Citation:

JONES, B. DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY TO MAKE ECOLOGICAL FORECASTS: ISSUES, GAPS, AND NEEDS. Presented at 5th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: Forecasting Environmental Changes, Washington, DC, February 03 - 04, 2005.

Impact/Purpose:

Provide regional-scale, spatially explicit information on the extent and distribution of both stressors and sensitive resources.

Develop and evaluate techniques to integrate information on exposure and effects so that relative risk can be assessed and management actions can be prioritized.

Predict consequences of potential environmental changes under alternative future scenarios.

Effectively communicate economic and quality of life trade-offs associated with alternative environmental policies.

Develop techniques to prioritize areas for ecological restoration.

Identify information gaps and recommend actions to improve monitoring and focus research.

There are two task objectives that reflect the work done by LCB in support of the ReVA Program objectives:

Provide information management, spatial analysis support, and data and information accessibility for the ReVA Program

Provide program management support, technology transfer, and outreach.

Description:

This presentation highlights results and recommendations of the interagency writing team on ecological forecasting. The writing team is part of the Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations (IWGEO) and involves participants from EPA, NOAA, NASA, USGS, NSF, and the Smithsonian. The goals of the forecasting system are to provide short-term forecasts to the public that are an early warning of potential risks to ecological services and associated human health, and to provide for longer-term forecasts that would help identify more insidious environmental changes leading to potential wide-spread risks and irreversible damage to important ecological services. This presentation discusses current capabilities, gaps, and needs related to a wide range of ecological forecasts.

Record Details: