Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Arctic long-term ecosystem manipulations used to reveal changes in biological, physiological and biogeochemical processes in response to climatic changes  (ArcEcoChange)

Outline
BackgroundThe arctic region is currently facing great environmental changes of greenhouse-gas warming and increased UV-B radiation, with likely strong consequences for structure of plant and animal communities and ecosystem processes. The rates of photosynthesis by plants and organic matter decomposition rates by soil microbes and animals determine the exchange of carbon (C) between the ecosystem and the atmosphere. The balance between C sequestration and losses in the ecosystems not only affect ecosystem C pool and turnover rates, but, due to the large amount of C stored in the Arctic it also has consequences for the global-scale composition of the atmosphere.The rates of the biological processes are controlled by UV-radiation, temperature, season length, temporal and spatial distribution of snow and water conditions, i.e. factors predicted to undergo strong changes. At the same time, process rates are moderated by the organisms themselves influencing tissue chemical composition, species composition and organic matter quality. Hence, ecosystem function depends on a network of biological and environmental characteristics. Approach A series of experimental sites for investigation of effects of environmental changes on biological and physiological processes and biogeochemistry have been set up at the high arctic Zackenberg, Greenland, and low arctic/alpine Abisko, Sweden. Here, intensive investigations of biological and biogeochemical effects of changed environmental conditions, including changes in temperature, growing season length, nutrient availability, light, water, substrate quality, and UV-B radiation and combinations have been carried out. The long site history (up to 10 and 17 years in Zackenberg and Abisko, respectively) and the diversity of experimental manipulations provide unique opportunities for studying up to decadal effects of changed environmental conditions along climatic gradients. The IPY provides an excellent opportunity to prolong the time series of observations. The proposed research will address questions of environmental control on long-term changes in a) plant and soil faunal community structure, species composition and abundance, b) drivers and controls of biogeochemical (nutrient and carbon) cycling and c) plant physiological processes and consequences for primary production. The research will focus on the effects of environmental changes on community structure and physiological processes in plants, soil animals and microbes, and how changes affect ecosystem functions by altering plant and microbial mediated processing rates of organic matter and nutrients. The ultimate goal is to infer from the up to multi-decadal experiments how arctic ecosystems at different latitudes will respond to the anticipated array of environmental changes in the future.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
Theme 1: The ArcEcoChange project will provide new insight into biological, physiological and biogeochemical processes which are major controls on carbon balance in high and low arctic ecosystemsTheme 2: The ArcEcoChange project will reveal long-term responses of biological, physiological and biogeochemical processes to a multitude of experimentally induced environmental changes in high and low arctic ecosystems.Theme 3: Similar manipulated impact studies in high and low arctic/alpine settings and comparable and partly long-term activities by collaborators working in experimental sites elsewhere ensure that measurements are comparable across latitudes and altitudinal gradients. Theme 4: An array of the ongoing environmental manipulations and their combinations are unique in their settings, and measurements after truly long-term manipulations of slow-responding ecosystems are new and of global interest.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The experimental manipulations established near the Research Stations in Zackenberg, Greenland, and Abisko, Sweden, serve as platforms for extensive international research collaboration including comparisons with similar setups elsewhere. The participants are a consortium of scientist from Denmark, Sweden and Norway who benefit from their extensive collaboration with scientists from other countries such as UK, USA, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany; the experiments will be open for other researchers.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Environmental gradients and ecosystem manipulations near Zackenberg Research Station situated in high arctic NE Greenland, and low arctic/alpine sites near Abisko Scientific Station, N Sweden.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 05/07-10/08            
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Sites are located near established research stations. As experiments build on existing field sites and long-term manipulations, data acquisition will start immediately.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
YES - The long-term experimental sites are unique and extremely valuable for projections of climate change effects in polar regions. Therefore, the infrastructure will be sought maintained after the end of IPY, provided sufficient funding can be secured.

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

Logistics at the different sites will be obtained through the research stations at Zackenberg, Greenland, and Abisko, Northern Sweden. The applicants have one (Zackenberg) and nearly two (Abisko) decades, respectively, of experience with experimental manipulations and collaboration with the logistic operators involved.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
NO - Please refer to the general endorsement from the Danish IPY at http://www.dpc.dk/Res&Log/IPY/Endorsement.pdf

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

The proposed work within the project will be new but builds on established, long-term ecosystem manipulation sites, with activities previously funded by various agencies and funding bodies such as the Swedish and Danish Natural Science Research Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Nordic Arctic Research Programme (NARP) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Board.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The project will be managed by Anders Michelsen at Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The project aims with be fulfilled through close collaboration with partners at Lund University, Sweden (Lena Ström), University of Oslo, Norway (Heidi Sjursen), University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Sven Jonasson, Helge Ro-Poulsen), and Risoe National Laboratory, Denmark (Teis Mikkelsen).

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
An important part of the project will be training and education of young scientists through M.Sc, Ph.D and post doc grants, partly in cooperation with other funding bodies.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
The publications and data from the project will be made available early to the scientific community on a specific homepage.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
The project will be partly funded through national funding agencies.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
None

PROPOSER DETAILS

Anders Michelsen
University of Copenhagen
Institute of Biology
Oester Farimagsgade 2 D
DK-1353 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Tel: 0045 35322270
Mobile: no
Fax: 0045 35322321
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation