Download Facing the Six Grand Challenges in Biosphere Research

Facing the Six Grand Challenges
in Biosphere Research
Russell K. Monson
University of Colorado, Boulder
C I R E S
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
"a continental scale research instrument consisting of geographically
distributed infrastructure, networked via state-of-the-art
communications. NEON will transform ecological research by enabling
studies on major environmental challenges at regional to continental
scales.” (NSF 04549, 2004)
10-20 Regional Ecological Observatories
$500 million - $1 billion
30-50 year lifetime
Approximately 200 US ecologists are currently
participating on various NEON planning committees
The US National Science Foundation has already
committed $6-10 million for organizing activities and the
American Institute for Biological Sciences has devoted
major sponsorship to the effort
Grand (Intellectual) Challenges in Environmental Sciences
US National Academy of Sciences, 2003
NEON: Addressing the Nation’s Environmental Challenges
US National Academy of Sciences, 2003
The Six Grand Challenges in Biosphere Research
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Ecological aspects of biogeochemical cycles
Biodiversity and ecosystem function
Ecological implications of climate change
Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases
Invasive species
Land-use and habitat alteration
Premise for today’s lecture:
Interdisciplinary thinking must lie at the foundation of our
future research efforts if we are to successfully tackle the
Grand Challenges in Environmental Science.
Land-use and habitat alteration
Ecology and
evolution of
infectious
diseases
Invasive species
Biogeochemical
cycles
The Web of
Grand Challenges
Biodiversity and
ecosystem function
Ecological implications of climate change
Case Study #1
The Effects of Invasive Grasses on the
Biogeochemical Cycling of Carbon and the
Fire Cycle of Western US Ecosystems
Bromus tectorum, Western Cheat Grass
Invasive Brome Grasses
Bromus tectorum in the U.S.
Initial introduction: 1889-1902
Currently: the dominant species in over 200,000 km2
Annual grass
Diploid
Self-pollinating
Native to
Europe and
southwest Asia
Photo: R. Mack
Increase in brome invasiveness in an atmosphere of elevated
atmospheric CO2 concentration
Nevada Desert FACE Facility
Dr. Stan Smith, University of Nevada
Ambient
NDFF
Control ring
Free-Air CO2
Exchange (FACE)
8 Years
Native Great Basin
shrub/grassland
365 ppm CO2
550 ppm CO2
FACE
Native
piece of
the ecosystem
at elevated
CO2 or control
Oblique
aerial
view of Ringis3;grown
an elevated
CO2 treatment
plot CO2
After only 2 years ...
Bromus rubens
Shrub canopy
2
Nevada FACE
Interspace
3
365 ppm CO2
Bromus rubens
4
Native annuals
Relative ratio
(Elevated / Ambient)
550 ppm CO2
1
0
Density
Biomass
Seed rain
Density
Biomass
Seed rain
After only 2 years ...
Bromus rubens
Shrub canopy
2
Nevada FACE
Increase in fire fuel load
Interspace
3
365 ppm CO2
Bromus rubens
4
Native annuals
Relative ratio
(Elevated / Ambient)
550 ppm CO2
1
0
Density
Biomass
Seed rain
Density
Biomass
Seed rain
Current CO2
An invasive shift in
community composition
due to elevated
atmospheric CO2
results in a predicted
increase in fire
frequency
Photos by T. Huxman & T. Esque
Future CO2
Coupling Biogeochemical Cycles
to Species Invasions and Landscape Alterations
Atmospheric CO2 concentration
community shift
Bromus rubens
Native annuals
+
+
Fire frequency
Ecosystem carbon storage
Case Study #2
The Emission of Volatile
Organic Compounds to the
Atmosphere by Forest Ecosystems
Reactive VOCs emitted from plants can react with NOx emitted by fossil fuel
combustion, producing O3 and other forms of pollution.
hν (<330 nm)
(inorganic + organic) aerosols
O2 + O(3P)
CO2 + H
OH
e
O2 + NO3
HNO3
NO2
PAN
Vd
Vd
O
HCO + H3
NO2
HCHO + HO2
NO + CnH(n-1)O2
CnH(n-1)O2
Vd
+ OH
O(1D) + H2O
2OH
d
CnH(n-1)O2 + H2O
CH3O2 + H2O
OH + O2 + CnHn
OH + O2 + CH4
c
O3
O2
CO + HO2
O(3P) + NO
O(1D) + O2
O3
+ OH
b
a
“Trees cause more pollution
than automobiles.”
“Approximately 80%* of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons (VOCs)
released by vegetation; so let’s not go overboard in setting and reinforcing
tough emission standards from man-made sources.”
Ronald Reagan, Campaign Speech 1980
Sierra (September 10, 1980), vol. 65, pg. 7
*Reagan later amended this figure to 93%.
Land-Use Change Related to Forest VOC Emissions
Measured change in coverage of VOC-emitting tree species in the
Eastern U.S. (1980-1990)
Purves et al. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1737-1755
250,000 plots
2.7 million trees
Modeled change in VOC emissions in the Eastern US
1980-1990
Purves et al. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1737-1755
Causes of changes in biogenic emissions in the Eastern US
1980-1990
Purves et al. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1737-1755
Coupling Land-Use Change to
Atmospheric Biogeochemistry
∆ Population
and technology
NOx emissions
∆ Land-use
community shifts
productivity shifts
VOC-emitting trees
Tropospheric O3 production
Case Study #3
Climate Change Effects
on Coral Reefs and
Impacts on Fish
Biodiversity
Weekly Sea-Surface Temperature for Tahiti Reefs
Hoegh-Guldberg, O (1999) Marine and Freshwater Research 50: 839-866
thermal
tolerance
limit
16% of global
reefs severely
damaged in 1998
mass bleaching
due to increase in
SST associated
with ENSO
Increased Frequency of Bleaching Predicted Using
Four Climate-Change Models
Hoegh-Guldberg, O (1999) Marine and Freshwater Research 50: 839-866
Decline in Acropora Corals and Associated
Gobie Fish in Papua, New Guinea
Munday, P.L. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1642-1647
Coral
Fish
Population Decline and Specialisation
in Gobie Fish
• Proportional decline
correlated with
specialisation
• 84% of variation
explained by
specialisation
Percent
decrease
abundance
Percent
decrease
ininabundance
Munday, P.L. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1642-1647
100
2
0.84
R2R==0.84
P < 0.01
P < 0.01
90
80
70
60
50
0
0.5
1
1.5
Index of
of specialisation
Index
specialisation
specialist
specialist
generalist
generalist
2
Local Extinction of a Reef Fish
• Gobiodon species A
inhabits just one species
of coral
• Now locally extinct in
Kimbe Bay
• However, other
populations exist in the
Western Pacific
Photo by Philip Munday
Near Global Extinction
• Gobiodon species C
restricted to Kimbe Bay
• Now known from only
one coral patch at one
location in Kimbe Bay
Photo by Glenn Barrall
Coupling Climate Change to Biodiversity
Sea-surface temperature
biochemical stress
Loss of corals
local and global extinctions
Biodiversity
Concluding statements
The connections
amonginthe
Grandare
Challenges
matter greatly!
The
Grand Challenges
Ecology
gaining acceptance
as
the
strategic
cornerstone on connections
which to build
majorbe
ecological
Forging
the interdisciplinary
should
the primary
st
research
in generation
the 21 Century
challengeinitiatives
to the next
of ecologists as they take up
their roles in research leadership
As a list of priorities, the Grand Challenges arguably capture
the most important issues facing humanity in the coming
Land-use and habitat alteration
decades
Biogeochemical
cycles
Ecology
and
Biogeochemical
evolution
of
Invasive
species
cycles
infectious
Climate change
diseases
The Web of
Land-use alteration
Grand Challenges
Biodiversity
Emergent
diseases
Invasive
species
Biodiversity and
ecosystem function
Ecological implications of climate change
Population Size and Specialisation in
Gobie Fish
Munday, P.L. (2004) Global Change Biology 10: 1642-1647
•
•
Population size
correlated with
degree of
specialisation
Specialists face
“double jeopardy”
of extinction
Original
Originalabundance
abundance
1200
0.88
RR22== 0.88
0.01
P P<<0.01
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
Index of specialisation
Index
of specialisation
specialist
specialist
generalist
generalist
2
Concluding statements
The Grand Challenges in Ecology are gaining acceptance as
the strategic cornerstone on which to build major ecological
research initiatives in the 21st Century
As a list of priorities, the Grand Challenges arguably capture
the most important issues facing humanity in the coming
decades
In order to effectively direct us (ecologists) to the key strategies
toward solving these issues, however, the list of Grand
Challenges must be converted to the web of Grand Challenges
– forging the interdisciplinary connections should be the
primary challenge to the next generation of ecologists as they
take up their roles in research leadership
physiology and biochemistry
biogeochemistry
geography
systematics
and genetics
The Grand
Challenges
medical epidemiology
economics and policy
meteorology
Using genetic markers
to trace population
introduction and
subsequent range
expansion
Novak, SJ and Mack, RN (2001)
Bioscience 51: 114 -122
“Interdisciplinary thinking is rapidly becoming an integral
feature of research as a result of four powerful “drivers”: the
inherent complexity of nature and society, the desire to
explore problems and questions that are not confined to a
single discipline, the need to solve societal problems, and
the power of new technologies.”
National Academy Committee on Interdisciplinary Research
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, 2004
National Academy Press
“In NSF's approach to the environment, we are constantly
‘taking the long view’; stretching that view, across
disciplines, across time and across space. For almost two
decades, NSF has supported major, cross-disciplinary efforts
on the environment, ranging from global change--initially
focused on physical science--to biocomplexity in the
environment, grounded in biological science but involving all
disciplines. “
Dr. Arden Bement, Jr., Director, US National Science Foundation,
Address to the National Council for the Environment and Science,
February 2005
The Threat of Elevated Atmospheric [CO2] to Coral Reefs
H2O + (CO2)aq + CO32-
2HCO3-
As (CO2)aq increases, CO32- decreases
Reductions in [CaCO3] in seawater
have been correlated with reductions in
calcification of corals
Biosphere 2 Center, Tucson, Arizona
Biosphere 2 Center Coral Reef Ecosystem
Ecology as an interdisciplinary science
Although the challenges are more focused – the
approach is broader!
“In NSF's approach to the environment, we are constantly
‘taking the long view’; stretching that view, across
disciplines, across time and across space. For almost two
decades, NSF has supported major, cross-disciplinary efforts
on the environment, ranging from global change--initially
focused on physical science--to biocomplexity in the
environment, grounded in biological science but involving all
disciplines. “
Dr. Arden Bement, Jr., Director, U.S. National Science Foundation,
Address to the National Council for the Environment and Science,
February 2005