The Geological Record of Ecological Dynamics Understanding the Biotic Effects of Future Environmental Change (2005) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Culture of Collaborative Research
4 The Culture of Collaborative Research
Pages 131-147
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From page 131... ...
Scientists seek research support for these activities, publish the research results, and generate solutions based 131
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From page 132... ...
A few scientists seek even broader collaborations that synthesize information across extensive areas of expertise in search of comprehensive understanding of the nature and scope of their discipline. Truly exceptional scientists can manage broad syntheses single-handedly, but such individuals are so rare that the scientific community must also develop team-based strategies to yield the insights that emerge from cross-disciplinary syntheses.
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From page 133... ...
New forms of collaboration, driven by the need to bring together broad expertise to address multidisciplinary questions, must be encouraged and facilitated. Although individual research will always be important, substantial or comprehensive collaborations are needed to address truly large and complex issues.
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From page 134... ...
While we must continue to place high value on individual research, we should also accept that the activities associated with collaboration and synthesis are especially valid contributions to scholarship and not a simple form of community service. Our current reward system embodies a complex, but well-known, system of credit.
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From page 135... ...
Biogeosciences Initiative, Directorate for Biosciences (BIO) funded centers such as the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the planned Center for Synthesis in Biological Evolution,
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From page 136... ...
Research Laboratories The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program at the National Science Foundation supports integrated ecosystems-level research at BOX 4.1 A Model for Successful Collaboration: National and International Ocean Drilling Almost 40 years ago, testing the seafloor spreading hypothesis was the impetus for a group of four U.S.
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From page 137... ...
At least three platforms would be used, with shallow continental shelves and the Arctic Ocean high on the list of scientific targets. During the last 40 years, the ocean drilling programs -- DSDP, ODP, and IODP -- provided the impetus and platform for development and test ing of a broad range of scientific hypotheses and concepts, including the movement of the world's continents described by plate tectonics, the dramatic history of global climate change from the Cretaceous world with polar forests to the modern world with its melting ice caps, the immense global thermohaline circulation system that moves water from shallow seas into the deep ocean, and the metabolic functions of microorganisms in the deep biosphere ecosystem far below the seafloor.
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From page 138... ...
Ecological processes at all sites were to be investigated by directing observations, measurements, monitoring, and experiments toward five major areas: · Pattern and control of primary production; · Spatial and temporal distribution of populations selected to represent trophic structure; · Pattern and control of organic matter accumulation in surface layers and sediments; · Patterns of inorganic inputs and movements of nutrients through soils, groundwater, and surface waters; and · Patterns and frequency of site disturbances. continued
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From page 139... ...
SOURCE: Long Term Ecological Research Network4; used with per mission. Although all the 26 LTER sites focus on the core objectives of the net work, each site has distinctive themes associated with each habitat type.
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The LTER Network now represents an important element in the research and intellectual infrastructure of ecology. Ecological research, which has both core elements emerging from theoretical and empirical approaches, and a scope that incorporates many allied disciplines, has flourished in response to the LTER Network.
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From page 141... ...
Furthermore, because the center relies on existing data, it has developed significant research efforts directed toward generic access to data. Field research in ecology often requires work in distant and isolated locations.
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From page 142... ...
Another important feature is the center's pleasant, neutral location; it is not on a campus, freeing participants in unanticipated ways to interact effectively. The facility, logistic support, and comprehensive computing and analytical support lower the activation energy to conduct interdisciplinary research and yield an intellectual ambience that promotes creativity and productivity.
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From page 143... ...
This requires data management and higher-order access concepts to promote integration across disciplines that have inherently different semantics. True generic access requires a distinct data management model that provides access to information in place of a uniform database structure.
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From page 144... ...
· The Paleobiology Database10 is an NSF-funded project that provides global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for marine and terrestrial animals and plants of any geological age, as well as webbased software for statistical analysis of the data. This project currently has 133 participants from 57 institutions in 11 countries and promotes collaborative efforts to answer large-scale paleobiological questions by developing a useful database infrastructure and bringing together large datasets.
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From page 145... ...
Chronos will also provide individual researchers with web-based tools to search for information relevant to research questions, Geographic Information System and Time Information System capabilities, correlation routines that can be remotely run on the San Diego Supercomputer, and the visualization tools necessary for the effective display and integration of information about the history of life on Earth. Still in its early stages of development, Chronos is also designed to provide outreach to students and the general public.
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From page 146... ...
research project,16 supported by NSF, is a collaboration between information scientists and geoscientists to develop ontologies and portals to link datasets and provide analytical and visualization tools to the geosciences community at large. The central Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains are being used as "test beds" to demonstrate how existing geophysical, structural, geochemical, paleontological, and paleogeographic databases can be linked to examine the tectonic, sedimentary, and biotic evolution of the two regions.
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From page 147... ...
promote collaboration through training, research, and analysis and synthesis. Although most of these particular examples are supported by NSF, they -- and other models that encourage collaborative research -- are easily exportable to other research and education entities, from individual campuses to government agencies.
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