1. 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

2. What Is Biocomplexity? BIOA life history COMPReceiving for free LEXAbbreviated name of a Lexus, a luxury car ITYHaving to do with Biocomplexity therefore must have something to do with the life histories of those who receive luxury cars for free.

3. 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.”

4. At NSF, Biocomplexity Is an Experiment That’s Still in Progress Scientific Experiment Cultural Experiment Managerial Experiment Political Experiment

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Biocomplexity Requires Different World Views It’s not about complicated interactions; it’s about complex interactions. It’s not linear.

9. Biocomplexity Requires Different World Views It’s not scale-restricted. –Varied temporal scales –Varied spatial scales –Varied organizational scales and structures

10. Biocomplexity at NSF Initial competition (1999) –Microbial emphasis Mega competition (2000) –Emphasis on complexity and quantitative modeling

11. 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)

12. One Perspective on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems An Unenlightened View

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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 multi- scale interactions among policies, people, and panda habitat.

18. 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.

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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.

27. Physical Biological Human Global Change Research Focused on Integrated Earth System Science Starting from a Physical Science Perspective

28. Physical Biological Human Global Change Research Focused on Integrated Earth System Science Starting from a Biological Science Perspective

29. Physical Biological Human The Next Generation of Environmental Research Will Emphasize Integrated Earth System Science Starting from Multiple Perspectives

30. Should People Be Part of the Biocomplexity Story? A Funny Thing Once Happened to Me in New Mexico

31. 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

32. 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?”

33. 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.”

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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?

41. I’m Happy to Raise To Help Raise the Questions Good luck in coming up with some solid answers!