Workshop: Phosphorus Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems: Advancing our fundamental understanding through an improved model-data connection; Spring, 2016; Moab, Utah

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Phosphorus (P) has been shown to limit a number of fundamental ecosystem processes in a wide range of ecosystems. Despite its importance, however, most Earth system models do not currently include any aspect of the P cycle. This hinders the utility of these models for generating and testing hypotheses and for forecasting the effects of global change. Importantly, a critical challenge for P modeling efforts is also a critical challenge for the scientific community as a whole; namely, determining a way forward for improving our understanding of the key drivers, processes, and global change responses of the P cycle. Bringing together P experts will address this need through a more synthetic understanding and conceptualization of P cycle dynamics, integration of varied P-related data, improved process-based modeling of the P cycle, and P data-model integration. Another potential advance stems from the power of explicit collaborations between empiricists who study P cycling and modelers considering the inclusion of P in a range of different models. The workshop will include scientists at all career stages including students and postdocs, as well as participants from underrepresented groups. Workshop participants will represent diverse theoretical, empirical, and numerical modeling perspectives that are critical for improving our understanding of the terrestrial P cycle in the context of global change. The meeting will include experts that span a variety of research perspectives and methods and is expected to have five outcomes: 1) an improved understanding of terrestrial P cycling from varied assessments; 2) synthesized datasets that will be publicly available for analysis and modeling; 3) a meeting report that will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and a complementary set of data-based papers; 4) a set of plans for collaborative research projects and grants to identify approaches to obtain the knowledge necessary for improved understanding in critical areas; and 5) a network of individuals dedicated to fostering cross-disciplinary approaches to P research.