Impact/Purpose:

The objective of this research is to provide technologies for assessing, improving, and restoring the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems, as well as setting TMDLs for a watershed-based approach to water quality. This research is developing methods and models to understand, predict and visualize the response of ecosystems to multiple stressors at multiple spatial and temporal scales. These models will help decision-makers to identify ecologically sustainable choices and initially addresses the following questions: 1) Do changes in habitat quality, quantity and distribution explain quantitative changes in wildlife populations? 2) What are the characteristics of habitat that are susceptible to stressors, resulting in changes in ecosystem function, food-web structure, and diversity? and 3) What is the likelihood that stressor exposure will affect non-target habitats and populations over variable spatial and temporal scales? The primary products of this research will be tools for program offices to address Agency concerns concerning site-specific risk assessments.

Description:

This research focuses on developing methods and models to determine how terrestrial ecosystem/habitats will respond to anthropogenic stress. The primary objective is to develop a comprehensive modeling framework for predicting the effects of multiple stressors on key hydrologic, biogeochemical, and population-level processes that control changes in both terrestrial and aquatic habitat quality and distribution. The integration provided by this modeling framework will help establish the scientific rationale for using data collected at one biological level (e.g., individual organisms)to protect at a different level (e.g., watersheds or regions). This research also provides a scientifically defensible means for quantifying the uncertainty in these responses. The research will initially focus on the mechanisms by which stressors affect critical habitats, and how consequent changes in habitat structure and function can affect both water quality and wildlife populations. The approach to these questions involves the development and use of process-based simulation models that operate across large spatial and temporal scales. The primary products of this research will be a generally applicable modeling framework, adaptable to a variety of biomes or ecosystems, and capable of addressing short- to long-term effects of multiple, interacting stressors. The framework will include a user-friendly interface and visualization software to facilitate site-specific risk assessments of concern to the Agency's program offices and regions.

Record Details: