Transcript Baerwald_presentation

Biocomplexity
What Is It?
And What’s It Doing Here in the
Shadow of the Absaroka
Beartooth Range?
Thomas J. Baerwald
National Science
Foundation
April 3, 2003
What Is Biocomplexity?
BIO
COMP
LEX
ITY
A life history
Receiving for free
Abbreviated name of a
Lexus, a luxury car
Having to do with
Biocomplexity therefore must have
something to do with the life
histories of those who receive
luxury cars for free.
OK, What’s the Real
Definition?
• At NSF, Biocomplexity refers
to “the dynamic web of often
surprising interrelationships
that arise when components
of the global ecosystem
(biological, physical,
chemical, and human)
interact.”
At NSF, Biocomplexity
Is an Experiment That’s
Still in Progress
•
•
•
•
Scientific Experiment
Cultural Experiment
Managerial Experiment
Political Experiment
Biocomplexity Is Based
on Some Fundamental
Principles
Baerwald’s First
Two Laws of Reality (c. 1975)
• Everything is connected to
everything else.
• Things are always more
complex than they seem.
With age (and hopefully maturity), the
promulgator of these laws came to
realize they weren’t all that original.
Add Yet Another
Fundamental Principle
Baerwald’s Third Law (c. 1985)
• Different people view and do
things in different ways.
One person’s way is not necessarily
better or worse than someone else’s,
but it is different.
And we’re often a lot better off with
multiple views from different
perspectives
Biocomplexity Requires
Different World Views
• It requires different views
than we’re used to taking
• It requires multiple
perspectives that we
simply can’t expect any
one person (or field) to
have.
Biocomplexity Requires
Different World Views
• It’s not about
complicated interactions;
it’s about complex
interactions.
• It’s not linear.
Biocomplexity Requires
Different World Views
• It’s not scale-restricted.
–Varied temporal scales
–Varied spatial scales
–Varied organizational
scales and structures
Biocomplexity at NSF
• Initial competition (1999)
– Microbial emphasis
• Mega competition (2000)
– Emphasis on complexity and
quantitative modeling
Biocomplexity at NSF
• Special competitions (2001-2004)
– Dynamics of Coupled Natural and
Human Systems (CNH)
– Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles
(CBC)
– Genome-Enabled Environmental
Science and Engineering (GEN-EN)
– Materials Use: Science,
Engineering, and Society (MUSES)
– Instrumentation Development for
Environmental Activities (IDEA)
One Perspective on the
Dynamics of Coupled
Natural and Human Systems
An Unenlightened View
A More Enlightened View
of Coupled Natural and
Human Systems
• Investigators are advised to take
all words but one in the title very
seriously.
Dynamics of
Coupled
Natural and
Human
Systems
CNH Sample Awards
• Development of an integrated
model that links economic
models of urban
development
with models of
land-cover change
and ecosystem processes
in order to assess relationships
between urban development and
species diversity.
CNH Sample Awards
• Cross-national research that
explores spatial complexity, the
value of natural capital in grazed
ecosystems, the costs of
complexity loss due to
fragmentation, and the
trade-offs between
economic inputs
and ecological
complexity.
CNH Sample Awards
• Integration of circulation, population,
habitat, and socioeconomic models to
assess how biological reserves
function in a coral reef ecosystem,
how different stakeholder groups
influence the operation of the
reserves, and the efficacy of different
reserve designs in promoting both
local economic
development and
ecosystem
preservation.
CNH Sample Awards
• Assessment of the interactions
among the policies and
local residents in and
near the Wolong Nature
Reserve in Sichuan
Province of southwestern
China; evaluation of the
interrelationships between local
residents and panda habitat;
examination of the need for and
feasibility of policy modification and
improvement; and simulation of multiscale interactions among policies,
people, and panda habitat.
CNH Sample Awards
• Analysis of relationships between
ecosystem dynamics and human
decision making in the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem through
construction of an ecosystem model
that facilitates exploration of the
uncertainty; development of spatially
explicit elk, wolf, and vegetation
submodels and integration of these
models to assess the impacts of
climate variability, land-use
decisions, and economic
valuation on the environment
under changing conditions.
