Organization:
Research Title: Ecological Rates of Change (EROC)
Funding Level (millions of dollars):
| FY94 | 3.0 |
|---|---|
| FY95 | 3.0 |
| FY96 | 3.0 |
Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Component:
(a) Subcommittee: Global Change Research Subcommittee (100%)
NSTC Committee on Fundamental Science
(b) Environmental Issue: Global Change (80%); Large-Scale Change in Land-
Use
(20%)
(c) Research Activity: System Structure and Function : Understanding
(60%); Impacts
and Adaptation: Ecological Systems (40%)
Organizational Component:
Division of Environmental Biology (DEB)
Directorate for Biological Sciences
National Science Foundation
Rm 635, 4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
Point of Contact:
Scott Collins
Phone: 703-306-1479
E-Mail: scollins@nsf.gov
Research Goals:
To analyze the processes through which natural and human-induced changes affect
ecological processes in order to improve predictions of the rates of adaptation,
habitat
modification and biome shifts resulting from global change.
Research Description:
The EROC program supports research on how global change, especially climate
change,
affects ecological processes. Both natural and human induced changes are included.
This
program underpins predictions of biotic responses to change, through quantifying
changes
in ecosystem functions, and in plant and animal frequency and abundance in time
and
space. Research concentrates on processes affecting ecological rates of change in
terrestrial
and freshwater ecosystems, habitats, and ecotones, and in species interactions,
abundance
and distributional limits, biological diversity, and gene pools. Results from EROC
supported research will lead to predictions of rates of adaptation, habitat
modification
and
biome shifts. EROC also contributes to understanding the ecological processes that
influence the Earth, including effects of the biota on climate, the geosphere, and
atmosphere. Large-scale experiments across a network of different ecosystems are
key
components of EROC. Examples of experiments include soil, carbon dioxide
augmentation, and landscape manipulations. In the network, ecological variables,
including trace gas fluxes and biological diversity, are monitored across a range
of
ecosystem types. Models incorporating climate change and based on comparative
data
sets
are being developed.
Program Interfaces:
EROC complements other NSF Programs such as ARCSS and BEC which also focus
on
understanding the interplay between biological systems and global change processes.
It
contributes to research conducted by oceanographic and atmospheric scientists
through
NSF programs as well as at mission agencies, and provides critical information for
Global
Circulation Models. It adds to programs in the US Forest Service (Forest Health
Monitoring Program), to DOE's Research Parks Network of Ecological sites, and to
the
EMAP program at the EPA. It links to interagency interaction through the SBI and
TRIG
projects and to international efforts such as the IGBP and the Diversitas program
(IUBS,
SCOPE, UNESCO)
Program Milestones:
Conduct of research projects that monitor and analyze rates of change of different
components of ecosystems and that distinguish between the impacts of natural vs.
human
induced causes on rates of change in ecosystems in l995 and following years.
Policy Payoffs:
Field experiments, observations and modeling will identify the ecological processes,
essential for ecosystem health, which affect and are most affected by global change.
EROC
research provides the knowledge for predicting ecological change; knowledge
needed
to
inform policy formulation related to biodiversity, desertification, and aspects of
biological
resource management.