scholarly journals Interdisciplinary research approaches to address complex forest management issues

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-476
Author(s):  
Walt Klenner ◽  
Alan Vyse
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Forest Region ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Operational Issues

We examine the role of interdisciplinary research projects in providing information to forest managers about complex and long-term responses by forest ecosystems to managed and natural disturbances. Traditional research approaches focus on identifying issues, implementing the appropriate experimental design, conducting the work and disseminating information through peer-reviewed articles or internal manuscripts. Such independent studies can provide information about a specific issue, but do not necessarily consider long-term impacts or effects on multiple resources. Interdisciplinary research installations that focus on basic ecological processes, while addressing some operational issues of interest to managers can be used to complement traditional research programs. The Sicamous Creek silvicultural systems experiment in the Kamloops Forest Region, British Columbia is used as an example of such a project. We identify some of the benefits that large scale interdisciplinary projects have, how they complement traditional approaches, some of the challenges these projects face, and the administrative changes that should be undertaken to provide an environment in which such projects can develop. Key words: ecosystem research, long-term ecological research, interdisciplinary research, forest management

GERI – The emerging Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaana Bäck ◽  
Werner Kutsch ◽  
Michael Mirtl
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Research Infrastructures ◽  
Access To Data

<p>Ecosystem Research Infrastructures around the world have been designed, constructed, and are now operational as a distributed effort. The common goal is to address research questions that require long-term ecosystem observations and other service components at national to continental scales, which cannot be tackled in the framework of single and time limited projects.  By design, these Research Infrastructures capture data and provide a wider range of services including access to data and well instrumented research sites. The coevolution of supporting infrastructures and ecological sciences has developed into new science disciplines such as macrosystems ecology, whereby large-scale and multi-decadal-scale ecological processes are being explored. </p><p>Governments, decision-makers, researchers and the public have all recognized that the global economy, quality of life, and the environment are intrinsically intertwined and that ecosystem services ultimately depend on resilient ecological processes. These have been altered and threatened by various components of Global Change, e.g. land degradation, global warming and species loss. These threats are the unintended result of increasing anthropogenic activities and have the potential to change the fundamental trajectory of mankind.  This creates a unique challenge never before faced by society or science—how best to provide a sustainable economic future while understanding and globally managing a changing environment and human health upon which it relies.</p><p>The increasing number of Research Infrastructures around the globe now provides a unique and historical opportunity to respond to this challenge. Six major ecosystem Research Infrastructures (SAEON/South Africa, TERN/Australia, CERN/China, NEON/USA, ICOS/Europe, eLTER/Europe) have started federating to tackle the programmatic work needed for concerted operation and the provisioning of interoperable data and services. This Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI) will be presented with a focus on the involved programmatic challenges and the GERI science rationale.</p>

The Long-Term Ecological Research Stimulus: Research, Education, and Leadership Development at Individual and Community Levels

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Gosz
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Hubbard Brook ◽  
Research Education ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Reporting ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
Set Up

Through the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, I have learned to appreciate the complexity of environmental dynamics when they are analyzed at multiple time and space scales. My experience as a postdoctoral fellow and in the LTER program facilitated much of my understanding of interdisciplinary research because of access to multiple disciplinary approaches and accumulation of long-term and multiple- scale information. My teaching of science benefited through recognition of the need for a combination of a deep understanding of each discipline’s role in an issue (reductionist approach) and the collaborative need for integrating disciplines to fully understand complexity. No single discipline can answer the complexity in an environmental question. I have improved my communication with the public through the combination of teaching and research reporting. The challenge is to develop the information in ways that can be communicated: free of scientific jargon, containing only essential data, and developed in scenarios that are recognized as real-life situations. The public has many forms and levels of understanding—there are K to gray and ordinary citizens and policy-makers; consequently, communication needs to be targeted appropriately. I value the role of collaboration; there is tremendous satisfaction and reward from working in teams that can accomplish so much more than can an individual. This collaboration requires compromise, interaction, and time, but those that strive for this approach to science are well recognized. I am fortunate in being in positions that have created opportunities for sustaining a long career in stimulating interdisciplinary and collaborative science. I had a traditional forest management and soil science education (Michigan Technological University and the University of Idaho). However, my entrée into ecosystem science was set up by my very valuable postdoctoral fellowship at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest under the guidance of Gene Likens from 1969 to 1970, before the formation of the LTER program. The Hubbard Brook experience, quite literally, educated me about systems thinking, with the watershed approach to understanding integrated responses from complex, multifactor interactions and influences of forest management as disturbances.

