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The Growing Relevance and Role of the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers

Posted on: Friday, 6 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

Understanding ecosystems locally, regionally, and across the globe has never been as important as it is now. Over the last few centuries, human activity has accelerated the rate of environmental change, producing unanticipated, momentous consequences (Vitousek et al. 1997, Lubchenco 1998). Ecosystem researchers, managers, restorers, and policymakers face daunting challenges. Foremost among them is learning to manage ecosystems and landscapes effectively- that is, reconciling the needs of humans with the need to preserve ecosystem services, those natural processes by which the environment produces essential resources. We must also ensure that the next generation of students and educators, as well as policymakers and the general public, understand the underpinnings of environmental science. Failure would have devastating results as the new century unfolds and continuing human expansion makes more demands on environmental resources.

The Association of Ecosystem Research Centers (AERC), founded in 1986, is poised to play an important leadership role in the 21st century. AERC represents the majority of US ecosystem research centers on the leading edge of discoveries in the areas of carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, biological diversity, and land-use and climate change, among others. Those discoveries contribute to the solution of complex, large-scale environmental problems, resulting in better informed ecosystem management, innovative educational initiatives, and more successful restoration efforts. In other words, AERC has a long-standing commitment to fundamental and applied ecosystem research.

AERC, an active member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) since 1999, recently enhanced its affiliation with AIBS by supporting the AIBS Public Policy Office and other AIBS endeavors to educate the public and policymakers about matters vital to the well-being of Earth and its inhabitants. This relationship, coupled with recently renewed annual symposia, business meetings, and congressional briefings in Washington, DC, has strengthened AERC's linkage to federal and state agencies concerned with ecosystem research and its application to environmental problem solving. Institutional representatives recognize that AERC meetings have consistently provided a wealth of information on research challenges, funding trends, and outlooks, as well as opportunities to interact with congressional representatives and their staffs.

Historical perspective: The growth of ecosystem science and the AERC

Some observers believe that ecosystem science first became robust in the 1980s with the establishment of Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) centers (Callahan 1984, Hobbie 2003), sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF); the LTER centers were accompanied by the Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology program, also NSF sponsored (see the special section on the LTER network in the January 2003 issue of BioScience). Indeed, the temporal and spatial scales of ecological research evolved rapidly during that decade, complemented by emerging fields of study such as conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, landscape ecology, and restoration ecology (see Barrett [2001] for an overview of the expansion of new fields of study in the ecological sciences in the last two decades of the 20th century). Thus the need quickly grew for an organization or federation of research centers to coordinate and address challenges and opportunities related to the emerging large-scale research, training, and learning missions that these centers provide. This new organization would also need to include research centers not funded by traditional NSF programs, and it would have to provide a forum for individual investigators working in the field of ecosystem science.

Frank Golley, the first president of AERC and former director of the NSF's division of environmental biology, recognized the challenge. He sent a letter in July 1985 to numerous ecosystem ecologists to explore their interest in the organizational concept that led to the establishment of AERC, and he convened the first organizational meeting in January 1986 in Washington, DC. At this meeting, numerous scientists conducting ecosystem-level research were invited to attend a second organizational meeting, to be held three months later. This group of scientists formally approved the creation of AERC on 7 March 1986. At the next gathering, in December, Golley agreed to serve as interim president until the first annual meeting, set for October 1987; John Hobbie would be interim secretary and Gary Barrett interim treasurer. At the 1987 meeting, John Hobbie was elected president. (See table 1 for a list of AERC officers from 1987 through 2004.)

Hobbie, among others, stressed the need for a center to synthesize long-term and large-scale data, and AERC members outlined the opportunities that could arise from this concept. The discussion resulted in a workshop cosponsored by NSF and AERC, which-with additional strong support from the Ecological Society of America (ESA)-later led to the creation of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Sponsored by NSF, NCEAS is currently located in Santa Barbara, California, where AERC, chaired by then-president Gary Barrett, held its 1996 annual meeting in commemoration of the creation of NCEAS.

Most AERC annual meetings, to which each member center sends a representative, have been held in mid-November in Washington, DC. The last five meetings, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, have been held at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, which will most likely be the venue for AERC's annual meetings for several more years. AERC business is conducted at these meetings, of course, but the symposia are the key events: They offer a forum for discussing opportunities and challenges on the horizon of ecosystem research. These symposia are well attended not only by AERC members but also by representatives from federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Thus, the AERC meetings allow member centers to communicate with one another and to provide feedback to agencies and other organizations on topics of mutual concern. The breadth of the material covered in these meetings over the past few years is evident in the titles of the symposia: "Biodiversity in Ecosystems: How Does It Count?""EMAP,""The Freshwater Initiative,""Ecosystem Management, Ecological Risk, and Public Policy,""The Role of Private Foundations in Ecosystem Research,""Ecosystem Science and Society,""Ecosystem Science for the 21st Century,""Biocomplexity and Ecosystem Research: Necessities for the 21st Century,""Value of Ecosystem Research and Education: Priorities and Cross-Cutting Agency Initiatives "and "Agency Funding Agendas for Research and Applications."

Table 1. AERC officers, 1987-2004.

The symposium component of the 15th annual meeting, held in November 2002, focused on exploring the funding outlook for research in environmental and ecosystem research. David White, president of AERC at that time, served as moderator. Speakers were Adrienne Sponberg (ne Froelich; AIBS), John Hobbie (Ecosystems Center, Maine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole), Anthony Janetos (Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and Environment), Dave Radzanowski (Office of Management and Budget), Margaret Leinen (NSF), Diane Wickland (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Jerry Elwood (Department of Energy), and Mike Slimak (Environmental Protection Agency).

The symposium at the 2003 annual meeting was entitled "Lessons from Long-Term Studies of Natural Ecosystems." Louis Pitelka, AERC president, served as moderator. Featured speakers were Beverly Law (Oregon State University), Steven Wofsy (Harvard University), Tim Kratz (University of Wisconsin), Carol Boggs (Stanford University), and Jeffrey Goldman (AIBS, director of IBRCS [Infrastructure for Biology at Regional to Continental Scales] ). Adrienne Sponberg and Sasha Gennet of the AIBS Public Policy Office reported on a two- year project, sponsored by AERC, to track funding for ecosystem research.

We have found from our recent meetings that it is very difficult to track past and present funding levels for ecosystem research, in part because, unlike the case with many other scientific disciplines, ecosystem research is quite diffuse across federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Indeed, it is often difficult just to define what is and what is not ecosystem research, even within the programs of a single federal agency. If there could be only one take-home message from the 2002 and 2003 annual meetings, it would be that we have a critical need to be able to track the funding of ecosystem research (and education) in a more precise and timely manner.

AERC presently consists of 43 research programs in universities and private, state, and federal laboratories, and we anticipate continued membership growth as critical ecosystem and environmental issues assume even greater importance at national and international levels. AERC's member centers, with a combined research budget of more than 250 million dollars, represent more than 500 ecosystem scientists.

Expanding AERC's relationship with AIBS

Th\e association between AERC and AIBS began in 1999 when AERC became a member society. AIBS hosted AERC president Amelia Ward at the Congressional Visits Day in Washington, DC, and invited her participation, along with that of other presidents of AIBS's member societies, in the first AIBS-sponsored Presidents' Summit at the Airlie Conference Center in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. AERC expanded and strengthened this relationship when it became one of the initial contributing members to the AIBS Public Policy Office, established in 2001.

On 22 February 2002, AIBS, AERC, and ESA sponsored a roundtable, entitled "Bioterrorism Threats to Natural and Urban Ecosystems," at the National Press Club. Panelists were Mark Wheelis (University of California-Davis), who spoke about "Ecological Aspects of Bioterrorism"; Terry Yates (University of New Mexico and deputy director of the National Center for the Study of Emerging Viruses), whose topic was "How Do We Know if We Are Under Attack?"; and James Ehleringer (University of Utah), who addressed "Forensic Ecology and Bioterrorism." Mary E. Clutter, assistant director of NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences, and Tom Weimer, deputy assistant secretary for water and science, US Department of the Interior, provided commentary on the proposed National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON.

On 25 March 2003, AERC cosponsored a second National Press Club roundtable with AIBS and other AIBS member societies, this one entitled "Sensing the Environment: The Future of Environmental Observatory Networks." John Aber (University of New Hampshire), representing AERC, served as a panelist.

AERC also participates in the IBRCS Working Group, organized by AIBS with NSF support. IBRCS is exploring the infrastructure needed to make major advances in ecological disciplines that span regional and continental scales.

As previously mentioned, one outgrowth of the AERC 2002 and 2003 symposia and business meetings was wider recognition that federal support of ecosystem research was difficult to track. In the absence of basic information, it is almost impossible to present a convincing case for increased funding for such research to agencies, the Office of Management and Budget, and Congress. To further the process, AERC provided funds to the AIBS Public Policy Office to develop a strategy to track ecosystem funding data. In the past year, a database that includes both agency and investigator data has been developed. All the federal agencies that normally fund ecosystem research have agreed to provide information, and this process is ongoing. AERC will continue to provide funding for an AIBS intern to work on the project at least through 2004.

Future perspectives and new directions

When the AERC board of directors met in 1998 to review and reassess the goals and mission of the AERC, they agreed that the organization's original goals and challenges were still highly relevant and viable. The primary AERC objectives-ecosystems science advocacy, information dissemination, and ecological education- continue as compelling mechanisms for furthering the search for solutions to complex, large-scale environmental problems. The vision that launched AERC 18 years ago is now even more cogent and timely. The board noted, however, that more vigorous efforts are needed to increase the visibility of ecosystem and landscape research. Especially needed are more direct paths by which AERC can successfully connect member centers with key policymakers, a goal that is essential to long-term ecosystem health and to effective application of ecosystem science to current and future problems.

In the past five years, a renewed commitment and dedication to innovative ways to fulfill this vision have emerged from AERC member centers. In addition to documenting, analyzing, and synthesizing the sources of ecosystem science funding among agencies, AERC will continue to make the case for greater resources; to communicate the relevance and applicability of ecosystem science through participation in workshops, roundtables, and congressional briefings; and to facilitate implementation of promising agency programs that move ecosystem science forward. Clearly, the synergy and coalescence of resources enabled by the activities of AERC member centers, partnered with AIBS, will make ecosystem and landscape goals more attainable in the future than they would otherwise be.

To learn more about AERC, visit the Web site www.eco systemresearch.org.

References cited

Barrett GW. 2001. Closing the ecological cycle: The emergence of integrative science. Ecosystem Health 7: 79-84.

Callahan JT. 1984. Long-term ecological research. BioScience 47: 705-707.

Hobbie JE. 2003. Scientific accomplishments of the Long-Term Ecological Research program. BioScience 53: 17-20.

Lubchenco J. 1998. Entering the century of the environment: A new social contract for science. Science 279: 491-497.

Vitousek P, Mooney HA, Lubchenco J, Melillo JM. 1997. Human domination of Earth's ecosystems. Science 277: 494-499.

Amelia K. Ward (e-mail: award@biology.as.ua.edu) is with the Center for Freshwater Studies, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. David S. White is with the Center for Reservoir Research, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071. Gary W. Barrett is with the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. 2004 American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Copyright American Institute of Biological Sciences Jul 2004

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