scholarly journals Critical Zone Science in the Anthropocene: Opportunities for biogeographic and ecological theory and praxis to drive earth science integration

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Minor ◽  
Jessie K Pearl ◽  
Mallory L Barnes ◽  
Tony R Colella ◽  
Patrick C Murphy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Earth Science ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Shallow Subsurface ◽  
Rate Dependent ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Earth’S Critical Zone

Critical Zone Science (CZS) represents a powerful confluence of research agendas, tools, and techniques for examining the complex interactions between biotic and abiotic factors located at the interface of the Earth’s surface and shallow subsurface. Earth’s Critical Zone houses and sustains terrestrial life, and its interacting subsystems drive macroecological patterns and processes at a variety of spatial scales. Despite the analytical power of CZS to understand and characterize complicated rate-dependent processes, CZS has done less to capture the effects of disturbance and anthropogenic influences on Critical Zone processes, although some Critical Zone Observatories focus on disturbance and regeneration. Methodological approaches from biogeography and ecology show promise for providing Critical Zone researchers with tools for incorporating the effects of ecological and anthropogenic disturbance into fine-grained studies of important Earth processes. Similarly, mechanistic insights from CZS can inform biogeographical and ecological interpretations of pattern and process that operate over extensive spatial and temporal scales. In this paper, we illustrate the potential for productive nexus opportunities between CZS, biogeography, and ecology through use of an integrated model of energy and mass flow through various subsystems of the Earth’s Critical Zone. As human-induced effects on biotic and abiotic components of global ecosystems accelerate in the Anthropocene, we argue that the long temporal and broad spatial scales traditionally studied in biogeography can be constructively combined with the quantifiable processes of energy and mass transfer through the Critical Zone to answer pressing questions about future trajectories of land cover change, post-disturbance recovery, climate change impacts, and urban hydrology and ecology.

Critical Zone Observatories: Building a network to advance interdisciplinary study of Earth surface processes

2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Anderson ◽  
R. C. Bales ◽  
C. J. Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Transport ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Dynamic Interface ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study

AbstractWe live at the dynamic interface between the solid Earth and its outer fluid envelopes. This interface, extending from the outer vegetation canopy to the base of active groundwater, was recently named the Critical Zone because it supports life and is increasingly impacted by human actions. Understanding the complex interactions between processes that operate in and shape the Critical Zone requires interdisciplinary approaches that span wide spatial and temporal scales. Tectonic processes, weathering, fluid transport, and biological processes control the function and structure of the Critical Zone. Three Critical Zone Observatories recently established by the U.S. National Science Foundation are designed to integrate studies of process interactions up to the watershed scale. A goal of the program is to build the three independently conceived observatories into a network from which broader understanding — larger spatial scales but also deeper insight — can emerge.

Scaling Issues in Landscape Ecology

2019 ◽  
pp. 14-41
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. With
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Ecology ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Ecological Forecasting ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Over Time

Spatial patterns are ubiquitous in nature, and ecological systems exhibit patchiness (heterogeneity) across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Landscape ecology is explicitly concerned with understanding how scale affects the measurement of heterogeneity and the scale(s) at which spatial pattern is important for ecological phenomena. Patterns and processes measured at fine spatial scales and over short time periods are unlikely to behave similarly at broader scales and extended time periods. An understanding of pattern-process linkages, a major research focus in landscape ecology, thus requires an understanding of how patterns change with scale, spatially and temporally. The development of methods for extrapolating information across scales is necessary for predicting how landscapes will change over time as well as for ecological forecasting. This chapter explores how scaling issues affect ecological investigations, discusses problems in identifying the correct scale for research, and outlines when and how ecological data can be extrapolated.

