Ecological Complexity and Ecosystem Services Opportunities for USChina Collaboration

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Ecological Complexityand Ecosystem
ServicesOpportunities for US-China Collaboration
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How Did We Get Here?A complex history

• 1998 Rita Colwell develops concept of
  biocomplexity as an NSF area for development.
• October 1998 Rita Colwell visits China,
  discusses NSF initiatives on biocomplexity
  (http//www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/forum/colwell/rc81012.h
  tm)

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From Dr. Colwells Address12 October 1998,
Chinese Academy of Sciences

• understanding biocomplexity" speaks to a deeper
  concept. It is not enough to explore and
  chronicle and record the enormous diversity of
  the world's ecosystems. We must do that. But we
  must also reach beyond, to discover the complex
  chemical, biological, and social interactions
  that comprise our planet's systems. From these
  subtle but very sophisticated interrelationships,
  we can pull out the fundamental principles of
  sustainability. Our survival as a human species
  and the ecological survival of the entire planet
  depend on our ability to achieve what is a truly
  interdisciplinary task.
• Scientific and technical cooperation played an
  important role in bringing the American and
  Chinese people together starting in the early
  1970s. Science and technology have continued to
  provide a framework for mutually beneficial
  interaction. In the coming century, partnering in
  scientific and technical endeavors will become
  even more central, not only to the progress of
  science, engineering, and technology but also to
  the promotion of peace and to the health and well
  being of humankind.
• Your colleagues and counterparts in America look
  forward to an era of joint scientific journeys
  with you. In the coming century, partnering in
  scientific and technical endeavors will become
  even more central, not only to progress of
  science but also to the promotion of peace.

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How Did We Get Here?A complex history

• 1998 Rita Colwell develops concept of
  biocomplexity as an NSF area for development.
• October 1998 Rita Colwell visits China,
  discusses NSF initiatives on biocomplexity
  (http//www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/forum/colwell/rc81012.h
  tm)
• Spring 2001 P. Firth contacts Elser
• August 2001 Elser submits proposal approved
  September 2001
• September 11 2001
• Spring 2002 Elser / Phillips / Chang / Firth
  renew effort.
• Fall 2002 Invitation process begins.
• December 2002 Chinese delegation, incl. Zhibin
  ZHANG, visits Washington DC, San Diego, and Tempe
  to meet with Firth, Chang, Elser, Phillips.

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Zhi-Bin ZHANG
Z. YU
J. GE
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(No Transcript)
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How Did We Get Here?A complex history

• 1998 Rita Colwell develops concept of
  biocomplexity as an NSF area for development.
• October 1998 Rita Colwell visits China,
  discusses NSF initiatives on biocomplexity
  (http//www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/forum/colwell/rc81012.h
  tm)
• Spring 2001 P. Firth contacts Elser
• August 2001 Elser submits proposal approved
  September 2001
• September 11 2001
• Spring 2002 Elser / Phillips / Chang / Firth
  renew effort.
• Fall 2002 Invitation process begins.
• December 2002 Chinese delegation, incl. Zhibin
  ZHANG, visits Washington DC, San Diego, and Tempe
  to meet with Firth, Chang, Elser, Phillips.
• Spring 2003 Team finalized itinerary
  finalized.
• March 2003 US - Iraq war begins.
• April 2003 SARS outbreak Tempe workshop
• ?

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What do we need to do here?

• Make a decision.
• Get to know each other.
• Learn more about issues related to ecocomplexity
  and ecosystem services in China.
• Learn more about protocols and other logistical
  matters involved in exchanges like this.
• Brainstorm about how to synergize our talents and
  interests to have the greatest impact during our
  visit to China.

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The basic concept
Person A
Person B
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The basic concept
Person A
TODAY!
Person B
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The basic concept
B
D
A
C
USA
China
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The basic concept
Big ocean Language Politics Culture
B
D
A
C
USA
China
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The basic concept
Big ocean Language Politics Culture
B
D
SCIENCE!
A
C
USA
China
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A Challenge to the Worlds ScientistsKofi
Annan, 7 March 2003, Science 299 1485.

