"The Arctic as a Biocomplex System"
Dr. Rita R. Colwell
Director
National Science Foundation
Keynote Address to the Arctic Forum
Arlington, Virginia
May 16, 2002
See also slide
presentation.
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please contact
The Office of Legislative and Public Affairs: (703)
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[Opening Slide]
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Thank you Sue/Dr. Moore, for that kind introduction.
I welcome the opportunity to deliver this keynote
address to the Arctic Forum, and to discuss NSF's
commitment to biocomplexity studies in the Arctic.
While I have long held an interest in Arctic research,
it is one of the areas I have been fortunate to learn
so much more about since coming to NSF.
A few years ago I had the privilege of joining Margo
Edwards on a research dive aboard the submarine USS
Hawkbill. It was an exhilarating and exciting
experience to see the Arctic from the bottom up, punching
through polar ice on our ascent.
I have since, through travels and my responsibilities
at NSF and IARPC, had many opportunities to follow
Arctic research. I have been learning first-hand about
the wide variety of issues of concern to this community.
[Arctic change
slide]
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One issue on all of our minds is the Arctic's transforming
climate, and biocomplexity research will confront
this challenge.
It is clear that the Arctic environment is undergoing
significant change. Now is the time to respond, with
clearly defined studies that will develop a comprehensive
knowledge base.
NSF's research programs continue to evolve to meet
this need. It is becoming apparent that we must look
not only at which Arctic systems to explore, but also
how we approach the scope and scale of studies
in the region.
[Arctic change
slide 2]
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The Arctic provides a unique laboratory for studying
climate change. As climate models suggest, the poles
are indicators for the Earth; many global climate
shifts may reveal their effects first and most strongly
in the Arctic and Antarctic.
And as evidenced by many of the papers presented at
this Forum, the climatic trends already underway are
placing natural systems and people's livelihoods at
risk.
Average air temperatures in the Alaskan arctic increased
2 to 4° Celsius over the past 30 years. Sea ice cover
is diminishing, leading to widespread coastline erosion.
Permafrost is melting; animal migratory routes are
shifting; and local populations are being affected.
In a striking analogy, there is an Alaskan saying that
states, "When an elder dies, a library burns." Much
may be lost as these changes take place.
[Artifacts
slide]
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Already, once shielded archaeological and paleontological
artifacts are melting out of glacial ice.
These extremely well-preserved objects are a bounty
if we can get to them, a great tragedy if they are
lost.
Two University of Colorado researchers supported by
NSF, archaeologist Jim Dixon and glaciologist Bill
Manley, are working together to find the best spots
to harvest this thawing windfall.
[GIS Map slide]
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Using a GIS model, they have created a detailed map.
The map marks a variety of factors - glacial melting
altitudes, trade routes, ancient stone quarries, even
mineral licks.
These clues point to where ancient peoples and animals
may have traveled and where their remains, if buried
in the ice, may now be coming to the surface.
However, direct studies of Arctic climate can be even
more complicated. The extent to which human activities
lead to climatic change is a major public and policy
concern.
Understanding such processes involves studying complex
interrelationships among many variables.
We need broad, interdisciplinary research to answer
the necessary questions, and we must effectively communicate
this need to politicians and the general public.
The short video you are about to see was prepared as
part of my presentation to the Senate Appropriations
Field Hearing in Fairbanks last year.
Our intent was to communicate our firm commitment to
Arctic studies, our commitment to working with local
populations, and the urgent need for research in the
region.
Comprehending climate change is critical, not just
for scientists, but also for local populations.
[Short video on NSF Arctic studies & environmental
changes; Copyrighted Material Unavailable for Public
Distribution]
The last words in the video are important: Arctic peoples
have long adapted to change, yet recent variations
in the environment are both new and disturbing.
Unaami, the Yup'ik word for "tomorrow," has been used
to describe the new transformations because the rapidly
changing environment makes it difficult to predict
future living conditions.
[Arctic wildlife
and researchers]
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If the research community is to make firm predictions,
we need to simultaneously, and continuously, study
vast areas, dynamic systems, diverse biomes, and all
of their complex interactions.
As Oscar Wilde once said "Truth is never pure and rarely
simple."
[Biocomplexity
slide 1]
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Understanding biocomplexity as a derivative of complexity
is becoming ever more important.
Simply stated, biocomplexity is the dynamic web of
interrelationships between living things, at all levels,
and their environment.
It is the product when components of the global ecosystem
- biological, physical, and human - interact.
[Arctic research
slide]
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For many years, NSF has supported integrated research.
These studies established the roots from which we
have cultivated our latest biocomplexity pursuits.
Since 2000, NSF has also been targeting resources towards
the Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative.
The initiative is in its earliest stages. Recent incubation
activities brought together Arctic researchers who
may not have worked together before, from chemists
to social scientists.
As the initiative progresses, it will grow in scope
and impact. In the past year, the first long-term
Arctic studies received funding under the umbrella
of biocomplexity.
[Biocomplexity
text slide]
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There are five main interdisciplinary programs in this
year's Biocomplexity in the Environment competition.
Three have direct applications in the Arctic.
[Natural resources
slide]
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The Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems component
investigates nature's economic relationships with
our society.
Studies will determine how people value and influence
ecosystems and natural resources, including not just
product use but also land use.