Putting the geo back into Biogeosciences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Schrodt
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Interaction Approach ◽  
And Function

<p>We increasingly recognize the diversity of biological systems, in terms of taxonomy, phylogeny and function, as well as the importance of biotic interactions in shaping them. However, the diversity of abiotic factors and interactions between biotic and abiotic diversity are still understudied, despite of Alexander from Humboldt’s advocacy over 200 years ago (Schrodt et al. 2019a). As such, we have lost sight of one of fundamental concepts of Biogeosciences: holistic integrative studies of patterns and processes across the Earth’s spheres.</p><p>In the face of accelerated anthropogenic and natural change of biotic and abiotic aspects, appreciation of the interaction diversity between all spheres of the Earth is urgently needed. Yet, to date, the vast majority of studies only account for the effect of climate and, potentially, soils on biodiversity, ignoring interactions (e.g. the effect of biodiversity on soils) and other aspects of geodiversity (the range, value and dynamics of geological, geomorphological, pedological and hydrological aspects and features of the Earth’s surface and subsurface). This applies to both, primary science and the science-policy interface.</p><p>I will give a brief introduction on the state-of-the-art in geodiversity – biodiversity interaction research, discuss the importance of incorporating the diversity of abiotic factors in biodiversity and conservation studies and indicate promising avenues for further research. This includes theoretical advancements, such as the recently introduced Essential Geodiversity Variables framework (Schrodt et al. 2019b), as well as practical matters, including remote sensing (Lausch et al. 2019) and modelling approaches suitable for expanding the geo- biodiversity interaction approach across the relevant spatial and temporal scales.</p><p> </p><p>F Schrodt et al. (2019a) Challenges and opportunities for biogeography—What can we still learn from von Humboldt? Journal of Biogeography</p><p> </p><p>F Schrodt et al. (2019b) To advance sustainable stewardship, we must document not only biodiversity but geodiversity. PNAS 116 (33): 16155 – 16158</p><p> </p><p>A Lausch et al. (2019) Linking remote sensing and geodiversity and their traits relevant to biodiversity—part I: soil characteristics. Remote sensing 11 (20): 2356-2407</p>

scholarly journals Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Migration: Weather, Radars, and Aeroecology

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 669-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip B. Chilson ◽  
Winifred F. Frick ◽  
Jeffrey F. Kelly ◽  
Kenneth W. Howard ◽  
Ronald P. Larkin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Earth Science ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Weather Radars ◽  
Radar Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Patterns And Processes

Aeroecology is an emerging scientific discipline that integrates atmospheric science, Earth science, geography, ecology, computer science, computational biology, and engineering to further the understanding of biological patterns and processes. The unifying concept underlying this new transdisciplinary field of study is a focus on the planetary boundary layer and lower free atmosphere (i.e., the aerosphere), and the diversity of airborne organisms that inhabit and depend on the aerosphere for their existence. Here, we focus on the role of radars and radar networks in aeroecological studies. Radar systems scanning the atmosphere are primarily used to monitor weather conditions and track the location and movements of aircraft. However, radar echoes regularly contain signals from other sources, such as airborne birds, bats, and arthropods. We briefly discuss how radar observations can be and have been used to study a variety of airborne organisms and examine some of the many potential benefits likely to arise from radar aeroecology for meteorological and biological research over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Radar systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated with the advent of innovative signal processing and dual-polarimetric capabilities. These capabilities should be better harnessed to promote both meteorological and aeroecological research and to explore the interface between these two broad disciplines. We strongly encourage close collaboration among meteorologists, radar scientists, biologists, and others toward developing radar products that will contribute to a better understanding of airborne fauna.

Patterns and processes of sediment sorting in gravel-bed rivers

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Mark Powell
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Rough Bed ◽  
Grain Size Distributions ◽  
Coarse Surface ◽  
Sediment Sorting ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Bed Material

Sedimentological studies of coarse-grained alluvial rivers reveal patterns of bed material sorting at a variety of spatial scales ranging from downstream fining over the length of the long profile to the vertical segregation of a coarse surface layer at the scale of individual particles. This article reviews the mechanisms that sort bed material by size during sediment entrainment, transport and deposition and discusses some of the inter-relationships that exist between patterns and processes of sediment sorting at different spatial and temporal scales. At initiation of motion, sorting can arise from the preferential entrainment of the finer fractions from the heterogeneous bed sediments. Bedload grain-size distributions are modified during transport as different size fractions are routed along different transport pathways under the influence of nonuniform bed topography and associated flow patterns, and during deposition as the variable pocket geometry of the rough bed surface and turbulence intensity of the flow control the size of the particles that deposit. The review highlights the poor understanding of the many feedback linkages that exist between patterns and processes of sediment sorting at different scales and the need for a greater awareness of the spatial and temporal bounds of these linkages.