The role of connectivity in Australian conservation

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Soulé ◽  
B. G. Mackey ◽  
H. F. Recher ◽  
J. E. Williams ◽  
J. C. Z. Woinarski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Landscape Permeability ◽  
Conservation Assessment ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Trophic Relations ◽  
Scientific Framework

The existing system of nature reserves in Australia is inadequate for the long-term conservation and restoration of native biological diversity because it fails to accommodate, among other elements, large scale and long-term ecological processes and change, including physical and biotic transport in the landscape. This paper is an overview of the connectivity elements that inform a scientific framework for significantly improving the prospects for the long-term conservation of Australia's biodiversity. The framework forms the basis for the WildCountry programme. This programme has identified connectivity at landscape, regional and continental scales as a critical component of an effective conservation system. Seven categories of ecological phenomena are reviewed that require landscape permeability and that must be considered when planning for the maintenance of biological diversity and ecological resilience in Australia: (1) trophic relations at regional scales; (2) animal migration, dispersal, and other large scale movements of individuals and propagules; (3) fire and other forms of disturbance at regional scales; (4) climate variability in space and time and human forced rapid climate change; (5) hydroecological relations and flows at all scales; (6) coastal zone fluxes of organisms, matter, and energy; and, (7) spatially-dependent evolutionary processes at all scales. Finally, we mention eight cross-cutting themes that further illuminate the interactions and implications of the seven connectivity-related phenomena for conservation assessment, planning, research, and management, and we suggest how the results might be applied by analysts, planners, scientists, and community conservationists.

The Forest Ecosystem Research Network of Sites (FERNS)

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Mitchell ◽  
C. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Research Investments

The Canadian Forest Service (CFS) has organized a National Forest Ecosystem Research Network of Sites (FERNS). These sites are focussed on the study of sustainable forest management practices and ecosystem processes at the stand level. Network objectives are to promote this research nationally and internationally, provide linkages among sites, preserve the long-term research investments already made on these sites and provide a forum for information exchange and data sharing. The 17 individual sites are representative of six ecozones across Canada and address the common issue of silvicultural solutions to problems of sustainable forest management. While the CFS coordinates and promotes FERNS, the network consists of local autonomous partners nationwide who benefit from the FERNS affiliation through increased publicity for their sites. Key words: long-term, silviculture, network, interdisciplinary, ecozone, ecosystem processes

The Long-Term Ecological Research Construct for Understanding Dynamics of Coral Reef Ecosystems and Its Influence on My Science

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell J. Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Disciplinary Expertise ◽  
Small Science

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program facilitated my scientific growth in terms of the questions I can address; the tools, approaches, techniques and data to which I have access; and the diversity of intellectual and disciplinary expertise that I can tap. As a consequence, I am asking questions that cut across much larger spatial and especially temporal scales, and my research projects are more interdisciplinary, complex, and integrated. My ability to mentor students at all levels has been transformed by the variety of resources and opportunities afforded by the LTER program. One consequence is that these students are better prepared to become engaged globally. My role in the LTER program has required me to communicate scientific issues and findings to a broad audience. I have become more interested in the translation of science findings to public policy and practices to help conserve key functions of threatened ecosystems. My involvement with the LTER program has enabled me to forge a much larger circle of national and international collaborators to address questions that require a network of similar sites. The LTER construct has enabled me to broaden the scope of my research by expanding the interdisciplinary nature of my collaborations and the diversity of tools at my disposal. My involvement with the LTER program began in 2000 when I joined the Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) site as an associate investigator, and it expanded in 2004 to include being the principal investigator of the newly established Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) site. I am privileged to continue to serve as principal investigator of MCR and as an associate investigator at SBC. My research interests center on ecological processes and feedbacks that drive the dynamics of populations and communities. Prior to my involvement in the LTER program, I conducted my research projects either alone or with a small group of like-minded collaborators to address such issues as regulation of (marine) animals with open populations or the effect of indirect interactions on coexistence of species (Figure 28.1). These projects taught me some of the limitations of “small science,” particularly when exacerbated by a lack of relevant long-term data.

Tales from a “Lifer” in the Long-Term Ecological Research Program

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra P. C. Peters
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Jornada Basin ◽  
Term Data

As a long-time member of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, first as a graduate student and scientist at the Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) site (1984–1997), then as a scientist at the Sevilleta (SEV) site (1996–present) and now as principal investigator at the Jornada Basin (JRN) site (2003–present), my professional career has been shaped almost entirely by my LTER experiences. My experiences in the LTER program directly contributed to my individual-based approach to ecosystem dynamics combined with the knowledge that the dominant ecological processes can change as the spatial extent increases, and that long-term data are critical to disentangle how these pattern–process relationships change across scales. The LTER program has provided me with international experience and exposure that are valuable to my career. My opportunity to travel overseas has led to bonding experiences and new insights into other ecosystems. My appreciation for the value of K–12 education and the amount of work that is involved in “doing it right” has been shaped by my experiences with the Jornada Schoolyard LTER Program. One of the key challenges that I face in working at an LTER site is the tension between continuing to collect long-term observations with the need and desire to test new ideas that often result from the long-term data but then compete for resources with the collection of those data. Another challenge is in mentoring young scientists to become principal investigators, and in cultivating new relationships with potential co–principal investigators. Currently, I am the principal investigator at the JRN LTER program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I am also a collaborating scientist at the SEV LTER program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I received my BS in biology at Iowa State University in 1981 and my MS in biology from San Diego State University (SDSU) in 1983. My LTER experiences began as a PhD student at Colorado State University (CSU) through the SGS LTER program in 1984, and these continued while I was a postdoctoral fellow (1988–1989).

Forty Arctic Summers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaius R. Shaver
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Student ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Umbrella Organization ◽  
Set Up

I was committed to long-term, site-based, research long before the Arctic (ARC) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site was established in 1987. Working with the LTER program since then has allowed me to reach my goals more easily than would have been possible otherwise. Because of my deep involvement in research in the LTER program, most of the examples I use in teaching now come from LTER sites. For the same reason, most of my communications with the public are about research in the LTER program. I learned the value of collaboration as a graduate student, from my earliest mentors and collaborators. Being a part of the LTER program has helped me to develop a wide array of enjoyable, comfortable, and productive collaborations. A message to students: be generous in all aspects of your research and professional life, because there is much more to be gained from generosity than there is to be lost. I helped set up the ARC site of the LTER program in 1987 and have made it the focus of my scientific career for the past 27 years. My experience with integrated, site-based, multidisciplinary ecosystem research actually began in 1972, however, when as a graduate student I worked with the US Tundra Biome Study at Barrow, Alaska (Brown et al. 1980; Hobbie 1980). The Tundra Biome Study and its umbrella organization, the International Biological Program (IBP), ended officially in 1974, but the ideas developed and lessons learned from these programs were central to the later development of the LTER program (Coleman 2010). These lessons were central to the formation of my own professional worldview; key among them was the idea that long-term approaches, including long-term, whole-ecosystem experiments, were essential to understanding distribution, regulation, and change in populations, communities, and ecosystems everywhere. My dissertation research, on root growth at the Barrow site, benefited greatly from the interactions I had with the diverse group who worked there. I finished my PhD in 1976, during a period when the need for a federally supported program of long-term, multidisciplinary, site-based ecological research was becoming increasingly clear.

