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The Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatories (SIGEO) are an outgrowth of and companion to the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS). SIGEO builds on and expands the CTFS global network of forest plots, transforming it into a platform for a broader range of scientific investigations. CTFS research on tropical forest dynamics continues, but joins new initiatives to study carbon fluxes, temperate forests, and the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and forest function.

In the environmental sciences, SIGEO stands as one of the premier US-led international partnerships. Because of its extensive biological monitoring, unique databases, and the expertise of its partners, SIGEO promises to enhance society’s ability to evaluate and respond to the impacts of global climate change.

 

Measuring the Effects of Climate Change

Global climate systems and life on Earth are changing fast. To effectively respond, policymakers and scientists need long-term objective data that will enable them to distinguish the effects of climate change caused by human activities from those caused by natural planetary processes. They will need long-term global data on both the fluctuations of primary productivity in forests and changes in the abundance and distribution of biological diversity.

The Smithsonian Institution will provide those data by extending the CTFS network of tropical forest plots into the temperate zone and monitoring vertebrates, insects, and soil microorganisms throughout the network. SIGEO initiatives will build on the international research infrastructure and ecological expertise of CTFS to answer such questions as:

• Is climate change causing increases or decreases in forest biomass, and does the rate of carbon sequestered by forests vary with latitude?
• How are the diversity and relative abundance of forest organisms changing over time and space?
• What components of measured environmental changes are due to human activities?
• How can we modify our behavior and economies to reverse or slow down harmful environmental impacts caused by climate change?

Cutting-edge science within the SIGEO network will provide the real-time, detailed and structured data required to answer these questions and address the environmental impacts of a changing climate.

 

Leveraging Intellectual Power & Building Capacity

Because of its many partners and independent university-associated faculty, SIGEO leverages powerful intellectual force. Over 200 scientists and policy analysts have published more than 1,000 scientific articles based on SIGEO data, many in the high-profile journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Science, and Nature, attesting to the relevance and high impact of the science and policy issues being studied across the network (Figure 1). The number and high-profile nature of these publications demonstrate the value of long-term, high-quality, standardized data collected across a global network.

Scientific education and training have always been major components of SIGEO. Over decades, the network has developed capacity-building expertise around the world (Figures 2 & 3) and the expanding research program creates new opportunities to employ that expertise and build further professional capacity in the developing world. Training workshops for local students and scientists will help ensure that the climate-change and biodiversity monitory that we initiate leads to sustainable management of natural resources in the countries where we work.


Figure 1
Figure 2
 Figure 3


Collaboration

SIGEO is about scientific collaboration. It is an international network of hundreds of collaborators from dozens institutions (Table 1) that have worked together for decades to conduct world-class science. The individual forest plots are led and managed in each country by one or more partner institutions. In conjunction with host-country partners, SIGEO coordinates plots in Asia through a partnership with the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

The Smithsonian Institution is uniquely positioned to use SIGEO to broaden interdisciplinary research on complex biological systems at a global scale. It will do this by extending SIGEO research into temperate regions and facilitating collaboration between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and other Smithsonian research units, including the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the National Zoological Park’s Conservation and Research Center, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Through SIGEO, the Smithsonian is also building and strengthening collaborations with other federal agencies of the United States, including the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, US Forest Service, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These collaborative efforts focus particularly on implementing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which is coordinated by the Group on Earth Observations, an intergovernmental organization that recently nominated SIGEO for an Early Achievement Award for its potential contribution to GEOSS.

SIGEO is also enabling the Smithsonian to address knowledge gaps pointed out by other governmental and non-governmental research organizations. For example, SIGEO will reduce scientific uncertainty about the potential effects of climate change on ecosystems, which is a priority of the US Climate Change Science Program. Furthermore, SIGEO will provide the kind of systematic, comprehensive observational data on climate-change impacts that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II assessment report highlights the need for.


Table 1.

SIGEO partners associated with tropical sites. The Smithsonian Institution has a long successful history of working with partners from around the world to conduct research.

The Americas
Brazil – National Institute of Research of the Amazonia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Louisiana State University (USA).
Colombia - Instituto Humboldt, Instituto Amazonico De Investigaciones Cientificas SINCHI, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín.
Ecuador - Universidad Catolica de Ecuador, University of Aarhus (Denmark), Chicago Field Museum (USA).
Panama – STRI (USA), Panama Canal Authority, University of Georgia (USA).
Puerto Rico - University of Puerto Rico, USDA Forest Service.

Africa
Cameroon – Bioresources Development and Conservation Program, Oregon State University (USA), University of Buea.
Democratic Republic of Congo – Centre de Formation et de Recherche en Conservation Forestiere, Wildlife Conservation Society.

Asia
China – Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden.
India - Indian Institute of Science.
Malaysia - Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, Sarawak Forest Department, Osaka City University & Kyoto University (Japan), National Institute of Environmental Studies (Japan), Harvard University (USA).
Philippines – University of Philippines; Diliman Campus, Manila; Isabela State University; Plan International; Conservation International.
Singapore – National Institute for Education at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore National Parks Board, National University Singapore.
Sri Lanka - University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Forest Department, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Taiwan – Tunghai University, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute.
Thailand - Royal Forest Department, National Institute of Environmental Studies (Japan), National Parks and Wildlife Department, Kyoto University (Japan).