NSF Award
9529787
9529787 Kalin Arroyo Invading organisms often cause enormous economic and environmental impact, resulting in the disruption of many earth systems processes. Invaders represent a major but poorly understood global change element. This proposal would start a process with the following foci: the development of a new protocol to quantify the changing presence of invaders in carefully matched managed and natural ecosystems in the western Americas, extending from the subarctic to the true deserts; the development of new approaches for assessing the impacts of the invaders in both environmental and holistic economic terms; and the preparation of a Phase II proposal for the establishment of a research network in the Americas to apply the new tools developed and to promote the development of new research expertise. For some biota, there is relatively good information on the numbers of species of invaders in given regions, and to a certain extent, how these numbers are changing through time. To a larger degree though, there is not much information on the abundance of invaders, their population dynamics, or their particular and total environmental impacts. There is virtually no fine structure of information on the changing abundance of invaders through time or how many invaders remain at low levels of abundance, for how long, and when they may suddenly increase in abundance as climate, land use, or management practices change. This proposal will try to fill these information gaps through a planning meeting in Phase I to develop a Phase II proposal for the study and analysis of, and predictions about the biological invaders. Specifically, Phase I will develop a research plan which addresses the following areas: assessing the current knowledge and information gaps on the distribution of invasive species; assessing the available information for invasive species patterns affecting international trade, quarantine control, and commercialization of flo ra and fauna; developing criteria and methodologies for rapid field assessments of invasion patterns of exotic species in different ecosystems and under different types of management; developing criteria for selection of field sites so as to represent different land-use patterns and the main natural vegetation types; developing criteria to determine relevant experimental work for determining predictions about the long-term impacts on difficult invasive species; developing methods to assess impacts of species on ecosystem functions; assessing the sort-term and long-term manpower and institutional requirements in the participating institutions to undertake the project successfully; initiating discussion on how to value the impacts of invasive species in both economic and environmental contexts; and establishing mechanisms for evaluation of the progress of the project, data sharing, communications, publication of results, and making results available to managers and government agencies. %%% Invading organisms often cause enormous economic and environmental impact, resulting in the disruption of many earth systems processes. Invaders represent a major but poorly understood global change element. This proposal would start a process with the following foci: the development of a new protocol to quantify the changing presence of invaders in carefully matched managed and natural ecosystems in the western Americas, extending from the subarctic to the true deserts; the development of new approaches for assessing the impacts of the invaders in both environmental and holistic economic terms; and the preparation of a Phase II proposal for the establishment of a research network in the Americas to apply the new tools developed and to promote the development of new research expertise. One of the largest, but perhaps least recognized elements of global change is the increasing homogenization of the world's biota. We are witnessing a massive exchange of b iological material between previously isolated continents and regions. Although many of these exchanges are purposeful and beneficial to human endeavors, they may do tremendous harm to the productive capacity of natural and managed ecosystems. Furthermore, they can alter fire and nutrient regimes, water quality and quantity, sediment movement, forest regeneration, as well as disrupt genetic systems and fragment or homogenized biotic communities and habitats. One reason introductions can be so detrimental is that their population densities can be far higher in new areas than in their native habitats, because they are often removed from their natural controls in their new homes. Because of the potential ecological and economic consequences of invaders, both good and bad, there is a great need for knowledge on the biology, origins, movement and fates of invaders in order to develop predictive tools for evaluating their potential success and impacts in any given region. This proposal will address the information on the characteristics, impacts and controls of invading species which have relevance for local national and international policy-makers. Therefore, this proposal includes participants from the following countries: Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and the United States. These countries are Members States of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), a U.S. initiative to stimulate cooperative research on global change issues among the scientific institutions of the Americas. The U.S. National Science Foundation is the U.S. Government agency designated to carry out U.S. responsibilities within the IAI. *** --========================_13392216==_--
