Download Framework - CCE LTER

ISSE Initiative: Integrative Science for Society and Environment
Ecosystem
Biotic structure
rank-dominance curves,
life-history traits
Long-term “press”
Human
behavior
Q
(land use)
N deposition, species
invasions, temperature
Q
Q
Short-term “pulse”
Community
functioning
e.g., fire, storms
1/ 2 production,
decomposition,
nutrient cycling
Q
Ecosystem services
food, pest/disease control,
erosion control, soil fertility
Q
Overarching Question
(relates to all of the arrows/questions in conceptual
diagram)
• How do changes in human populations
and behavior, climate, biogeochemical
cycles and biotic structure interact to affect
and respond to ecosystem dynamics and
their services to society?
• How do press and pulse disturbances
generate offsetting or complementary
changes in ecosystem services across
ecosystems?
Fundamental question
Research objectives /
Specific questions
Example approaches
(Site poll, other ideas)
Q: Which human actions influence
availability of resources and
disturbance regimes across ecosystem
types?
A. Quantifying changes in
resources across continental
scales?
B. Identify which human actions
translate into press versus
pulse disturbances across
different ecosystems?
C. What are the directions (or
predicted directions) of
change?
D. Which elements of human
institutions incentive structures
lead to those actions?
Land use
Water use
Extraction
Energy use
Fertilization
Q: How do long-term press
disturbances & short-term pulse
disturbances interact to alter
ecosystem structure & function?
A. How do changes in resource
availability interact with pulse
events to alter biotic structure?
B. How does land use change
interact with other press/pulse
disturbances?
C. How do storms and SST or
sea level rise interact In coastal
systems?
Presses: sea level rise,
nutrient enrichment,
greenhouse warming,
invasive species, land use,
precip, global cycles
Pulses: storms, fires,
drought, land use,
extinctions
Q: How can biotic structure be both a
cause and consequence of ecological
fluxes of energy & matter?
A. How does ecosystem
productivity and ecosystem
structure exhibit reciprocal
feedbacks in space and time?
B. How do those feedbacks
change in response to the
pulse/press manipulations?
Manipulate limiting resource
and species diversity
simultaneously.
Q: What shapes human behavior with
regard to ecosystems?
Dominant species
manipulation
(removal/addition)
Potential
sites
Fundamental question
Research objectives /
Specific questions
Q: How do altered ecosystem
dynamics affect ecosystem services?
A. Identify from where are we
deriving ecosystem services
across difference ecosystems
B. Are their threshold
responses in ecosystem
change that dramatically alter
ecosystem services?
Q: How do changes in vital ecosystem
services feed back to alter human
behavior?
A. Which ecosystem services
are valued more highly in one
ecosystem versus another?
B. Which losses of ecosystem
services lead to the biggest
decrease in value?
C. How does the value of
ecosystem services change
over space and time?
D. How do small or dramatic
changes in ecosystem services
cause changes in human
institutions and incentives?
E. How does information about
ecosystem services impact
understanding and valuation of
ecosystem services?
What is the relative influence of
ecosystem services vs. other
socioeconomic drivers (trade
transport corridors, employment
opps., cost of living) for human
distribution and behavior?
Example approaches
(Site poll, other ideas)
Potential
sites