Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page R1
ECOSYSTEM OF
THE FUTURE SERVICES:
HUMAN HEALTHSPAN
CHARTING A PATH TO
SUSTAINABILITY
Demography, Evolution, Medicine, and Bioengineering
TA S K G R O U P S U M M A R I E S
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAM SUMMARIES
Conference
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center
Irvine, California
November 10-13, 2011
OCR for page R2
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) team summaries in this publication are
based on IDR team discussions during the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative
Conference on Ecosystem Services held at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in
Irvine, California, November 10-13, 2011. The discussions in these groups were sum-
marized by the authors and reviewed by the members of each IDR team. Any opinions,
findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of
the IDR teams and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies
that provided support for this project. For more information on the National Academies
Keck Futures Initiative visit www.keckfutures.org.
Funding for the activity that led to this publication was provided by the W.M. Keck
Foundation. Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in
1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. In recent years, the
Foundation has focused on Science and Engineering Research; Medical Research; Un-
dergraduate Education; and Southern California. Each grant program invests in people
and programs that are making a difference in the quality of life, now and for the future.
For more information visit www.wmkeck.org.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-25242-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-25242-3
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press,
500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or
(202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
OCR for page R3
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of
distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the
furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the
authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a man-
date that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters.
Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of
the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers.
It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with
the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government.
The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at
meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior
achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy
of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences
to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination
of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the
responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to
be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues
of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the
Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in
1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s
purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in
accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become
the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and
the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both
Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles Vest
are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
OCR for page R4
OCR for page R5
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES KECK FUTURES INITIATIVE
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES STEERING COMMITTEE
STEPHEN R. CARPENTER (Chair) (NAS), Director of the Center
for Limnology, S. A. Forbes Professor of Zoology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
ANA V. DIEZ ROUX (IOM), Professor of Epidemiology, Director,
Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of
Michigan School of Public Health
GEORGE HORNBERGER (NAE), Director, Vanderbilt Institute for
Energy and Environment and Distinguished University Professor,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt
Institute for Energy and Environment, Vanderbilt University
HAL MOONEY (NAS), Professor of Biology, Department of Biological
Sciences, Stanford University
M. GRANGER MORGAN (NAS), Professor and Head, Department of
Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
REBECCA MORSS, Scientist, NCAR Earth System Laboratory, National
Center for Atmospheric Research
SUZANNE P. MURPHY (IOM), Researcher (Professor) Emeritus, Cancer
Research Center of Hawaii, University of Hawaii at Manoa
STEPHEN POLASKY (NAS), Professor of Ecological/Environmental
Economics, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota
WALTER REID, Director, Conservation and Science Program, The David
and Lucile Packard Foundation
BRUCE E. RITTMANN (NAE), Regents’ Professor of Environmental
Engineering; Director, Center for Environmental Biotechnology;
Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University
B.L. TURNER II (NAS), Gilbert F. White Professor of Environment and
Society, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and
School of Sustainability, Arizona State University
Staff
KENNETH R. FULTON, Executive Director
KIMBERLY A. SUDA-BLAKE, Senior Program Director
ANNE HEBERGER MARINO, Senior Evaluation Associate
CRISTEN KELLY, Associate Program Officer
RACHEL LESINSKI, Program Associate
v
OCR for page R6
OCR for page R7
The National Academies
Keck Futures Initiative
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES KECK FUTURES INITIATIVE
The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative was launched in 2003
to stimulate new modes of scientific inquiry and break down the conceptual
and institutional barriers to interdisciplinary research. The National Acad-
emies and the W. M. Keck Foundation believe that considerable scientific
progress will be achieved by providing a counterbalance to the tendency to
isolate research within academic fields. The Futures Initiative is designed
to enable scientists from different disciplines to focus on new questions,
upon which they can base entirely new research, and to encourage and
reward outstanding communication between scientists as well as between
the scientific enterprise and the public.