• There are deep similarities between the ethos of
  science and the project of international
  organization. Both are constructs of reason, as
  expressed, for example, in international
  agreements addressing global problems. Both are
  engaged in a struggle against forces of unreason
  that have, at times, used scientists and their
  research for destructive purposes. Both strive
  to give expression to universal truths for the
  United Nations, these include the dignity and
  worth of the human person and the understanding
  that even though the world is divided by many
  particulars, we are united in a single human
  community.

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The Schedule
Today
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The Schedule
Tomorrow
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The Progress

• A decision was made. New goal May 2004?
• Main outcome of yesterday
• Need to maintain momentum
• Need to develop 4-5 key theme areas
• Need to develop and initiate interactions with
  broader cross-section of Chinese counterparts
• Will pursue above primarily via a series of
  Internet-facilitated activities.
• Today?

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Tasks After Tempe
Matt Initiate Web Page Sarah Lead NCEAS
application Jim Send copy of Smiths ES in
China paper to group talk to Bill about
prospects for science reporter on team. David
contact science reporter/writer Kathy follow-up
regarding web maintenance Jingle list of
additional Chinese counterparts
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Primary ThemesDeveloped in TempeTo be further
articulated during 2003-2004

• Concepts and Definitions
• Scaling of Ecocomplexity and Ecosystem Services
• Interface of the Social and Natural
• Broader Impacts

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Theme 1 Definitions and Concepts in biomplexity
and ecosystem services
What is biocomplexity? What are ecosystem
services? How are these related? Human
activities triggered by explosive human
population growth are rapidly altering Earths
environment. Many scientists seek to understand,
predict, and manage biological responses to
anthropogenic change. However, the highly
complex behaviors of Earths biological systems
make achieving these goals difficult
uncertainty and unpredictability are common and
events reverberate across space and time, making
surprises inevitable (Holling 1999). No one
discipline is likely to be able to successfully
tackle this complexity alone, making it
imperative that we develop a different approach
to science than has previously been widely
possible. Until recently, the nature of our
funding institutions and our day-to-day
interactions within relatively isolated
departments (silos) made environmental
problem-solving a formidable challenge. To begin
to meet this challenge with our Chinese
colleagues, in this theme we will articulate
operational working definitions of biocomplexity,
ecosystem services, resilience, and other key
concepts. Some initial attempts from previous
groups follow.
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Biocomplexity

• Biocomplexity properties emerging from the
  interplay of behavioral, biological, chemical,
  physical, and social interactions that affect,
  sustain, or are modified by living organisms,
  including humans
• Michener et al. 2001, p. 1018

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Resilience

• Resilience the capacity of an ecosystem or
  social system to tolerate disturbance without
  collapsing into a qualitatively different state
  that is controlled by a different set of
  processes
• The Resilience Alliance, www.resalliance.org

