Scaling from plots to landscapes and regions: Relevance of landscapes to current issues in ecology

Debra Peters (JRN/SEV), Jeff Herrick (JRN), David Foster (HFR), Kris Havstad (JRN) and Sandra Lavorel (GCTE)

Background
Problems associated with scaling are now recognized as one of the most significant barriers to the development of a synthetic understanding of relationships between local, regional and global ecosystem processes, and to the application of ecological research to global environmental problems. At the ASM, we conducted three workshops related to landscapes and scaling of ecological processes that were highly successful in terms of participation, enthusiastic discussions and an interest in future, collaborative activities (see Peters “Scaling from plots to landscapes and regions” ASM workshop report).

The workshops also clearly illustrated that (1) our understanding of scaling issues is extremely limited, and (2) the development of broadly applicable scaling approaches will require significantly increased communication and collaboration among experimentalists and modelers working at a variety of scales in diverse systems. In order to promote increased collaboration and communication and, more specifically, to develop a strategic plan for integration, we request support for three ASM workshop followup activities over the next 2 years.

These activities would synthesize existing knowledge and research across sites (LTER and others) and would develop new cross-site research initiatives. The ASM landscape workshops brought together two groups of researchers with different perspectives: participants included experimentalists and modelers working on questions that require scaling from plots to landscapes, and regional analysis experts who use simulation models to scale from landscapes to regions. Feedbacks between vegetation, soil and climate, thresholds and nonlinearities in responses, and temporal and spatial variation at multiple scales are challenges that face both groups. Although scaling issues in landscape ecology have been addressed previously, the issues are far from being resolved.

Most efforts have focused on linking theoretical and experimental approaches in scaling from plots and patches to landscapes. Our effort is new in that we are linking experimentalists, theoreticians, and modelers working at spatial scales ranging from plots to landscapes, regions and the globe. We are also incorporating a broad range of terrestrial ecosystem types (forests, grasslands, deserts, ecotones), levels of organization (populations, communities, ecosystems), and focus of study (plants, animals, soils, climate, and their feedbacks). We feel this integrative group has a large potential to address the range of issues involved in working with landscapes, and to develop general scaling relationships and guidelines for new research. Thus, further activities are justified and needed for this integration.

Goals and objectives
Our ASM workshops were very successful at initiating discussions dealing with landscapes and scaling issues. The goal of our continued activities is to develop a global network of researchers working on different aspects of landscapes and with different perspectives, yet who face similar scaling challenges. This network has three objectives: (1) to synthesize known information and to identify gaps in knowledge, (2) to develop guidelines for experimental design, and (3) to conduct a similar set of scaling experiments at different sites in order to refine and validate the guidelines.

Proposed activities
We started working towards our objectives at the ASM by developing an outline for a manuscript to be submitted to BioScience (Appendix 1). We plan on writing this manuscript this fall with submission in January (2001). The next step is to solicit input from workshop participants on several aspects associated with landscapes and scaling issues. We plan to minimize workshop time and involve as many people as possible by collecting this information electronically, prior to the first funded activity. Specifically, we will ask members of the network (including ASM workshop participants and additional individuals representing other systems, LTER sites, and sites in other countries and regions) to (1) identify additional short- and long-term goals which this international multi-disciplinary group should address, (2) provide a list of current research representing experimental, modeling and integrated approaches, (3) identify gaps in knowledge, (4) identify barriers to successful scaling and integration, and (5) identify potential future research activities which could address these gaps and barriers. We request support from the LTER Network office for three additional activities:

1. One day meeting in April (2001) by a small working group (5-10 people) to synthesize input collected through email, and to organize and focus the next workshop.

2. Two day workshop immediately following the working group meeting (22-23 April 2001, Sevilletta research station, New Mexico) where 20 people meet to develop short- and long-term strategies to overcome barriers to successful scaling and integration. Approaches based on these strategies will be developed to facilitate communication, increase collaboration among groups at different sites, and develop cross-site, integrative research proposals.

3. Symposium at the 2002 Ecological Society of America meeting where speakers would focus on addressing short-term goals and developing long-term recommendations for addressing scaling issues.

Products
The first product will be the manuscript submitted to BioScience that is an outcome of the ASM workshops. We expect four types of additional products. First, a collaborative network of researchers from the LTER, ILTER and other national and international sites will be developed. These researchers are working with a variety of spatial scales, ecosystem types, and focal organisms, yet face similar scaling issues. Second, a strategic plan for addressing complex scaling issues will be developed. This plan will contain both short- and long-term goals, and strategies for reaching these goals. Third, an ESA symposium will be conducted to present results to a broad audience. Fourth, additional synthesis manuscripts and cross-site proposals to NSF or other funding agencies are expected.