NIMBioS Investigative Workshop: Modeling Reef Ecosystems
Topic:
Modeling sustainability of coral reef ecosystem services under multiple interacting stressors
Meeting dates: July 21-23, 2010
Organizers: Susan Harrell Yee (U.S. EPA, Gulf Ecology Division); Jerald S. Ault (University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science)
Objectives: Coral reef ecosystems are highly valued, but threatened by regional human population growth and serial over-exploitation. Human activities in the watershed and coastal zones must be dramatically altered to eliminate threats, but scientific and management efforts are often narrowly defined, making it challenging to predict the potential repercussions of decisions within a complex ecosystem under threat from multiple interacting stressors. This workshop would seek to evaluate the potential for development of a comprehensive coral reef systems model that links multiple interacting environmental stressors (e.g., water quality (nutrients, contaminants, sedimentation), exploitation, episodic events (i.e., hurricanes), climate changes (water temperature and ocean acidification), and vessel groundings) to the state and dynamics of reef ecosystems (i.e., reef-building corals, reef fish, sponges, algae, invertebrates, seagrasses, mangroves) stretching from coastal bays to coral reefs. To maximize relevancy to decision makers, the modeled reef ecosystem should include those attributes linked to the provision of ecosystem services (sustainable fisheries, shoreline protection, biodiversity). A systems model could be used to evaluate the environmental conditions under which the reef ecosystem or key ecosystem services are sustainable. Risk analysis could be used to evaluate environmental stressors or biological processes which have the greatest potential for impacting reef ecosystems, and therefore may be high-value targets for management decisions or future research. Finally, a comprehensive systems model would have enormous value to decision makers as a decision support tool to ensure that critical relationships and potential interactions are not overlooked when evaluating consequences of alternative decisions.
Participants: Alberto Acosta (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Columbia); Paul Armsworth (Univ. Tennessee); Stephen Ban (James Cook Univ.); David Bernard (Wicked Problems Tamed, MI); Sharon Bewick (NIMBioS); Michael Bode (Univ. Melbourne); R. Stephen Cantrell (Univ. Miami); Wandi Ding (Middle Tennessee State Univ.); Megan Donahue (Univ. Hawaii); Erik Franklin (Univ. Hawaii); Tak Fung (Queen’s Univ.); Felimon Gayanilo (Univ. Miami); Alan Hastings (Univ. California Davis); Clifford Hearn (Working Science Consultancies, FL); Eric Hochberg (Nova Southeastern Univ.); Ali Hudon (Nova Southeastern Univ.); Craig Johnson (Univ. of Tasmania); Cheryl Knowland (Univ. Liverpool); Semen Koksal (Florida Institute Tech); Suzanne Lenhart (Univ. Tennessee/NIMBioS); Joseph Maina (Macquarie Univ.); Steven McMurray (Univ. North Carolina); Jessica Melbourne-Thomas (Univ. Tasmania); Erinn Muller (Florida Institute Tech); Rachael Miller Neilan (Louisiana State Univ.); Jennifer O’Leary (NCEAS); Carlos Ruiz Sebastian (Wildlife Conservation Society, Kenya); Jim Sanchirico (Univ. California Davis); Matthew Spencer (Univ. Liverpool); Carl Toews (Duquesne Univ.); Howie Weiss (Georgia Tech); Elizabeth Widman (Univ. Warwick); Laith Yakob (Univ. Queensland); Aletta Yniguez (Univ. Philippines-Diliman); Tracy Ziegler (National Park Service, FL)
NIMBioS Investigative Workshops involve 30-40 participants, focus on a broad topic or a set of related topics, attempt to summarize/synthesize the state of the art and identify future directions, and have potential for leading to one or more future
