluster analysis. The analysis used 27 spatially-explicit variables to quantify the ecosystem components in Toronto. Twelve ecosystem classes were identified in this UFEC application. Across the ecosystem classes, tree canopy cover was positively related to economic wealth, especially income. However, education levels and homeownership were occasionally inconsistent with the expected positive relationship with canopy cover. Open green space and stocking had variable relationships with economic wealth and were more closely related to population density, building intensity, and land use. The UFEC can provide ecosystem-based information for greening initiatives, tree planting, and the maintenance of the existing canopy. Moreover, its use has the potential to inform the prioritization of limited municipal resources according to ecological conditions and to concerns of social equity in the access to nature and distribution of ecosystem service supply. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics: Northwest Atlantic program

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-01-01

    The specific objective of the meeting was to plan an experiment in the Northwestern Atlantic to study the marine ecosystem and its role, together with that of climate and physical dynamics, in determining fisheries recruitment. The underlying focus of the GLOBEC initiative is to understand the marine ecosystem as it related to marine living resources and to understand how fluctuation in these resources are driven by climate change and exploitation. In this sense the goal is a solid scientific program to provide basic information concerning major fisheries stocks and the environment that sustains them. The plan is to attempt to reach this understanding through a multidisciplinary program that brings to bear new techniques as disparate as numerical fluid dynamic models of ocean circulation, molecular biology and modern acoustic imaging. The effort will also make use of the massive historical data sets on fisheries and the state of the climate in a coordinated manner.

  4. A new paradigm of quantifying ecosystem stress through chemical signatures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kravitz, Ben [Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, MSIN K9-30 Richland Washington 99352 USA; Guenther, Alex B. [Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, 3200 Croul Hall Street Irvine California 92697 USA; Gu, Lianhong [Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Tennessee 37831 USA; Karl, Thomas [Institute of Atmospheric and Crysopheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52f A-6020 Innsbruck Austria; Kaser, Lisa [National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000 Boulder Colorado 80307 USA; Pallardy, Stephen G. [Department of Forestry, University of Missouri, 203 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building Columbia Missouri 65211 USA; Peñuelas, Josep [CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Catalonia Spain; Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, CSIC, Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Catalonia Spain; Potosnak, Mark J. [Department of Environmental Science and Studies, DePaul University, McGowan South, Suite 203 Chicago Illinois 60604 USA; Seco, Roger [Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, 3200 Croul Hall Street Irvine California 92697 USA

    2016-11-01

    Stress-induced emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from terrestrial ecosystems may be one of the dominant sources of VOC emissions world-wide. Understanding the ecosystem stress response could reveal how ecosystems will respond and adapt to climate change and, in turn, quantify changes in the atmospheric burden of VOC oxidants and secondary organic aerosols. Here we argue, based on preliminary evidence from several opportunistic measurement sources, that chemical signatures of stress can be identified and quantified at the ecosystem scale. We also outline future endeavors that we see as next steps toward uncovering quantitative signatures of stress, including new advances in both VOC data collection and analysis of "big data."

  5. Socio-hydrologic Modeling to Understand and Mediate the Competition for Water between Humans and Ecosystems: Murrumbidgee River Basin, Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Emmerik, Tim; Sivapalan, Murugesu; Li, Zheng; Pande, Saket; Savenije, Hubert

    2014-05-01

    Around the world the demand for water resources is growing in order to satisfy rapidly increasing human populations, leading to competition for water between humans and ecosystems. An entirely new and comprehensive quantitative framework is needed to establish a holistic understanding of that competition, thereby enabling development and evaluation of effective mediation strategies. We present a case study centered on the Murrumbidgee river basin in eastern Australia that illustrates the dynamics of the balance between water extraction and use for food production and efforts to mitigate and reverse consequent degradation of the riparian environment. Interactions between patterns of water resources management and climate driven hydrological variability within the prevailing socio-economic environment have contributed to the emergence of new whole system dynamics over the last 100 years. In particular, data analysis reveals a pendulum swing between an exclusive focus on agricultural development and food production in the initial stages of water resources development and its attendant socio-economic benefits, followed by the gradual realization of the adverse environmental impacts, efforts to mitigate these with the use of remedial measures, and ultimately concerted efforts and externally imposed solutions to restore environmental health and ecosystem services. A quasi-distributed coupled socio-hydrologic system model that explicitly includes the two-way coupling between human and hydrological systems, including evolution of human values/norms relating to water and the environment, is able to mimic broad features of this pendulum swing. The model consists of coupled nonlinear differential equations that include four state variables describing the co-evolution of storage capacity, irrigated area, human population, and ecosystem health, which are all connected by feedback mechanisms. The model is used to generate insights into the dominant controls of the trajectory of

  6. [Characteristics of terrestrial ecosystem primary productivity in East Asia based on remote sensing and process-based model].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fang-Min; Ju, Wei-Min; Chen, Jing-Ming; Wang, Shao-Qiang; Yu, Gui-Rui; Han, Shi-Jie

    2012-02-01

    Based on the bi-linearly interpolated meteorological reanalysis data from National Centers for Environmental Prediction, USA and by using the leaf area index data derived from the GIMMS NDVI to run the process-based Boreal Ecosystems Productivity Simulator (BEPS) model, this paper simulated and analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of the terrestrial ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary productivity (NPP) in East Asia in 2000-2005. Before regional simulating and calculating, the observation GPP data of different terrestrial ecosystem in 15 experimental stations of AsiaFlux network and the inventory measurements of NPP at 1300 sampling sites were applied to validate the BEPS GPP and NPP. The results showed that BEPS could well simulate the changes in GPP and NPP of different terrestrial ecosystems, with the R2 ranging from 0.86 to 0.99 and the root mean square error (RMSE) from 0.2 to 1.2 g C x m(-2) x d(-1). The simulated values by BEPS could explain 78% of the changes in annual NPP, and the RMSE was 118 g C x m(-2) x a(-1). In 2000-2005, the averaged total GPP and total NPP of the terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia were 21.7 and 10.5 Pg C x a(-1), respectively, and the GPP and NPP exhibited similar spatial and temporal variation patterns. During the six years, the total NPP of the terrestrial ecosystems varied from 10.2 to 10.7 Pg C x a(-1), with a coefficient of variation being 2. 2%. High NPP (above 1000 g C x m(-2) x a(-1)) occurred in the southeast island countries, while low NPP (below 30 g C x m(-2) x a(-1)) occurred in the desert area of Northwest China. The spatial patterns of NPP were mainly attributed to the differences in the climatic variables across East Asia. The NPP per capita also varied greatly among different countries, which was the highest (70217 kg C x a(-1)) in Mongolia, far higher than that (1921 kg C x a(-1)) in China, and the lowest (757 kg C x a(-1)) in India.

  7. Modelling natural disturbances in forest ecosystems: a review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seidl, R.; Fernandes, P.M.; Fonseca, T.F.; Gillet, F.; Jöhnsson, A.M.; Merganičová, K.; Netherer, S.; Arpaci, A.; Bontemps, J.D.; Bugmann, H.; González-Olabarria, J.R.; Lasch, P.; Meredieu, C.; Moreira, F.; Schelhaas, M.; Mohren, G.M.J.

    2011-01-01

    Natural disturbances play a key role in ecosystem dynamics and are important factors for sustainable forest ecosystem management. Quantitative models are frequently employed to tackle the complexities associated with disturbance processes. Here we review the wide variety of approaches to modelling

  8. How models can support ecosystem-based management of coral reefs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weijerman, M.W.; Fulton, E.A.; Janssen, A.B.G.; Kuiper, J.J.; Leemans, R.; Leemput, van de I.A.; Mooij, W.M.

    2015-01-01

    Despite the importance of coral reef ecosystems to the social and economic welfare of coastal communities, the condition of these marine ecosystems have generally degraded over the past decades. With an increased knowledge of coral reef ecosystem processes and a rise in computer power, dynamic

  9. Eco-Systemic Analysis of Anorexia Nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheppy, Margarette I.; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Tested eco-systemic approach to understanding of anorexia nervosa. Compared 30 anorexics and parents to 34 matched control subjects and parents. Found that, compared to controls, families of anorexics were less supportive, helpful, and committed to each other. Family interactions perceived by anorexics were characterized by overprotective,…

  10. Ecosystem-atmosphere interactions in the Arctic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    López-Blanco, Efrén

    The terrestrial CO2 exchange in the Arctic plays an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle. The Arctic ecosystems, containing a large amount of organic carbon (C), are experiencing on-going warming in recent decades, which is affecting the C cycling and the feedback interactions between its...... of measurement sites, particularly covering full annual cycles, but also the frequent gaps in data affected by extreme conditions and remoteness. Combining ecosystem models and field observations we are able to study the underlying processes of Arctic CO2 exchange in changing environments. The overall aim...... of the research is to use data-model approaches to analyse the patterns of C exchange and their links to biological processes in Arctic ecosystems, studied in detail both from a measurement and a modelling perspective, but also from a local to a pan-arctic scale. In Paper I we found a compensatory response...

  11. Importance of regional species pools and functional traits in colonization processes: predicting re-colonization after large-scale destruction of ecosystems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kirmer, A.; Tischew, S.; Ozinga, W.A.; Lampe, von M.; Baasch, A.; Groenendael, van J.M.

    2008-01-01

    Large-scale destruction of ecosystems caused by surface mining provides an opportunity for the study of colonization processes starting with primary succession. Surprisingly, over several decades and without any restoration measures, most of these sites spontaneously developed into valuable biotope

  12. Integrating Expert Knowledge into Mapping Ecosystem Services Trade-offs for Sustainable Forest Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrienne Grêt-Regamey

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive to global change. In fact, the continued capacity of mountain regions to provide goods and services to society is threatened by the impact of environmental changes on ecosystems. Although mapping ecosystem services values is known to support sustainable resource management, the integration of spatially explicit local expert knowledge on ecosystem dynamics and social responses to global changes has not yet been integrated in the modeling process. This contribution demonstrates the importance of integrating local knowledge into the spatially explicit valuation of ecosystem services. Knowledge acquired by expert surveys flows into a GIS-based Bayesian Network for valuing forest ecosystem services under a land-use and a climate change scenario in a case study in the Swiss Alps. Results show that including expert knowledge in ecosystem services mapping not only reduces uncertainties considerably, but also has an important effect on the ecosystem services values. Particularly the iterative process between integrating expert knowledge into the modeling process and mapping ecosystem services guarantees a continuous improvement of ecosystem services values maps while opening a new way for mutual learning between scientists and stakeholders which might support adaptive resource management.

  13. Changing seasonality of Arctic hydrology disrupts key biotic linkages in Arctic aquatic ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deegan, L.; MacKenzie, C.; Peterson, B. J.; Fishscape Project

    2011-12-01

    impacts throughout Arctic watersheds. Improved understanding of these processes will advance our general understanding of the role of animals in ecosystem dynamics, life-history evolution and ecosystem management.

  14. Improved understanding of drought controls on seasonal variation in Mediterranean forest canopy CO2 and water fluxes through combined in situ measurements and ecosystem modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Sabate

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Water stress is a defining characteristic of Mediterranean ecosystems, and is likely to become more severe in the coming decades. Simulation models are key tools for making predictions, but our current understanding of how soil moisture controls ecosystem functioning is not sufficient to adequately constrain parameterisations. Canopy-scale flux data from four forest ecosystems with Mediterranean-type climates were used in order to analyse the physiological controls on carbon and water flues through the year. Significant non-stomatal limitations on photosynthesis were detected, along with lesser changes in the conductance-assimilation relationship. New model parameterisations were derived and implemented in two contrasting modelling approaches. The effectiveness of two models, one a dynamic global vegetation model ("ORCHIDEE", and the other a forest growth model particularly developed for Mediterranean simulations ("GOTILWA+", was assessed and modelled canopy responses to seasonal changes in soil moisture were analysed in comparison with in situ flux measurements. In contrast to commonly held assumptions, we find that changing the ratio of conductance to assimilation under natural, seasonally-developing, soil moisture stress is not sufficient to reproduce forest canopy CO2 and water fluxes. However, accurate predictions of both CO2 and water fluxes under all soil moisture levels encountered in the field are obtained if photosynthetic capacity is assumed to vary with soil moisture. This new parameterisation has important consequences for simulated responses of carbon and water fluxes to seasonal soil moisture stress, and should greatly improve our ability to anticipate future impacts of climate changes on the functioning of ecosystems in Mediterranean-type climates.

  15. A large-scale forest fragmentation experiment: the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewers, Robert M.; Didham, Raphael K.; Fahrig, Lenore; Ferraz, Gonçalo; Hector, Andy; Holt, Robert D.; Kapos, Valerie; Reynolds, Glen; Sinun, Waidi; Snaddon, Jake L.; Turner, Edgar C.