Fruit and flower phenology at two sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Chapman ◽  
R. W. Wrangham ◽  
L. J. Chapman ◽  
D. K. Kennard ◽  
A. E. Zanne
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Temperature ◽  
National Park ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
High Irradiance ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Kibale National Park ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales

Examination of phenological patterns of tropical trees at different temporal and spatial scales can elucidate biotic and abiotic factors that correlate with fruiting, flowering and/or leaf set patterns. In this study, 3793 trees from 104 species in Kibale National Park, Uganda were monitored. The trees were selected from two sites (Kanyawara and Ngogo) separated by 10 km. Trees were monitored monthly to document community-wide and population-level fruiting and flowering patterns for a maximum of 76 mo. Analysis of two sites over a number of years permitted examination of generalities of patterns found on smaller spatial and temporal scales. Spectral analysis indicated that community-level flowering and fruiting at Kanyawara exhibited regular annual peaks, although the flowering peaks were of shorter duration. At Ngogo, community-level flowering also displayed regular annual peaks, but fruiting had an irregular pattern with no distinct peaks. The abundance of fruiting trees at Kanyawara was negatively related to the minimum temperature in the previous season (3–7 mo prior). Since fruiting tended to peak when the first wet season of the year was ending and the dry season was beginning, this suggests that the minimum temperature in the previous dry season is important in determining how many individuals fruit. Flowering at Kanyawara peaked immediately after the maximum annual period of high irradiance. Within-species synchronization was evident in the flowering for all species examined at Ngogo and for 64% of those at Kanyawara. Fruiting was synchronous within species for 64% of the species at both sites. Despite this general community-level synchronization, the months of peak fruiting and flowering for some species varied markedly among years. Furthermore, for a number of species the timing of fruiting or flowering events differed between Kanyawara and Ngogo. For some species, trends that were suggested from one year of data were not supported when additional years were considered. Although these two sites are close together, share many of the same species, and experience similar climatic regimes, many phenological patterns were site-dependent.

scholarly journals Repeated surveying over 6 years reveals that fine-scale habitat variables are key to tropical mountain ant assemblage composition and functional diversity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mulalo M. Muluvhahothe ◽  
Grant S. Joseph ◽  
Colleen L. Seymour ◽  
Thinandavha C. Munyai ◽  
Stefan H. Foord
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Composition Analysis ◽  
Fine Scale

AbstractHigh-altitude-adapted ectotherms can escape competition from dominant species by tolerating low temperatures at cooler elevations, but climate change is eroding such advantages. Studies evaluating broad-scale impacts of global change for high-altitude organisms often overlook the mitigating role of biotic factors. Yet, at fine spatial-scales, vegetation-associated microclimates provide refuges from climatic extremes. Using one of the largest standardised data sets collected to date, we tested how ant species composition and functional diversity (i.e., the range and value of species traits found within assemblages) respond to large-scale abiotic factors (altitude, aspect), and fine-scale factors (vegetation, soil structure) along an elevational gradient in tropical Africa. Altitude emerged as the principal factor explaining species composition. Analysis of nestedness and turnover components of beta diversity indicated that ant assemblages are specific to each elevation, so species are not filtered out but replaced with new species as elevation increases. Similarity of assemblages over time (assessed using beta decay) did not change significantly at low and mid elevations but declined at the highest elevations. Assemblages also differed between northern and southern mountain aspects, although at highest elevations, composition was restricted to a set of species found on both aspects. Functional diversity was not explained by large scale variables like elevation, but by factors associated with elevation that operate at fine scales (i.e., temperature and habitat structure). Our findings highlight the significance of fine-scale variables in predicting organisms’ responses to changing temperature, offering management possibilities that might dilute climate change impacts, and caution when predicting assemblage responses using climate models, alone.

