Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Monitoring of Arctic Vegetation Change along with Environmental Change  (MAVCEC)

Outline
In the present prospect of global warming, a considerable part of the globe is expected to be subjected to explicit vegetation change, which would give a significant impact on world agriculture and food supply. Taking the vintage advantage of the Arctic/Boreal regions where any sign of vegetation change will show ahead of the rest of the world, we propose establishment of circumpolar vegetation change monitoring system so as not to be taken aback by sudden climate/vegetation change. In this system the present state of vegetation is described, recorded and archived in standardized procedures and format during the IPY period of 2007/08 so that it can be readily and easily referred and cited by ecologists and taxonomists. I. Site selection: The monitoring sites should be selected to include various vegetation, which represent major arctic phytogeocoenoses. The sites should be selected to represent the following vegetation of the Arctic; 1) ubiquitous– widely occurring vegetation of well advanced stages of ecological succession, 2) sensitive –vegetation of higher species diversity or including endangered, rare, or relict species, 3) currently progressing –vegetation of rapidly changing serial stages of succession, and 4) vegetation under anthropogenic stresses – those under stress from air-, water-, soil-pollution, physical disturbances, etc. Geographical location should be accurately recorded so as to make re-visiting easily possible. II. Field documentation: In each monitoring sites, present vegetation should be documented as accurate as possible in a considerable detail. The description should include species listing of all the vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens. Coverage of the species should be evaluated and dominance indices should be calculated for each species to quantify the vegetation responses. However, methods and procedures of field documentation need to be fully discussed and standardization should be made. III. Data management: All the data of field documentation should be stored in data bank. Such data should be easily retrieved when necessary.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
1. To establish international collaboration system concerning the arctic vegetation monitoring.2. To develop standardized procedures and format to describe and trace the vegetation change.3. To detect actual vegetation change based on the methodology.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
Elvebakk, Arve; Dept. Biology, University of Tromso, NorwayThannheiser, Dietbelt; Inst. of Geography, University of Hamburg, GermanyWalker, Donald; Inst. Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. U.S.A.Koroleva, Natalia; Botanical Garden, Murmansk, RussiaOn the other hand, we will collaborate with CAVM (Circum Arctic Vegetation Map) team.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Locations along the circum Arctic ocean, mainly Norway: Ny-Alesund, Svalbard region, Canada: Alert, the northernmost of Canadian Arctic.region, and Russia: Tiksi, the mouth of the river Rena region

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 07/07 – 08/07      07/08– 08/08      
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Norway: Longyearbyn to Ny-Alesund using charter Twin Otter aircrafts or helicopter Canada: Resolute Bay to a runway near Alert station via Eureka using charter Twin Otter or helicopter. Russia: Tiksi, Japanese scientists started the 1998 observation in GAME/Siberia tundra region (Tiksi) via Lake Baikal.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
If the monitoring studies of vegetation in each region proceed favourably and data are accumulated, the ecological importance of the site is increasing and international researchers will visit there. The planning will be a legacy of infrastructure.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

This proposed project has been “endorsed ” by the Japanese national committee.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
This project depends on the logistics and supports of the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
yes

This monitoring plan is strongly related to two other plans of IPY. One is “Super Station program around the circum Arctic ocean for the multidisciplinary fields” which is expanded from the plans performed in the International Station in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. The other is “Complete Carbon Assessment by Ground Ranging and Echoing for Arctic/Boreal Regions (COCO GRANDE)” which also aims at detecting circumpolar vegetation change more extensively and quantitatively using airborne laser altimetry.

How will the project be organised and managed?
This monitoring project will be managed by the Japan-Norway, Japan-Canada, and Japan-Russia collaborated teams. The monitoring area should be managed under the preservation of environments, but the observatory equipments and logistic gears are prepared by Japanese side.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The project will mobilized both graduate and undergraduate students as field assistants for vegetation survey during the intensive field campaign periods of 2007 and 2008 so that they would return to the monitoring sites decades later as established ecologists/taxonomists to investigate the change and report their findings.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
The obtained data will be deposited to and managed at the Arctic Environmental Research Center (AERC) in NIPR, other universities and institutes. NIPR is in charged of the data management in the framework of the Inter-University Research Institute cooperation.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
The PI and co-PI apply for major funding opportunities in Japan such as Grant-in-Aid for Science Research by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbusho’budget) as well as the Global Environmental Research Fund from the Ministry of Environment.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
In this research project, the Japanese scientists with mainly NIPR member have been strongly collaborated with scientists of Norway, Canada and Russia. This project will be one of the research initiatives of the Inter-Governmental Panel between both countries.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Hiroshi Kanda
National Institute of Polar Research,Japan
9-10, Kaga 1-chome, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo
173-8515
Japan

Tel: 81-(0)3-3962-4761
Mobile: no
Fax: +81-(0)3-3962-1525
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation