Charge to Breakout Groups

• How do we achieve more effective integration? 1. Among climate sensitivity tasks 2. With tasks in successional and threshold themes 3. With the synthesis tasks 4. Across the LTER Network

• What product(s) should be generated by the synthesis? 1. BioScience Paper? 2. Special issue of a journal?

• Identify three or more climate sensitivity talks for themonthly meetings (list of titles and speakers).

How can we achieve integration?General Recommendations

• Distance delivery of monthly meetings to easterners• Better communication about active field sites• Monthly meetings!

– Informal talks; lots of room for discussion– Use time to coordinate shared field site issues, etc.

• Easy access to long-term data sets not currently archived at LTER: insect outbreaks, climate, active layer thickness, litterfall, tree growth, streamflow, stream chemistry, foliar elements/isotopes, tree seed production, time series of aerial photographs, permafrost temps.

• Collection of new ‘easy’ data sets: nutrients in litterfall, phenology

How can we achieve integration?Specific Recommendations

• Within Climate Sensitivity Tasks:

– Better Understand data being collected at different sites

– Standardize definitions/measurements (growing season length)

– Identify hypotheses that can be explored across tasks• High ice early in season shortens seasonal NPP by delaying or

comprimizing spring onset• High snow and low ice lengthen season owing to early onset• Do freeze-thaw cycles relate to snow depth?• Does snow depth and winter characteristics define / influence

length of growing season?

How can we achieve integration?Specific Recommendations

• With tasks in successional and threshold themes:

– Establishment patterns after disturbance an important opportunity for understanding system rate/state changes

– Moisture effects on insects and pathogens

– Post-fire soil respiration synthesis across different projects

– Respiration responses to drought (Rh vs. Ra)

How can we achieve integration?Specific Recommendations

• With synthesis tasks:

– Models as a tool for integration, but requires advance communication with modelers

– Effects of moisture on N mineralization/nutrient dynamics

– Ecosystem Services (Fire)

How can we achieve integration?Specific Recommendations

• Across the LTER Network:

– Cross-site integration based on what we need to know from other sites.

– Interbiome comparison of moisture impacts on thermal conductivity

– Moisture impacts on N retention

– Climate effects on insects and pathogens

– Cross-site sensitivity analysis of tree growth responses (above and below-ground) to climate/moisture relations.

Synthesis products

• Bioscience (or similar) paper on the consequences of thawing permafrost. – Use existing datasets documenting permafrost thaw as base– Explore consequences for ecosystems & human society– Organize beginning with a monthly meeting led by Ted, Jay,

and Vladimir (nominated in absentia)

• Other BioScience type papers– Cross-site LTER DIN retention, thermal conductivity– Runck-yarie synthesis of rainout experiments– C storage at surface vulnerable to great extremes in temperature,

moisture, fire– “Impacts of moisture dynamics on ground layer C allocation”– Charcoal production as f(soil moisture)– Harden sawtooth model—integrative, but need to id moisture role

Synthesis products

• Bioscience type papers continued – Fire: social and ecological consequences of changing fire

regimes.– Interannual variability and climate sensitivity of things we

have measured– Analysis of how “summer” measurements depend on

“winter” issues.• Popular science (e.g., Scientific American) paper on our

vision of Alaska in 100 years– Everyone contribute a 1/2 page description of what you

think the trajectory of change is in your piece of the study system.

Talks:

• Warming experiments past, present, and future (Trish)• Interspecific differences in climate sensitivity (Andi, Teresa, and

Joy)• Thermokarst (Jay, Ted, Vladimir)

• Cross site DIN retention (Evan)• Boreal biome root allocation and C (Jason)• Post-fire respiration resolution (Eric/Dave Val.)• Cross site rainout shelter jamboree (John Yarie)• Analysis of how “summer” measurements depend on “winter”

issues (J. Harden)• Carbon Sequestration: paleo to modern (Dave Valentine, J.

Harden, Andi)• Integrating with modeling syntheses (Dave McGuire, Scott Rupp)