Transcript CLIMATE CHANGE - University of Wyoming

Isotope monitoring and global change
“Transportation, energy and water will be
issues for the next 100 million”
Fri, October 27, 2006
USGCRP 2001
Vulnerable water resources!
USGCRP 2001
•Biodiversity
•Biogeochem cycles
•Climate change
•Ecohydrology
•Infectious disease
•Invasive species
•Land use/cover
 BIOGEOCHEMISTRY -To what extent are pollutants entering the
food and water supply and what are their origins?
 ECOHYDROLOGY - How is groundwater level and stream flow
impacted by land use?
 INVASIVE SPECIES - How do invasive species alter productivity
and economic value of the landscape?
 BIODIVERSITY - What role do certain species play in ecosystems
that make them critical for preservation?
 INFECTIOUS DISEASES - What is the geographic origin and
migration pattern of disease vectors?
 CLIMATE CHANGE - To what extent is climate change altering
productivity of natural and manmade ecosystems?
 LAND USE - How much can we harvest from or disturb ecosystems
before they suffer irreversible degradation?
Location of atmospheric sampling sites for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group
(NOAA/CMDL/CCGG), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Scripps Institute of
Oceanography (SIO) networks.
Location of sampling sites for the Global Network of Isotopes in
Precipitation (GNIP) network and the Moisture Isotopes in the
Biosphere and Atmosphere (MIBA) network.
Visualization of global data for
18O
in precipitation from GNIP
From http://www.waterisotopes.org/
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http://www.basinisotopes.org/
Provide information on isotope measurements within NEON
Coordination among groups submitting NEON RFI responses
Organize workshops on isotope techniques useful for the NEON effort
Assist with development of isotope standards and QA/QC
Biogeosphere-Atmosphere Stable
Isotope Network Phase 2 - BASIN-II
• http://www.basinisotopes.org/
• Provide information on isotope measurements
• Coordinate communication among groups
• Organize symposia and workshops on isotope techniques
• Provides support for students
• Assist with development of isotope standards and QA/QC
The National Ecological Observatory
Network (NEON)
Two parts to NEON infrastructure design
1. Research Design
(a) national / multi-regional scale questions that require NEON’s observational
research and cyber infrastructure (continental and domain toolboxes),
(b) national/multi-regional scale questions that require continental-scale
manipulative experiments.
2. Core Wildland Site Locations
Identification of a specific location within each NEON climate domain where a
core “wildland” site should be established. These 20 sites will become part of
the NEON continental infrastructure backbone.
NEON is an infrastructure program to
be funded by the MREFC account at
NSF. 20 climate domains have been
defined for the location of
infrastructure.
Cast of many:
BASIN workshops:
September 16-17,
2004, Park City
December 12, 2004,
San Francisco
March 1, 2005,
Tucson
http://basinisotopes.org
Steve Beaupre
Sharon Billings
Gabriel Bowen
Dave Bowling
Dave Breshears
Renee Brooks
Jeff Chanton
Todd Dawson
David Dettman
Rick Doucett
Brian Fry
Carol Kendall
Jennifer King
Guanghui Lin
Stephen Macko
John Marshall
Nate McDowell
Dan Murnick
Nathaniel Ostrom
Diane Pataki
Brian Popp
Darren Sandquist
Laurel Saito
Alyson Sayer
Jed Sparks
Heidi Steltzer
Leo Sternberg
Paddy Sullyvan
Valery Terwilliger
Bruce Vaughn
Jeff Welker
Blair Wolf
What should an isotope monitoring
network do?
• Generate fundamental data needed to address
scientific questions in many fields
• Monitor changes in Earth’s ecological condition
• Stimulate technological innovation
• Educate new scientists and technical experts
• Inform society and policy makers
Centralized or de-centralized structure?
Centralized
Uniformity of measurements,
protocol and quality control
Source: Jeff Owen, 2004
De-centralized
Local scientific “buy-in”
More interest in the data,its
quality and innovation
Isotope monitoring goals:
• Assess ecological condition and change
• Identify ecosystem functional or process
changes using sensitive indicators
• Evaluate success of ecological management or
environmental mitigation efforts - reference
areas or reference period
What should we measure?
Aquatic
measurements
Atmospheric
measurements
Terrestrial
measurements
Dissolved Organic Material
Particulate Organic Material
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Nitrate
Ammonium
Oxygen/Argon
N2O
O2/N2
CO2
CH4
Water vapor
Particulate OM
Plant leaves, tree rings
Soil OM
Animal hair, blood,
feathers
Mayer et al. 2002.
Continuous sampling
of “integrator”
Large spatial
integration, simple
Transects to
identify hot spots
and hot moments
Isotope Network of Ecological
Warning Signals
INEWS
Dave Williams – University of Wyoming
R. Dave Evans – Washington State University
Jim Ehleringer – University of Utah
INEWS - Isotopes as Sentinels of Change
H2O
NHx/NOx
H2O
N
INEWS
Tracking isotopes of water and nitrogen at NEON core wildland sites: A
sentinel of hydroecologic and biogeochemical responses to global change
“inputs as a starting point”
Changes in source inputs
Changes in buffering capacity
Shifts in biogeochemical processes
Changes in structure and function
Integration of disturbance effects
“outputs as integrators of change”
Tracking d2H and d18O of H2O at NEON fixed sites;
A sensitive indicator of hydroecologic response to
global change
d2H & d18O of precipitation “inputs”
• Regional scale ET recycling
• Source of atmospheric moisture
• Event drivers of hydroecologic response
d2H & d18O of discharge “outputs”
• Integration of watershed processes
(accumulation, recycling, mixing, losses)
• Runoff separation (snowmelt, baseflow, storm)
• Event selection
Ecosystem inputs – Sources of N to ecosystems
Ecosystem outputs – Sources of nitrate in streams and
capacity for ecosystems to process N
d18O (‰)
80
Anthropogenic
60
40
20
Natural
-4 -2
0
2 4
6
d15N (‰)
Durka et al. Nature 372:765
8
• What needs to be measured at a fundamental
level to assist all branches of ecology?
• Figure out how to convince those who will
benefit from this knowledge that an isotope
network is needed