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Theme 2 Scaling of Biocomplexity and Ecosystem
Services
Understanding scaling and biocomplexity will be
mutually evolving endeavors. Too often the data
sets available to ecologists, and the experiments
conducted by ecologists, occur over small areas
(e.g., plots) and short times scales (e.g., the
field season). Increasingly, pressing ecological
problems ecologists are asked to remedy occur
over broad areas, across the boundaries of
multiple ecosystems, and often over long time
scales. One major focus of scaling is thus, the
"scaling up" of small, localized data sets to
predict patterns and processes over broader
spatial extents and longer time frames. This is a
challenge because translating information across
scales requires integrating information from
multiple levels of organization in order to
understand which key processes lead to
higher-order patterns and processes, and whether
linear extrapolations or non-linear threshold
responses need to be considered. An explicit
consideration of boundaries (both ecological and
geopolitical) and the characteristic scales of
different processes is necessary to understand
the extent over which extrapolations can be made.
Quantifying and understanding the sources of
uncertainty is also essential to this
endeavor. In this theme we will discuss key ways
in which scale of observation (in space and time)
affects our understanding of complexity and
ecosystem services. We will also discuss
different means by which such scaling can be
studied.
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Theme 3 Interface of the Social and the Natural
The integration of the study of social and
natural systems will be a critical thematic
component of the proposed project. Because
anthropogenic influence is ubiquitous throughout
the globe, human and natural systems are by
necessity inextricably linked. In recent years,
the trend in environmental research has been
towards interdisciplinary collaboration that
recognizes these linkages and interdependencies.
Unlike multi-disciplinary research, in which an
environmental problem is parsed into discrete,
disciplinary, parallel compartments, true
interdisciplinary research recognizes that
complex feedbacks are the rule rather than the
exception. This is especially true in the field
of ecological economics. While valuing ecosystem
services is a difficult and often controversial
goal, it is one way to communicate the importance
of ecosystem services, and therefore highlight
the risks of reducing native biodiversity and
altering the landscape. In this theme, we will
illuminate methods of valuation used in China and
the US, and identify appropriate case studies
where alternative management options would affect
services differently, and build Sino-American
collaboration in this area. Successful studies
will require quantifying the ecological patterns
and processes responsible for the provision of
services, the appropriate scales of analysis, how
human management will change a service, and the
financial value of the service. Examples of such
projects follow.
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Theme 3 Interface of the Social and the Natural
? Modeling the drivers of land use change,
including the feedbacks between those drivers and
environmental outcomes ? Effects on biodiversity
of environmental changes (e.g., land use change,
water management), the ecosystem services
provided by biodiversity, and the financial value
of those services. Water quality and quantity
(as it is affected by climate change,
eutrophication, chemical pollution) and fish
biodiversity ? Ecological and financial costs
and benefits of biological invasions, and how
they are partly determined by culturally-specific
values. Case studies might focus on species
exchanges in both directions (China to the US,
e.g., carps and US to China, e.g.,
crayfish) ? Dynamics of the emerging market for
land and resources in China ? Local community
and institutional management of natural
resources ? Schistosomiasis control. Weighing
non-target ecological costs against human health
benefits.
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• Theme 4 Broader Impacts of US-China Exchange on
  Ecocomplexiy and Ecosystem Services.
• The objectives and products of our US-China
  exchange should be of considerable interest to
  managers, public officials, and the general
  public. In addition, many of the environmental
  issues under consideration are often on the minds
  of students and therefore our activities hold
  considerable potential for involving students in
  the process of discovery of the ways that ecology
  affects economics and vice versa. In Theme 4 we
  will seek to identify the ways to achieve broader
  impacts from our exchange. Preliminary ideas
  emerging from the April meeting in Tempe include
• - connection to NSF Summer Institute in China
  program
• - interactions with natural resource managers and
  NGO personnel
• - development of project web page, including
  areas for general public and students
• - communication to the broad range of natural and
  social scientists about issues and opportunities
  involved in US-China exchange
• communication to the general public by including
  a popular science writer (e.g. NY Times) in the
  traveling group
• During the next year internet-facilitated
  interactions between US and Chinese participants
  will develop these and other ideas in order to
  maximize the general impact of our activities.

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Introductions of Group Members
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Elsers work and collaborations
IRCEB
Astrobiology
General partners in crime. (Urabe and Sterner)
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Elsers Map
Sterner
Cotner
Hobbie
Hessen
Dowling
Harrison
Garcia-Pichel
Kuang
Farmer
Tang
Fagan
Weider
Roopnarine
ASU
Markow
Enquist
Urabe
USA
Souza
Eguiarte
IRCEB
Astrobiology
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• Ecological Stoichiometry
• The study of the balance of energy and multiple
  chemical elements in ecological systems
• e.g. competition, herbivory, mutualism, food
  webs, biogeochemistry, etc.

• Biological Stoichiometry
• The study of the balance of energy and multiple
  chemical elements in biological systems
• e.g. cellular metabolism, growth and
  development, physiological homeostasis, behavior,
  evolutionary change, ecology, etc.

