Global Change and Ecological Complexity: A Two Workshop Proposal

9634876 Sala该小组提议的两个讲习班将促进美洲国家在生物多样性和全球生物多样性领域的合作努力。 变化研究，建立在两个方案，解决生物多样性在全球变化的背景下，以前的工作- DIVERSITAS，和环境问题科学委员会（范围）生物多样性的生态系统功能计划。 由于这是一个非常新的生态利益领域，没有普遍接受的原则。 许多关于生态复杂性和功能之间相互作用的新假设已经提出，但没有整体协调存在来检验它们。全球变化和陆地生态系统（GCTE）是国际地圈生物圈计划（IGBP）的一个核心项目，已选择生态复杂性和功能作为其重点领域之一， 美洲全球变化研究所。 这些讲习班将共同讨论全球贸易与环境委员会和国际航空工业协会关于这一专题的研究议程。 第一个讲习班将根据政府间气候变化专门委员会（气专委）现有的气候、大气成分和土地使用变化设想方案，拟订今后50至100年生物多样性变化的设想方案。 这些生物多样性假设情景将类似于气专委的假设情景，并可构成有关生物多样性影响和减缓的政策决定的基础。 第二次研讨会将制定一个合作研究计划，基于一套综合的实验，观察和理论研究，以确定生态复杂性对生态系统功能的潜在影响的强度和一般性。 该研讨会为科学家提供了一个机会，使他们能够在美洲开展与主要的全球和区域研究计划密切协调的新研究。 研讨会将制定一项研究计划，以研究生态系统中发现的多样性与生态系统功能之间的关系。 了解这些关系将有助于决策者评估影响，并制定政策，以减轻全球变化的影响。 这些讲习班由国家生态系统分析和综合中心和国家科学基金会代表美洲全球变化研究所共同主办。 IAI是美国的一项倡议，旨在促进美洲科学机构就全球变化问题开展合作研究。 国家科学基金会是白宫指定的美国政府主要机构，负责在IAI内履行美国的职责。 ***

9634876 Sala The two workshops proposed by this group will foster cooperative efforts among countries of the Americas in the area of biodiversity and global change research, building upon the previous work of two programs that addressed biodiversity within a global change context - DIVERSITAS, and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Program on Ecosystem Functioning of Biodiversity. Because this is a very new area of ecological interest, there are no generally accepted principles. Many new hypotheses about the interaction between ecological complexity and function have been advanced, but no overall coordination exists to test them. Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE) a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) has selected ecological complexity and function as one of its areas of focus, as has the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). These workshops will jointly address the GCTE and IAI research agendas for this topic. The first workshop will develop scenarios of biodiversity change over the next fifty to one hundred years, based on currently available Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate, atmospheric composition and land-use change scenarios. These biodiversity scenarios would be analogous to the IPCC scenarios, and could form the basis for policy decisions regarding biodiversity impact and mitigation. The second workshop will develop a cooperative research program, based on an integrated set of experimental, observational, and theoretical studies to determine the strength and generality of potential effects of ecological complexity on ecosystem function. %%% This workshop provides an opportunity for scientists to develop new research in the Americas that is tightly coordinated with major global and regional research programs. The workshops will develop a research program to examine the relationships between the diversity found in an ecosystem and the functions that the eco system performs. Understanding these relationships will aid decision-makers in assessing impacts, and designing policies to mitigate the effects of global change. These workshop are being co-sponsored by the National Center for Ecosystem Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). The IAI is a U.S. initiative to stimulate cooperative research on global change issues among the scientific institutions of the Americas. The National Science Foundation is the lead U.S. Government agency designated by the White House to carry out U.S. responsibilities within the IAI. ***