IPY Back to the Future (BTF): Re-sampling old research sites to assess change in high latitude terrestrial ecosystem structure and function

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Craig Tweedie of the University of Texas at El Paso will determine how key structural and functional characteristics of high latitude terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic have changed over the past 25 or more years and predict whether such changes are likely to continue. The PI will play a leading role in the international Back to the Future project (IPY project #214). He will establish a focused international Back to the Future coordination and invormation web portal; rescue data and re-establish and re-sample four princicpal ecological study sites including the International Biological Program (IBP) site near Barrow, Alaska, the Research in Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystems (RATE) site near Atqasuk, Alaska, and the PhD dissertation sites of two well known and respected Arctic plant ecologists, Pat Webber (Central Baffin Island) and Terry Callaghan, Disko Island (West Greenland); and coordinate two international Back to the Future synthesis meetings. Date will be archived for open access at the National Scnow and Ice Data Center (NSDIC). Studenst will assist in re-sampling historical research sites and gain hands-on research experience under the mentorship of Webber and Callaghan as the latter re-sample sites of their own Ph.D. research approximately 40 years after they were established.The project will elucidate decadal scale ecosystem changes in multiple land cover types across the Arctic; validate and improve models of environmental change based on remote sensing; assess the impact of global change on ecosystem structure and function including arctic plant biodiversity; and improve our knowledge feedback mechanisms between land and atmospheric subsystems of the arctic.Undergratuate students, a graduate student, and a postdoctoral fellow will be trained and mentored at a leading minority serving institution. The students will be mentored by pioneering and accomplished Arctic researchers.