Communities need sound science to protect local ecosystems
from outside encroachment, and civic leaders need
such information to allow carefully monitored economic
growth.
The debate over resource exploration in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge - located near our own Toolik
Field Station - is testament to our need to understand,
and even quantify, such natural capital.
[Biogeochemical
cycles slide]
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The Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles component is the
largest in this biocomplexity solicitation. It draws
together biology, geochemistry, geology, and physical
processes, at all scales of time and space.
From these studies we hope to uncover the critical
links between chemical and physical cycles, and the
influences of humans and other organisms on them.
[Instrument
technology slide]
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Clearly, for such broad projects as these to succeed,
technology has to catch up. We need to instrument
the Arctic for long-term, continuous, networked studies.
The Instrumentation Development for Environmental Activities
component of the biocomplexity initiative will develop
the next generation tools. The resulting software,
microelectronics, sensing systems, and other technologies
will bring laboratory advances to bear on biocomplexity
questions.
These advances will allow real-time, Arctic data collection
for weather, sunlight, even biological measurements
- 365 days a year.
Power sources will operate efficiently and affordably
in remote areas and without frequent human intervention.
Micro-electronic and micromechanical "labs on a chip"
will bring state-of-the-art to the heart of the wilderness.
In addition to critical scientific gains, these technologies
may also have a significant impact on our nation's
homeland defense.
[NEON slide]
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Across the agency, NSF is supporting the development
of biologically and chemically sensitive early warning
systems.
In programs ranging from those I have already mentioned
to the National Ecological Observatory Network, or
NEON, resources will go toward devices that could
detect, in real-time, a chemical or biological threat.
Such threats can arise anywhere, even in our remote,
yet resource-critical, regions.
These NSF ecosystem studies will serve the dual purpose
of understanding life and the environment and protecting
life and the environment.
It is clear that the NSF Biocomplexity initiative builds
upon a foundation of physical, biological, and scientific
standards put into place by existing interdisciplinary
studies.
[Healy slide]
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Last year, such an interdisciplinary, in fact international,
collaboration produced remarkable results - results
which showed that biocomplexity in the Arctic can
cross disciplines, even when we least expect it.
Researchers with the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition,
or AMORE, sailed aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker
Healy, together with colleagues aboard the
German research vessel Polarstern.
The researchers were surprised by some of the fascinating
things they saw at the Gakkel Mid-Ocean Ridge - the
feature studied earlier by Margot Edwards on her travels
aboard the Hawkbill.
[Vent researchers
slide]
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The teams found that Gakkel Ridge, the slowest spreading
of the mid-ocean ridges, is volcanically active.
[Gakkel Ridge
slide]
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Because of this activity, undersea vents associated
with the ridge now appear to have conditions that
would support life.
Life, yet again, may be found in a region where only
a few years ago no one would ever have thought to
look.
As many of you know, the Arctic System Science Program,
or ARCSS, has supported a great number of remarkable
interdisciplinary projects since its inception over
a decade ago. One such project currently underway
incorporates many of the Biocomplexity themes.
[SBI Map with
Chukchi Sea]
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The Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interactions, or SBI,
expedition is also aboard the Healy. As we
speak, the expedition is conducting research here
in the Chukchi Sea.
[Wildlife
slide]
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SBI is studying how chemical resources turn into biological
components. The team will examine, in great detail,
every aspect of the shelf-basin food web - from the
simplest chemical nutrients deep in the oceans to
the resource needs of Inupiat hunters at the surface.
SBI also involves collaborations with other federal
agencies, including the Office of Naval Research and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Office of Naval Research is already meeting instrumentation
needs by emplacing unmanned moorings that will collect
data year round. The result is a practically limitless
field season for some data.
[SEARCH slide]
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Another interagency effort that confronts biocomplexity
issues - clearly on a much larger scale - is SEARCH.
The program involves nine Federal agencies and also
the Coast Guard . . . admittedly a coordination to
get started. However, I'm pleased to say that things
have started moving.
NSF announced this year that we will designate $30
million over five years towards SEARCH programs.
[SEARCH slide
2]
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As many of you know, the SEARCH project is an interdisciplinary
study of the interrelated atmospheric, oceanic, and
terrestrial changes in the Arctic.
SEARCH will look at these changes and their potential
impacts on the environment, regional societies and
economies.
In funding SEARCH, NSF is acting on the Arctic Research
Commission's recommendation for a long-term study
of the causes and consequences of Arctic climate change.
Thanks to funds from the Biocomplexity in the Environment
initiative, Polar Programs has recently announced
a first-stage contribution to SEARCH, the Arctic Freshwater
Cycle: Land/Upper-Ocean Linkages program.
[Arctic water
slide]
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This effort represents the first coordinated study
of both the terrestrial and marine aspects of the
freshwater cycle - information that is critical to
understanding global climate.
[Closing slide]
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Arctic research is poised to build a foundation of
knowledge for our planet's pending climatic changes.
The answers will not be easy to find, or interpret.
John Maynard Keynes once said, "The difficulty lies
not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones
. . ."
We should remember that we really do not know what
we will find. It is therefore imperative that we pursue
broad, collaborative studies over the extended Arctic
region.
We must work with researchers from other concerned
nations, and as importantly, with researchers outside
of our immediate disciplines.
Then finally, when we see the entire canvas, we will
better understand the scope of human impact on the
global climate landscape. Thank you.
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