Ecosystem Response to Disturbance from Decadal to Millennial Timescales: Support for the PROBE Workshop - at Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, Kansas - April 2012

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Increased frequency, severity, and extent of disturbances such as beetle outbreaks, catastrophic fires, windstorms, and droughts, have caused widespread concern about ecosystem health. Because the consequences of disturbance can take many years to play out, evaluation of their potential impacts is difficult without a baseline record of ecosystem processes that spans decades to a few thousand years. Two groups of scientists, ecosystem ecologists and paleoecologists, study these processes, but they typically examine events and consequences on different time scales. Researchers from each group will be brought together to characterize past ecosystems in a PROBE (Paleo Reconstructions Of Biogeochemical Environments) workshop, where several datasets, including sediment records, tree-ring records, soil records, and long-term instrumental measurements will be examined to assess how ecosystem processes (particularly carbon and nitrogen cycling) have responded to disturbance. The PROBE workshop will benefit society and the larger scientific community. The workshop will include early career participants, providing opportunities to train young scientists how to conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research that is needed for the 21st century. Several participants have developed specialized techniques such as charcoal analysis and stable isotope interpretation and knowledge of these techniques will be shared at the workshop. Finally, several participants are working with government agencies and NGOs to provide information about the effects of disturbance, especially insect outbreaks and wildland fire management. The workshop will provide information that will be helpful to managers, particularly those trying to develop strategies for dealing with disturbances.