Next Generation of
Environmental Research
and Education at NSF Will
Logically Follow
• NSF Advisory Committee on
Environmental Research and
Education (AC/ERE) has
developed and disseminated a
10-Year “Outlook” for NSF
Environmental Research and
Education
10-Year “Outlook” for NSF
Environmental Research
and Education
• Purposes:
– Describe the NSF
environmental portfolio
– Identify ways NSF-wide
integration can enhance
current investments
– Identify opportunities for future
investment by NSF
10-Year “Outlook” for NSF
Environmental Research
and Education
• Central themes that guided
development of the
“Outlook”:
– Interdisciplinary
– Integration
– Synthesis
– Coupled Human and
Natural Systems
10-Year “Outlook” for NSF
Environmental Research
and Education
Environmental Research
Frontiers: 2003-2012
• Coupled Human and
Natural Systems
• Coupled Biological and
Physical Systems
• People and Technology
Environmental
Research Frontiers
Coupled Human and Natural Systems
• Disciplinary and/or current portfolio examples
– Geography and decision making
– Population biology, ecology, and genomics
– Hydrology and atmospheric systems
Some opportunities for integrated approaches
– Land, Resources, and the Built
Environment
– Human Health and the Environment
– Freshwater Resources, Estuaries, and
Environmental Change
– Environmental Services and Valuation
Environmental
Research Frontiers
Coupled Biological and Physical
Systems
• Disciplinary and/or current portfolio examples
– Natural physical systems: atmospheric,
oceanic, and terrestrial
– Ecosystem dynamics and functioning
• Some opportunities for integrated
approaches
– Biogeochemical Cycles
– Climate Variability and Change
– Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics
Environmental
Research Frontiers
People and Technology
• Disciplinary and/or current portfolio
examples
– Economics and social sciences
– Chemistry and materials
– Engineering and technology
• Some opportunities for integrated
approaches
– Materials and Process Development
– Decision Making and Uncertainty
– Institutions and Environmental Systems
How Will NSF Respond
to These Suggestions?
• The next generation of NSF
environmental activity will
logically follow from the last two.
• Both Global Change
and Biocomplexity
research emphasized
Integrated Earth
System Science.
Global Change Research
Focused on Integrated Earth
System Science Starting from
a Physical Science
Perspective
Biological
Physical
Human
Global Change Research
Focused on Integrated Earth
System Science Starting from
a Biological Science
Perspective
Biological
Physical
Human
The Next Generation of
Environmental Research Will
Emphasize Integrated Earth
System Science Starting
from Multiple Perspectives
Biological
Physical
Human
Should People Be Part
of the Biocomplexity
Story?
A Funny Thing
Once Happened to Me
in New Mexico
Developing a Research Agenda
for Future Climate Change in
the Rio Grande Basin
• Impacts on Physical Systems
~15 minutes of discussion
• Impacts on Biological
Systems
~45 minutes of discussion
Developing a Research Agenda
for Future Climate Change in
the Rio Grande Basin
• “Now we come to the hard
part. Let’s add the people.”
• “Hey, does that make the
social sciences the hard
sciences?”
Developing a Research Agenda
for Future Climate Change in
the Rio Grande Basin
• “Let me rephrase my
statement. Now we come to
the messy part. Let’s add the
people.”
• “If we can use messy in a
non-pejorative sense, I’ll
agree. The social sciences
are the messy sciences.”
Should People Be Part
of the Biocomplexity
Story?
YES!
They may make things
messy, but they are an
increasingly important
part of the integrated
Earth system that
we’re trying to study.
Including People In
Biocomplexity Education
Is Especially Important
and Promising
• We don’t simply educate for the
hell of it.
• We educate people…
… and people frequently
relate based on their own
experience and the experience
of other people.
People Naturally Interact
with Natural Systems
Use the ideas and
experiences regarding
nature in the minds of
students….
…. to help students
gain greater
knowledge about
how all of the Earth’s
systems interact
with each other.
Some Questions
Regarding Biocomplexity
Education
• How do we simplify complexity?
• How do we keep from
overwhelming students,
especially in the early stages?
• Use simple examples
• Use real examples
• Tie teaching to personal
experiences
Some Questions
Regarding Biocomplexity
Education
• How do we keep visions broad
while provide ample attention to
specifics?
• “Watch tennis”
• Metaphors from life experience
• Use visual and graphic aids
Some Questions
Regarding Biocomplexity
Education
• How do provide focus while
allowing interests and
approaches to roam?
• “All about” proposals do not
succeed at NSF, but the nature
of Biocomplexity (and of many
courses on any topic) is to learn
“all about” the issue.
• Focal questions and themes
may be critical
Some Questions
Regarding Biocomplexity
Education
• How do we build teamwork,
interactions, collaborations?
• How do develop mutually
beneficial learning?
• We don’t expect one researcher
to make significant progress in
understanding all facets of a
complex, integrated system.
What is realistic to expect of
individual students?
I’m Happy to Raise
To Help Raise
the Questions
Good luck in
coming up
with some
solid answers!