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

BiocomplexityWhat 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

What Is Biocomplexity?

BIO A life history

COMP Receiving for free

LEX Abbreviated name of a Lexus, a

luxury car

ITY Having to do with

Biocomplexity therefore must have something to do with the life histories of those who receive luxury cars for free.

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.”

At NSF, Biocomplexity Is an Experiment That’s

Still in Progress

• Scientific Experiment

• Cultural Experiment

• Managerial Experiment

• Political Experiment

Biocomplexity Is Based on Some Fundamental

PrinciplesBaerwald’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.

Add Yet AnotherFundamental 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

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.


• It’s not about complicated interactions; it’s about complex interactions.

• It’s not linear.


• It’s not scale-restricted.

–Varied temporal scales

–Varied spatial scales

–Varied organizational scales and structures

Biocomplexity at NSF

• Initial competition (1999)–Microbial emphasis

• Mega competition (2000)– Emphasis on complexity and

quantitative modeling

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)

One Perspective on the Dynamics of Coupled

Natural and Human Systems

An Unenlightened View

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

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.

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 betweeneconomic inputs and ecologicalcomplexity.

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.

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.

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.

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

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


and Education

• Central themes that guided development of the “Outlook”:

– Interdisciplinary

– Integration

–Synthesis

–Coupled Human and Natural Systems


and Education

Environmental Research Frontiers: 2003-2012

• Coupled Human and Natural Systems

• Coupled Biological and Physical Systems

• People and Technology

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


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


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

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.

Physical

Biological

Human

Global Change Research Focused on Integrated Earth

System Science Starting from a Physical Science

Perspective

Physical

Biological

Human

Global Change Research Focused on Integrated Earth

System Science Starting from a Biological Science

Perspective

Physical

Biological

Human

The Next Generation of Environmental Research Will Emphasize Integrated Earth

System Science Starting from Multiple Perspectives

Should People Be Part of the Biocomplexity

Story?

A Funny ThingOnce Happened to Me

in New Mexico

Developing a Research Agendafor Future Climate Change in

the Rio Grande Basin

• Impacts on Physical Systems~15 minutes of discussion

• Impacts on Biological Systems~45 minutes of discussion



• “Now we come to the hard part. Let’s add the people.”

• “Hey, does that make the social sciences the hard sciences?”



• “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.”

Should People Be Part of the Biocomplexity

Story?

YES!They may make thingsmessy, but they are anincreasingly importantpart of the integratedEarth system thatwe’re trying to study.

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.

People Naturally Interact with Natural Systems

Use the ideas andexperiences regardingnature in the minds ofstudents….

…. to help students gain greater knowledge about how all of the Earth’s systems interact with each other.

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


Education

• How do we keep visions broad while provide ample attention to specifics?

• “Watch tennis”• Metaphors from life experience• Use visual and graphic aids


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


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?

I’m Happy to RaiseTo Help Raisethe Questions

Good luck incoming upwith some

solid answers!

Documents

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