scholarly journals The phytosociology of the Vermaaks, Marnewicks and Buffelsklip valleys of the Kammanassie Nature Reserve, Western Cape

Koedoe ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cleaver ◽  
L.R. Brown ◽  
G.J. Bredenkamp
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Groundwater Abstraction ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Vegetation Surveys ◽  
Baseline Information

Long-term conservation ecosystems require a broader understanding of the ecological processes involved. Because ecosystems react differently to different management practices, it is important that a description and classification of the vegetation of an area are completed. A vegetation survey of the valley areas of the Kammanassie Nature Reserve was undertaken as part of a larger research project to assess the environmental impacts of large-scale groundwater abstraction from Table Mountain Group aquifers on ecosystems in the reserve. From a TWFNSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, 21 plant communities, which can be grouped into 13 major groups, were identified. A classification and description of these communities, as well as a vegetation map of the different areas are presented. Associated gradients in habitat w ere identified by using an ordination algorithm (DECORANA). The diagnostic species as well as the prominent and less conspicuous species of the tree, shrub, forb and grass strata are outlined. The study also resulted in a total number of 481 species being identified and the discovery of a new Erica species. These vegetation surveys and descriptions provide baseline information for management purposes and that allows monitoring as well as similar surveys to be conducted in future.

Windthrow following four harvest treatments in an Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir forest in southern interior British Columbia, Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Huggard ◽  
Walt Klenner ◽  
Alan Vyse
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Random Trees ◽  
Abies Lasiocarpa ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Subalpine Fir ◽  
Engelmann Spruce ◽  
Lower Height

We used transect surveys at a large-scale experimental site at Sicamous Creek, B.C., to measure the effects of five treatments on windthrow: 10-ha clearcuts, arrays of 1-ha patch cuts, arrays of 0.1-ha patch cuts, individual-tree selection cuts, and uncut controls. We also examined edge effects and conditions predisposing trees to windthrow. Windthrow of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) in the 2.7 years following harvesting increased from 0.6% of basal area per year in uncut forest to 0.8-1.8% per year in harvested treatments, with highest rates in individual tree selection units and lowest rates in 0.1-ha patch-cut arrays. Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) showed similar patterns of windthrow but lower rates (0.2-0.7% of basal area per year in harvested treatments). Windthrow was concentrated near north and east edges of 1-ha and 10-ha openings but was dispersed throughout the more uniform treatments. Windthrown trees did not differ from random trees in diameter but had lower height/diameter ratios, probably reflecting the greater windthrow observed in subxeric sites on complex, elevated topography. The rates and distribution of windthrow in different harvest treatments have implications for ecological processes, salvage, long-term windthrow potential, and mitigation possibilities.

Biodiversity and Environmental Change

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Australian Continent ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research

This data-rich book demonstrates the value of existing national long-term ecological research in Australia for monitoring environmental change and biodiversity. Long-term ecological data are critical for informing trends in biodiversity and environmental change. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) is a major initiative of the Australian Government and one of its key areas of investment is to provide funding for a network of long-term ecological research plots around Australia (LTERN). LTERN researchers and other authors in this book have maintained monitoring sites, often for one or more decades, in an array of different ecosystems across the Australian continent – ranging from tropical rainforests, wet eucalypt forests and alpine regions through to rangelands and deserts. This book highlights some of the temporal changes in the environment that have occurred in the various systems in which dedicated field-based ecologists have worked. Many important trends and changes are documented and they often provide new insights that were previously poorly understood or unknown. These data are precisely the kinds of data so desperately needed to better quantify the temporal trajectories in the environment in Australia. By presenting trend patterns (and often also the associated data) the authors aim to catalyse governments and other organisations to better recognise the importance of long-term data collection and monitoring as a fundamental part of ecologically-effective and cost-effective management of the environment and biodiversity.

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