The first picture of a ribosome. Cate et al.
(1999) Science 285 2095-2104.
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Ecosystems Show Great Variation the CNP
Balance of Autotrophs and Herbivores
terrestrial
From Elser, J.J., W.F. Fagan, R.F. Denno, D.R.
Dobberfuhl, A. Folarin, A. Huberty, S.
Interlandi, S.S. Kilham, E. McCauley, K.L.
Schulz, E.H. Siemann, and R.W. Sterner. 2000.
Nutritional constraints in terrestrial and
freshwater food webs. Nature 408 578-580.
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Increased Light (or pCO2) Makes Algae P-Limited,
Lowers Their P Content, and Impairs P-rich
Herbivores
(Extra) High Light (380 µE / sq m / s)
(n 4)
(n 3)
Low Light (40 µE / sq m / s)
High Light (310 µE / sq m / s)
Daphnia
Algal PC
Algal C
Efficiency of Food Chain 30
Efficiency of Food Chain 7
LOOK HERE! EXTINCTION?
NSF Division of Environmental Biology (Ecology
Program) NSF Division of International Programs
(East Asia, Japan)
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The Growth Rate Hypothesis
variations in rDNA (IGS, copy )
Based on Elser, J.J., R.W. Sterner, E.
Gorokhova, W.F. Fagan, T.A. Markow, J.B. Cotner,
J.F. Harrison, S.E. Hobbie, G.M. Odell, L.J.
Weider. 2000. Biological stoichiometry from
genes to ecosystems. Ecology Letters 3 540-550.
The first picture of a ribosome. Cate et al.
(1999) Science 285 2095-2104.
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Variation Biomass P Content Is Due to Variation
in P-rich RNA
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R2 0.87 Slope 0.97
E. coli
Daphnia other zooplankton
Drosophila melanogaster
mesquite-feeding weevil
NSF IRCEB
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Variation in Body RNA and P Content Reflects
Changes in the rDNA Genome During Life History
Evolution
Selection Regime
Selection Regime
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Food P Content Determines Which rDNA Variant Wins
in Ecological Competition (Natural Selection)
Long rDNA variant wins when food is P rich (low
CP).
Short rDNA variant wins when food is low in P
(high CP).
L. Weider et al. (unpublished)
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Climatic Variation In Rainfall Alters Soil P
Supply Which Is Transmitted to Herbivore
Population Via Increased Plant P Content and
Ability to Generate RNA
Increased soil P raises plant P content (lower
CP).
Increased rainfall increases soil P availability.
Increased plant P content allows weevils to have
higher P content to make RNA for growth.
Resulting in higher weevil population densities
on P-richplants.
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IRCEB Bob Sterner Jim Cotner Teri Markow Bill
Fagan Jon Harrison Larry Weider Sarah
Hobbie Marcia Kyle Elena Gorokhova Wataru
Makino John Schade Kumud Acharya Michelle
Faye Art Woods Marc Perkins Irakli
Loladze OTHERS Jotaro Urabe Yang Kuang Dean
Dobberfuhl Take Yoshida Tom Dowling NCEAS working
group
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Evolution in microbe-based ecosystems Desert
springs as analogues for the early development
and stabilization of ecological systems
PIs
Tom Dowling, Biology Luis Eguiarte, UNAM Jim
Elser, Biology Jack Farmer, Geology
Ferran Garcia-Pichel, Microbiology Valeria Souza,
UNAM Carol Tang, Cal Acad Sciences
Other key participants
John Schampel, Biology Evan Carson, Biology Brian
Wade, Microbiology Peter Roopnarine, Cal Acad
Sciences
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Institutional Assets (ASU)

• CAP Urban LTER (Redman and Grimm, PDs Jingles
  ballgame)
• IGERT in Urban Ecology (S. Fisher, PI)
• NASA Astrobiology Institute (J. Farmer, PD)
• NSF IRCEB programs
• Biological stoichiometry (Elser)
• Declining amphibians disease (Collins PD)