    2011-01-01

    Opportunities to conduct large-scale field experiments are rare, but provide a unique opportunity to reveal the complex processes that operate within natural ecosystems. Here, we review the design of existing, large-scale forest fragmentation experiments. Based on this review, we develop a design for the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project, a new forest fragmentation experiment to be located in the lowland tropical forests of Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). The SAFE Project represents an advance on existing experiments in that it: (i) allows discrimination of the effects of landscape-level forest cover from patch-level processes; (ii) is designed to facilitate the unification of a wide range of data types on ecological patterns and processes that operate over a wide range of spatial scales; (iii) has greater replication than existing experiments; (iv) incorporates an experimental manipulation of riparian corridors; and (v) embeds the experimentally fragmented landscape within a wider gradient of land-use intensity than do existing projects. The SAFE Project represents an opportunity for ecologists across disciplines to participate in a large initiative designed to generate a broad understanding of the ecological impacts of tropical forest modification. PMID:22006969

  16. A large-scale forest fragmentation experiment: the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewers, Robert M; Didham, Raphael K; Fahrig, Lenore; Ferraz, Gonçalo; Hector, Andy; Holt, Robert D; Kapos, Valerie; Reynolds, Glen; Sinun, Waidi; Snaddon, Jake L; Turner, Edgar C

    2011-11-27

    Opportunities to conduct large-scale field experiments are rare, but provide a unique opportunity to reveal the complex processes that operate within natural ecosystems. Here, we review the design of existing, large-scale forest fragmentation experiments. Based on this review, we develop a design for the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project, a new forest fragmentation experiment to be located in the lowland tropical forests of Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). The SAFE Project represents an advance on existing experiments in that it: (i) allows discrimination of the effects of landscape-level forest cover from patch-level processes; (ii) is designed to facilitate the unification of a wide range of data types on ecological patterns and processes that operate over a wide range of spatial scales; (iii) has greater replication than existing experiments; (iv) incorporates an experimental manipulation of riparian corridors; and (v) embeds the experimentally fragmented landscape within a wider gradient of land-use intensity than do existing projects. The SAFE Project represents an opportunity for ecologists across disciplines to participate in a large initiative designed to generate a broad understanding of the ecological impacts of tropical forest modification.

  17. Ecosystem management and economics: a review document prepared as part of the Wine Springs Creek ecosystem management project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rex H. Schaberg; Michael G. Jacobson; Frederick W. Cubbage; Robert C. Abt

    1995-01-01

    The application of economic tools to the challenge of ecosystem management is a process which is still in its early phases. The assumption of nonsubstitutability of goods which is implicit in a goal to sustain specific ecosystems imposes constraints on consumption and utility which are more restrictive than those which would occur in standard neoclassical analysis....

  18. Model of plutonium dynamics in a deciduous forest ecosystem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garten, C.T. Jr.; Gardner, R.H.; Dahlman, R.C.

    1980-01-01

    A linear compartment model with donor-controlled flows between compartments was designed to describe and simulate the behavior of plutonium ( 239 240 Pu) in a contaminated forest ecosystem at Oak Ridge, TN. At steady states predicted by the model, less than 0.25% of the plutonium in the ecosystem resides in biota. Soil is the major repository of plutonium in the forest, and exchanges of plutonium between soil and litter or soil and tree roots were dominant transfers affecting the ecosystem distribution of plutonium. Variation in predicted steady-state amounts of plutonium in the forest, given variability in the model parameters, indicates that our ability to develop models of plutonium transport in ecosystems should improve with greater precision in data from natural environments and a better understanding of sources of variation in plutonium data

  19. Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K.; Fenichel, Eli P.

    2017-01-01

    We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio’s performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth. PMID:28588145

  20. Ecosystem-based management and the wealth of ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Seong Do; Hutniczak, Barbara; Abbott, Joshua K; Fenichel, Eli P

    2017-06-20

    We merge inclusive wealth theory with ecosystem-based management (EBM) to address two challenges in the science of sustainable management of ecosystems. First, we generalize natural capital theory to approximate realized shadow prices for multiple interacting natural capital stocks (species) making up an ecosystem. These prices enable ecosystem components to be better included in wealth-based sustainability measures. We show that ecosystems are best envisioned as portfolios of assets, where the portfolio's performance depends on the performance of the underlying assets influenced by their interactions. Second, changes in ecosystem wealth provide an attractive headline index for EBM, regardless of whether ecosystem wealth is ultimately included in a broader wealth index. We apply our approach to the Baltic Sea ecosystem, focusing on the interacting community of three commercially important fish species: cod, herring, and sprat. Our results incorporate supporting services embodied in the shadow price of a species through its trophic interactions. Prey fish have greater shadow prices than expected based on market value, and predatory fish have lower shadow prices than expected based on market value. These results are because correctly measured shadow prices reflect interdependence and limits to substitution. We project that ecosystem wealth in the Baltic Sea fishery ecosystem generally increases conditional on the EBM-inspired multispecies maximum sustainable yield management beginning in 2017, whereas continuing the current single-species management generally results in declining wealth.