Dynamic biogeochemical watershed models are the only practical approach that can predict concurrent exposure to multiple environmental factors and consider interactive effects between climate change, atmospheric deposition and CO2 fertilization effect. Therefore, they could be powerful tools to help to understand the long-term effects of climate change on ecosystems.

The Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project is based in the central Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix region, embedded in the Sonoran Desert. As the fifth-largest and, until recently, the fastest-growing city in the US, Phoenix is an excellent location for urban ecological research. Phoenix was established after the Civil War, initially one of several small towns surrounded by irrigated farmland. Continued agrarian expansion predated the explosive growth of housing in the second half of the 20th century.

Soil temperature is one of the key determinants of carbon flux, nutrient availability, decomposition rates, and primary productivity in high-elevation and high-latitude ecosystems. Global climate models predict that as air temperatures rise there will be a corresponding increase in soil temperature and a longer snow-free season.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a national-scale research platform for assessing the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on ecosystem structure and function.

Long-term data from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest show that air temperature has increased by 1-1.5 °C over the last half century. While more variable, annual precipitation has also increased by 19-26% during the same period. These changes in climate influence streamflow, which provides an integrated climate signal that incorporates physical (snowpack, evaporation) and biological (evapotranspiration) responses. Unlike the western United States, water is generally abundant in the Northeast.

Sea ice changes in the greater PAL LTER study region are occurring 29% faster than the fastest sea ice changes in the Arctic. Over 1979-2006, the sea ice season has become 83 days shorter in the greater PAL LTER area versus 59 days shorter in the greater Chukchi Sea area in the Arctic (though the latter includes twice the area effected). We review the physical processes and potential feedbacks contributing to these polar sea ice changes to better reveal high latitude climate sensitivity and its implications for polar marine ecosystems.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys have no rainfall and most snowfall sublimates before wetting the soils significantly. Glacial melt streams are also seasonal, flowing for only 4 to 6 weeks per year. Consequently, hydrology does not provide significant connections among ecosystem components. Conversely, wind is a persistent daily feature of the McMurdo Dry Valleys environment throughout the year. In summer, cool air from the ice-covered oceans flows into the relatively warm valleys creating a strong thermal gradient in the valleys.

Land use change is one of the most important factors contributing to CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere, but also to the loss of biodiversity and alteration of hydrologic cycle in different biomes. In Central-Northern Mexico, the shortgrass steppe is highly threatened by different types of land use change including, overgrazing, agricultural development, and shrub encroachment. Recent assessments along the shortgrass steppe reported between 15 to 110 MT C ha^-1 y^-1, which summing the large extent of semiarid grasslands (~ 100,000 Km²).

Join us for an update on the progress of the EcoTrends project, an introduction to the functionality of the new EcoTrends website (http://www.ecotrends.info), lessons learned during the project, and a description of plans for the future. We will also use this time to solicit and discuss ideas on how to better incorporate and display data via database design, web services and tools (e.g., mapping, analysis tools, modeling tools, and customizable features) that will further engage and support the research and information management community.
 

The goal of this working group is to continue discussions initiated at the 2009 Science Council meeting that were focused on designing a continental-scale research program to assess how the major socio-ecological systems of the U.S.