Updated 21 November 2007
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Ecosystems |
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Updated 21 November 2007
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Ecosystems |
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Changing EcosystemsOverview Archived News Postings [June 2000 - July 2005] CCSP / USGCRP Ecosystems Working Group Members
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The terrestrial and marine ecosystems that make up the biosphere provide critical goods and services to humanity. These include food, fiber, fuel, genetic resources, pharmaceuticals, cycling and purification of water and air, regulation of weather and climate, and natural beauty. Recent and ongoing global environmental changes—including climatic change, changes in atmospheric composition, land-use change,
habitat fragmentation, pollution, and spread of invasive species—are affecting the structure and functioning of some ecosystems, and therefore the goods and services that they provide. In turn, many ecological effects of global environmental change have the potential for feedbacks (either positive or negative) to climatic and other environmental changes. Furthermore, because many global environmental changes are expected to increase in magnitude in the coming decades, the potential exists for more significant effects on ecosystems and their goods and services. Reducing scientific uncertainties about the potential effects of global change on ecosystems, as well as the feedbacks from ecosystems to global change processes, remains a CCSP priority. Efforts of the EIWG contribute to all five CCSP goals, with an emphasis on Goal 4 (to "understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes"). EIWG activities directly address questions 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 from the CCSP Strategic Plan. Synergies and interactions exist with other CCSP research elements, including, but not limited to, the Climate Variability and Change, Global Water Cycle, Global Carbon Cycle, and Land-Use/Land-Cover Change research elements.
See also: Ecosystems and Climate Change: Research Priorities for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program [PDF; 5.65 Mb]. Recommendations from the Scientific Community. Report (published June 2006) from the Ecosystems Interagency Working Group (EIWG) of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP).(posted 29 June 2006)
Ecosystems [also available:
PDF Version]. Chapter 8 from the Strategic Plan for the
Climate Change Science Program (July 2003).
Climate -- Ecosystem Interactions. Presentation from Breakout Session
14 of the US Climate Change Science Program: Planning Workshop for Scientists
and Stakeholders, 3-5 December 2002, Washington, DC.
Carbon Cycle -- Ecosystems -- Land Use/Land Cover. Presentation from
Breakout Session 20 of the US Climate Change Science Program: Planning
Workshop for Scientists and Stakeholders, 3-5 December 2002, Washington, DC.
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This research element studies the potential effects of global change on goods and services provided by aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, using observations, experiments, modeling, and syntheses to focus on critical emerging questions. Newly initiated projects in terrestrial ecosystems are addressing cause-and-effect relationships between climatic variability and change and the distribution, abundance, and productivity of native and invasive organisms. Further, research is continuing into understanding how increasing CO2 levels affect plants and microorganisms. Research in a Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is generating data to evaluate and forecast effects of warming, changes in fishing pressure, and eutrophication on economically important estuarine ecosystems. In the ocean, coral reef research is helping scientists and managers identify climatic and non-climatic stressors and thereby better manage these important ecosystems. 
In FY 2008, the CCSP Ecosystems Interagency Working Group (EIWG) will continue with its planning, implementation, and analysis of research programs to vigorously accomplish the CCSP Strategic Plan goals related to ecosystem research. One focus will be increased efforts to provide the scientific basis for improved ecological forecasts of the effects of climatic change on the structure and functioning of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, including the many goods and services that these ecosystems provide. The EIWG will continue its FY 2007 focus on the interplay between changing climate and the productivity and biodiversity of ecosystems, with an emphasis on improving understanding of ecological processes to accelerate model development and analysis. These activities will include the funding of two topics of particular urgency: (1) the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, to climate-related changes, including sea-level rise, increased sedimentation and runoff, increased storm frequency or intensity, saltwater intrusion, and oceanic warming; and (2) warming-induced changes in high-latitude and high-elevation ecosystems, including changes in species composition, alterations in the timing of water availability, and migration of the tree line. These topics require additional research on underlying ecological processes and responses and the development of models linking geophysical and
ecological phenomena. Strategies for implementation include new in situ experimental research projects; observations of ecosystems at local, regional, and global scales;
synthesis and analysis of diverse ecological data sets, including those from manipulative experiments; and ecological model development and evaluation. 
The agencies participating in the EIWG work collaboratively to plan and execute research described in the CCSP Strategic Plan. Many of the research accomplishments and plans described in this chapter are the
outcome of joint efforts among multiple agencies. A number of these activities also involve
collaborations between the agencies and non-Federal partners and cooperators. The EIWG actively engages the larger scientific research
community to obtain input to, and feedback on,
its evolving research plans.
