Document: FIE-3-99-173

Physiological ecology and biosphere/atmosphere interactions.

FIELD, C.B* ¹ and M.L.GOULDEN ²

Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA 94305-4150 ¹
University of California, Irvine, CA ²

Abstract:
As the scale of ecosystem research has expanded to address regional to global questions, it is increasingly important to incorporate the bi-directional nature of ecosystem/atmosphere coupling. The atmosphere and climate clearly have large influences on ecosystems, but, locally and at the global scale, ecosystems also have a large influence on climate and the atmosphere. Aspects of this coupling have been studied by specialists approaching the issue from an atmospheric or an ecological perspective, but, until recently, few studies have taken the intermediate approach, with nearly equal emphasis on both of the major suites of processes. The exchange of carbon between ecosystems and the atmosphere is the best studied component of the bi-directional interaction, but recent studies still focus on a small subset of ecosystem types in a relatively narrow range of developmental stages. For the future, the premier challenges in ecology and in biosphere/atmosphere interactions are broadly overlapping. They include 1) integrating time scales that range from seconds to centuries; 2) dealing effectively with spatial and temporal heterogeneity; and 3) accounting for ecological interactions and biological diversity. The emergence of a vibrant sub-discipline in biosphere/atmosphere interactions does not decrease the need for approaching scientific problems in this area with the maximum possible ecological sophistication.

Keywords: ecosystem,atmosphere,coupling

This abstract is being presented at: 4:05 PM in session:
Symposium # 16: Plant Physiological Ecology: Linking the Organism to Scales Above and Below.