The Futures Initiative includes three main components:
Futures Conferences
The Futures Conferences bring together some of the nation’s best and
brightest researchers from academic, industrial, and government laborato-
ries to explore and discover interdisciplinary connections in important areas
of cutting-edge research. Each year, some 150 outstanding researchers are
invited to discuss ideas related to a single cross-disciplinary theme. Partici-
pants gain not only a wider perspective but also, in many instances, new
insights and techniques that might be applied in their own work. Additional
pre- or post-conference meetings build on each theme to foster further
communication of ideas.
vii
OCR for page R8
viii THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES KECK FUTURES INITIATIVE
Selection of each year’s theme is based on assessments of where the
intersection of science, engineering, and medical research has the greatest
potential to spark discovery. The first conference explored Signals, Deci-
sions, and Meaning in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering. The 2004
conference focused on Designing Nanostructures at the Interface between
Biomedical and Physical Systems. The theme of the 2005 conference was
The Genomic Revolution: Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious
Disease. In 2006 the conference focused on Smart Prosthetics: Exploring
Assistive Devices for the Body and Mind. In 2007 the conference explored
The Future of Human Healthspan: Demography, Evolution, Medicine and
Bioengineering. In 2008 the conference focused on Complex Systems. The
2009 conference explored Synthetic Biology: Building on Nature’s Inspiration.
The 2010 conference focused on Seeing the Future with Imaging Science. The
2011 conference focused on Ecosystem Services and the 2012 conference will
focus on The Informed Brain in a Digital World.
Futures Grants
The Futures Grants provide seed funding to Futures Conference partici-
pants, on a competitive basis, to enable them to pursue important new ideas
and connections stimulated by the conferences. These grants fill a critical
missing link between bold new ideas and major federal funding programs,
which do not currently offer seed grants in new areas that are considered
risky or exotic. These grants enable researchers to start developing a line of
inquiry by supporting the recruitment of students and postdoctoral fellows,
the purchase of equipment, and the acquisition of preliminary data—which
in turn can position the researchers to compete for larger awards from other
public and private sources.
NAKFI Communications
The Communication Awards are designed to recognize, promote, and
encourage effective communication of science, engineering, medicine, and/
or interdisciplinary work within and beyond the scientific community.
Each year the Futures Initiative awards $20,000 prizes to those who have
advanced the public’s understanding and appreciation of science, engineer-
ing, and/or medicine. The awards are given in four categories: books, film/
radio/TV, magazine/newspaper, and online. The winners are honored dur-
ing a ceremony in the fall in Washington, DC.
OCR for page R9
ix
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES KECK FUTURES INITIATIVE
NAKFI cultivates science writers of the future by inviting graduate
students from science writing programs across the country to attend the
conference and develop IDR team discussion summaries and a conference
overview for publication in this book. Students are selected by the depart-
ment director or designee, and prepare for the conference by reviewing
the webcast tutorials and suggested reading, and selecting an IDR team in
which they would like to participate. Students then work with NAKFI’s
science writing student mentor to finalize their reports following the
conferences.
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research Study
During the first 18 months of the Keck Futures Initiative, the Acad-
emies undertook a study on facilitating interdisciplinary research. The
study examined the current scope of interdisciplinary efforts and provided
recommendations as to how such research can be facilitated by funding or-
ganizations and academic institutions. Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research
(2005) is available from the National Academies Press (www.nap.edu) in
print and free PDF versions.
About the National Academies
The National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences,
the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the
National Research Council, which perform an unparalleled public service
by bringing together experts in all areas of science and technology, who serve
as volunteers to address critical national issues and offer unbiased advice to
the federal government and the public. For more information, visit www.
nationalacademies.org.
About the W. M. Keck Foundation
Based in Los Angeles, the W.M. Keck Foundation was established in
1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The
Foundation’s grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in
the areas of Science and Engineering Research; Medical Research; Under-
graduate Education; and Southern California. Each grant program invests
in people and programs that are making a difference in the quality of life,
now and in the future. For more information visit www.wmkeck.org.
