The Arctic System is undergoing unprecedented changes, many of which are consequences of global warming trends that are amplified at high latitudes. Arctic change is regionally variable for both biophysical and cultural reasons. Ecosystem services, which are the benefits that society derives from ecosystems, are the critical links between these environmental changes, ecological impacts, and their consequences for society. The goals of the proposed research are to: (1) document the current status and trends in ecosystem services in the arctic and boreal forest, (2) project future trends in these services, and (3) assess the societal consequences of altered ecosystem services.
The intellectual merit of this research derives from several sources, including: (1) provision of a qualitative assessment of status and trends in a comprehensive suite of ecosystem services at scales ranging from individual communities to the pan-arctic, (2) provision of a quantitative regional assessment of historical and likely future trends of those ecosystem services that are of greatest concern to Alaskan communities, substantially enhancing the capacity to predict the societal consequences of climate change for Alaskan communities and policy makers, (3) involvement of Alaskan communities in the design, implementation, and use of research to ensure from the outset that the research directly meets stakeholder needs, (4) networking with other research groups to share research results as an integral component of the program, and (5) collaboration with similar research programs in other arctic nations to achieve a pan-arctic synthesis of status and trends in ecosystem services.
The broader impacts include: (1) inclusion of indigenous communities as integral components of the research team (rather than as passive recipients of research results), empowering local communities to understand present and future options for adaptation to climate change, (2) communication of research products that are immediately useful for policy formulation by communities and agencies as an integral component of the process, (3) training of Alaska Natives at PhD, undergraduate, and high-school levels to conduct research on the ecological and societal consequences of climate change, (4) directly addressing critical a missing link in most global change research - quantitative assessment of causes, consequences, and likely future trajectories of those ecosystem services that are of greatest concern to society, and (5) leaving a legacy of spatially explicit time series of data and maps of ecosystem services and their likely future trends.
The research addresses IPY/understanding environmental change because it focuses on: (1) understanding relationships among climate changes, ecosystems and society, including mechanisms that control these relationships at multiple spatial scales, (2) understanding relationships among environmental change and ecosystem services and their socio-economic consequences in polar regions, (3) launching new initiatives that are interdisciplinary in nature, leave a data legacy, and eng gage the public, and (4) using LTER and AON sites and building on international collaborations.