scholarly journals A Comparison between One-Step and Two-Step Nesting Strategy in the Dynamical Downscaling of Regional Climate Model COSMO-CLM at 2.2 km Driven by ERA5 Reanalysis

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Mario Raffa ◽  
Alfredo Reder ◽  
Marianna Adinolfi ◽  
Paola Mercogliano
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Dynamical Downscaling ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Medium Range Weather Forecast ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
One Step

Recently, the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) has released a new generation of reanalysis, acknowledged as ERA5, representing at the present the most plausible picture for the current climate. Although ERA5 enhancements, in some cases, its coarse spatial resolution (~31 km) could still discourage a direct use of precipitation fields. Such a gap could be faced dynamically downscaling ERA5 at convection permitting scale (resolution < 4 km). On this regard, the selection of the most appropriate nesting strategy (direct one-step against nested two-step) represents a pivotal issue for saving time and computational resources. Two questions may be raised within this context: (i) may the dynamical downscaling of ERA5 accurately represents past precipitation patterns? and (ii) at what extent may the direct nesting strategy performances be adequately for this scope? This work addresses these questions evaluating two ERA5-driven experiments at ~2.2 km grid spacing over part of the central Europe, run using the regional climate model COSMO-CLM with different nesting strategies, for the period 2007–2011. Precipitation data are analysed at different temporal and spatial scales with respect to gridded observational datasets (i.e., E-OBS and RADKLIM-RW) and existing reanalysis products (i.e., ERA5-Land and UERRA). The present work demonstrates that the one-step experiment tendentially outperforms the two-step one when there is no spectral nudging, providing results at different spatial and temporal scales in line with the other existing reanalysis products. However, the results can be highly model and event dependent as some different aspects might need to be considered (i.e., the nesting strategies) during the configuration phase of the climate experiments. For this reason, a clear and consolidated recommendation on this topic cannot be stated. Such a level of confidence could be achieved in future works by increasing the number of cities and events analysed. Nevertheless, these promising results represent a starting point for the optimal experimental configuration assessment, in the frame of future climate studies.

scholarly journals Wavelet-based spatial comparison technique for analysing and evaluating two-dimensional geophysical model fields

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Saux Picart ◽  
M. Butenschön ◽  
J. D. Shutler
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Data ◽  
Fishery Management ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Original Method ◽  
Precipitation Forecast ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Geographical Patterns ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Model

Abstract. Complex numerical models of the Earth's environment, based around 3-D or 4-D time and space domains are routinely used for applications including climate predictions, weather forecasts, fishery management and environmental impact assessments. Quantitatively assessing the ability of these models to accurately reproduce geographical patterns at a range of spatial and temporal scales has always been a difficult problem to address. However, this is crucial if we are to rely on these models for decision making. Satellite data are potentially the only observational dataset able to cover the large spatial domains analysed by many types of geophysical models. Consequently optical wavelength satellite data is beginning to be used to evaluate model hindcast fields of terrestrial and marine environments. However, these satellite data invariably contain regions of occluded or missing data due to clouds, further complicating or impacting on any comparisons with the model. This work builds on a published methodology, that evaluates precipitation forecast using radar observations based on predefined absolute thresholds. It allows model skill to be evaluated at a range of spatial scales and rain intensities. Here we extend the original method to allow its generic application to a range of continuous and discontinuous geophysical data fields, and therefore allowing its use with optical satellite data. This is achieved through two major improvements to the original method: (i) all thresholds are determined based on the statistical distribution of the input data, so no a priori knowledge about the model fields being analysed is required and (ii) occluded data can be analysed without impacting on the metric results. The method can be used to assess a model's ability to simulate geographical patterns over a range of spatial scales. We illustrate how the method provides a compact and concise way of visualising the degree of agreement between spatial features in two datasets. The application of the new method, its handling of bias and occlusion and the advantages of the novel method are demonstrated through the analysis of model fields from a marine ecosystem model.

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