Neon Addressing the Nation's Environmental Challenges (2004) / Chapter Skim
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2. Environmental Issues of National Importance and the Role of the National Ecological Observatory Network
2. Environmental Issues of National Importance and the Role of the National Ecological Observatory Network
Pages 23-46
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From page 23... ...
Although there are a few continentwide environmental monitoring programs Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiments, National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network, Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and so on those programs rarely link physical environmental changes to biological processes. To adequately study the sources of and seek solutions for environmental problems on this expanded range of scales, 23
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From page 24... ...
The loss of biodiversity can affect ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services of value to society. The loss of biodiversity and shifts in ecosystem composition range from local to continental scales, and thus must be studied on their natural scale if their national implications are to be understood.
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From page 25... ...
Invasive species affect virtually every ecosystem In the United States, and can cause substantial economic and biological damage. The identification of potentially harmful invasive species, the early detection of new species as invasion begins, and the knowledge base needed to prevent their spread require a comprehensive monitoring and experimental network and a mechanistic understanding of the interplay of invader, ecosystem traits and other factors including climate and land use that determine invasiveness.
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From page 26... ...
The six environmental challenges and the educational challenge have several common features that dictate that they be addressed through a nationwide network of sites. They are all regional, continental, or global in extent; for instance, invasive species and emerging diseases are of concern precisely because they spread across large portions of the nation and have substantial effects on human health, agriculture, natural resources, recreation, forestry, and other economically important endeavors.
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From page 27... ...
Experimentation should be complemented by long-term observations and some large-scale long-term monitoring that would demonstrate trends and provide signals for environmental changes. Just as a nuclear accelerator allows physicists to address fundamental questions that could never be answered observationally, a "climate accelerator" might allow environmental scientists to determine some of the potential changes in ecosystems in response to climate change without having to wait for 50 ~ 1 0 or 100 years of observation.
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From page 28... ...
The contribution of a network of biological infrastructure to education and how they complement each other are also discussed. BIODIVERSITY, SPECIES COMPOSITION, AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING Biodiversity (or biological diversity)
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From page 29... ...
2001~. It has been shown that the loss of plant diversity in those prairie grasslands led to decreased productiv~pr (Figure 2-1)
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To seek solutions to declines in ecosystem services due to diseases, species invasion, altered biogeochemical cycles, climate change, and land use, we need to know how these phenomena affect species composition 30
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From page 31... ...
The basic elements of life and important toxins are being distributed at regional and continental scales, and may be deposited as 'toxic snow' in remote and seemingly pristine sites as alpine and northern lakes (Schindler 1999~. Emissions of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur have altered their availability to land and water biota and created shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem function.
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From page 32... ...
Current estimates of carbon storage in the ecosystems of North America depend on the method used to derive. The development of the eddy covariance method for measuring net carbon balances over short periods has revolutionized ecosystem bio32
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From page 33... ...
A set of eddy covariance towers could be deployed to compare directly the effects of different land-use patterns, water-availability regimes, or pollution-deposition rates on gross and net carbon exchange. Continuous collection of flux data from such sites provides the basic information needed to test fundamental physiological hypotheses on land-use, water, and pollutant effects and would lead to the development of better models.
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From page 34... ...
Development of detailed biological-effect scenarios for a wide array of wild species and major ecosystems wiD require coupling of long-term monitoring with experimental manipulations in a replicated design across the major ecosystems of the nation. Characterization of climate change is possible only on regional to global scales, because data from single locations are extremely variable.
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From page 35... ...
are inadequate to characterize total carbon balance in the United States and provide little information on carbon balance in different ecosystems and on different land use and management practices (Houghton et al. 1999; see section on biogeochemical cycles)
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From page 36... ...
2001~. Because most zoonotic infections in humans are usually acquired from the environment and most emerging disease outbreaks are related to ecological disruptions, the study of zoonotic epidemiology requires fundamental ecological knowledge.
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From page 37... ...
Rodent predators had been reduced by hunting, so rodent abundance rose virtually unchecked, and this led to increased transmission of the virus in the deer mouse population and ultimately to humans. In addition to identifying ecological factors that promote disease emergence, we also need to understand the factors that promote disease spread and microevolution dynamics.
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From page 38... ...
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES FIGURE 2-2 A schematic overview of the cascade of ecological events that leads to increased hzlmar' risk to Manta Pzllmorzary Syndrome. The central ecological "er~girze' is the prodzlctior' of susceptible hosts ("Rodent demography "J throzlgh rodent reprodzlctior'.
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From page 39... ...
Once released into new environments, foreign species can become ecological dominants, disrupting agriculture, ecosystem function, or water flow, and displacing native species. Invasive species occur in every ecosystem in the United States, from shallow bays and rivers to lakes, forests, farms, and grasslands.
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From page 40... ...
As global trade increases, invasions are likely to multiply. The global visage of future human commerce wiD contribute to the creation of a global ecosystem biased toward weedy species unless invasion can be understood as an ecological process sufficiently to allow forecasting of the invasiveness of species and prediction of which potential biological agents would both be effective in controlling an exotic species and have the fewest detrimental effects on natural and managed ecosystems.
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From page 41... ...
LAND USE AND HABITAT ALTERATION In the National Research Council report Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (NRC 2001) , the challenge related to land and habitat use was described aptly: Humans have dramatically altered the Earth's surface.
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From page 42... ...
For instance, the NRC report on Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (NRC 2001) states that Human use of land, that is, what people do to exploit the land cover, has been the primary culprit in the estimated 2.95 minion km2 Of soils whose biotic function has been significantly disrupted by chemical and physical degradation including 1.13 million km2 disrupted by deforestation and 0.75 million km2 by grazing.
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From page 43... ...
1 J SIX LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES On the basis of observations, facts, and analyses (set forth in detail earlier in this chapter) , the committee identified six critical environmental challenges that are of national concern and that can be addressed only by research performed in a coordinated manner on regional to continental scales research that would require a network like the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
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From page 44... ...
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES understanding of the environment, together with an informed, scientificaDy literate citizenry, is requisite to improved quality of life for generations to come" (NSB 2000~. Fulfilling that role and the educational .
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From page 45... ...
In part as a result of deficiencies in science education, "Americans are ill prepared to understand the complex and intractable environmental issues that wiD be our greatest challenges in the years ahead," according to the 1999 National Report Card on Environmental Readinessfor the 21st Century (NEETF 1999~. The majority of the public harbor serious misconceptions on such issues as global warming, air pollution, and water quality.
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From page 46... ...
as Major physical sites, each with containment facilities appropriate for experimental introduction of invasive species into contained communities. Experiments would be designed to determine the mechanisms of interaction among native and invasive species and to enhance our capabilities to assess an ecosystem's vulnerability to species invasion.
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