OCR for page R10
x THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES KECK FUTURES INITIATIVE
National Academies Keck Futures Initiative
100 Academy, 2nd Floor
Irvine, CA 92617
949-721-2270 (Phone)
949-721-2216 (Fax)
www.keckfutures.org
OCR for page R11
Preface
At the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference on Eco-
system Services, participants were divided into fourteen interdisciplinary
research teams. The teams spent nine hours over two days exploring diverse
challenges at the interface of science, engineering, and medicine. The com-
position of the teams was intentionally diverse, to encourage the generation
of new approaches by combining a range of different types of contributions.
The teams included researchers from science, engineering, and medicine, as
well as representatives from private and public funding agencies, universi-
ties, businesses, journals, and the science media. Researchers represented a
wide range of experience—from postdoc to those well established in their
careers—from a variety of disciplines that included science and engineering,
medicine, physics, biology, economics and behavioral science.
The teams needed to address the challenge of communicating and
working together from a diversity of expertise and perspectives as they at-
tempted to solve a complicated, interdisciplinary problem in a relatively
short time. Each team decided on its own structure and approach to tackle
the problem. Some teams decided to refine or redefine their problems based
on their experience.
Each team presented two brief reports to all participants: (1) an interim
report on Saturday to debrief on how things were going, along with any
special requests; and (2) a final briefing on Sunday, when each team
xi
OCR for page R12
xii PREFACE
• provided a concise statement of the problem;
• outlined a structure for its solution;
• identified the most important gaps in science and technology and
recommended research areas needed to attack the problem; and
• indicated the benefits to society if the problem could be solved.
Each IDR team included a graduate student in a university science
writing program. Based on the team interaction and the final briefings, the
students wrote the following summaries, which were reviewed by the team
members. These summaries describe the problem and outline the approach
taken, including what research needs to be done to understand the funda-
mental science behind the challenge, the proposed plan for engineering the
application, the reasoning that went into it, and the benefits to society of
the problem solution. Due to the popularity of some topics, two or three
teams were assigned to explore the subjects.
Nine podcasts were launched throughout the summer to help bridge
the gaps in terminology used by the various disciplines. Participants were
encouraged to listen to all of the podcasts prior to the November conference.
OCR for page R13
Contents
Conference Summary 1
IDR TEAM SUMMARIES
Team 1: How do ecosystem services affect infectious and
chronic diseases? 7
Team 2: Identify what resources can be produced renewably
or recovered by developing intense technologies that can be
applied on a massive scale. 15
Team 3: Develop social and technical capabilities to respond
to abrupt changes in ecosystem services. 23
Team 4: Design agricultural and aquacultural systems that
provide food security while maintaining the full set of
ecosystem services needed from landscapes and seascapes. 31
IDR Team Summary, Group A, 33
IDR Team Summary, Group B, 38
IDR Team Summary, Group C, 41
Team 5: Design production systems for ecosystem services that
improve human outcomes related to food and nutrition. 47
xiii
OCR for page R14
xiv CONTENTS
Team 6: Develop appropriate methods to accurately value
natural capital and ecosystem services. 55
IDR Team Summary, Group A, 57
IDR Team Summary, Group B, 63
IDR Team Summary, Group C, 67
Team 7: Design a federal policy to maintain or improve
natural capital and ecosystem services within the United
States, including measuring and documenting the
effectiveness of the policy. 73
IDR Team Summary, Group A, 75
IDR Team Summary, Group B, 80
Team 8: Design a system for international trade that
accounts for impacts on ecosystem services. 85
Team 9: Develop a program that increases the American
public’s appreciation of the basic principles of ecosystem services. 93
APPENDIXES
List of Podcast Tutorials 103
Agenda 105
Participants 109
To listen to the podcasts or view the conference presentations,
please visit our website at www.keckfutures.org.
