Brent D. Mishler University and Jepson Herbaria Dept. of Integrative Biology University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2465 bmishler@calmail.berkeley.edu
Biodiversity is the entire tree of life from the smallest gene lineage through its many nested (and reticulating) branches and all their ecological interactions. The study of biodiversity evaluates information on genes defining structural, physiological, and biochemical traits that determine organismal growth and development and lead to differential survival, resulting in evolution. Populations of organisms interact across temporal and spatial scales with other populations (to form communities) and the abiotic environment (to form ecosystems), which regulate the life-supporting physical and chemical properties of Earth. Biodiversity thus serves as both a critical impact variable measuring effects of climate change on the nation’s ecosystems, as well as a driving variable that will mediate a range of other impacts.
This response to the NEON RFI Part 1 focuses on native biodiversity: plants, animals, fungi, and microbial prokaryotes and protists. We would use the NEON network to address one of the paramount ecological questions of our time: how will native biodiversity respond to climate change? To document and organize biodiversity across spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales, we would develop a complete baseline phylogenetic inventory of all 20 of the NEON core sites - monitored frequently using advanced high-throughput and remote sensing methods. The phylogenetic inventory would serve as a foundation for studying biodiversity at two major levels of detail, broadly designed to ask under what situations do taxa move or adapt to changes in climate:
First, we would develop and test hypotheses for all taxa about how geographic distributions should change with global climate change. This would entail three phases: (1) modeling past and current geographic distributions using data gathered from museum collections and the NEON sites, then (2) using global change models to make predictions of how geographic distributions have and should continue to change under various climate change scenarios, and (3) testing those predictions now and in the future using data generated by the NEON sites. Second, we would focus on certain key taxa (i.e., ecosystem dominants, keystone, indicator, threatened and endangered taxa) for detailed studies aimed at understanding the effects of climate change on the evolution of organismal traits, including demographic, physiological, phenological, behavioral, phenotypic, and genotypic traits.
The infrastructure and spatio-temporal scale of the NEON initiative are critical to this project. The study of biotic responses to climate change requires long-term study of biota accompanied by high quality climate data and cyberinfrastructure. The development of suitable models, and their testing and improvement using NEON sites, will allow a new understanding of the threats to our nation’s biodiversity, and possible solutions, as climate changes occur. These results will be of extreme interest to (for example) the National Park Service, Nature Conservancy, Fish and Wildlife, or anyone attempting to manage a reserve or develop conservation initiatives. This is the kind of science that lends itself to citizen involvement, educational efforts, and outreach. We will involve both professionals and students directly in the research proposed here.
We view biodiversity and the relationship between diversity and ecosystem functioning as the crucial central element in NEON. The biota processes all elements, provides our food and fiber, new medicines, cleans our air and water, and, indeed, even regulates our climate. If NEON is to succeed in any its grand challenges, development of a national infrastructure for characterizing and quantifying biodiversity must become a central topic.