1. BNZ LTER Program Role in the National LTER Network LTER Network Decadal Plan 2009 LTER All Scientists Meeting

2. LTER Network Decadal Plan Integrated Science for Science and the Environment (aka ISSE) Three Themes 1. Land and Water Use Change – the dynamics of urban, exurban, and working systems 2. Climate Change, Variability, and Extreme Events 3. Nutrient Mobilization and Species Introductions Funding Mechanisms No ISSE Program ULTRA LTER Working Group Proposals (8) – CNH Science Council to develop cross network initiatives Augmentation of NSF LTER Budget

3. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Regulating: Nutrient filtration, nutrient retention, C sequestration, disease regulation Provisioning: food and fiber production, Cultural: aesthetics & recreation ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION Flux, transport, storage, transformation, stoichiometry, productivity COMMUNITY STRUCTURE Vegetation turnover time Trophic structure Microbial communities PULSES: Fire, drought, storms; dust events, pulse nutrient inputs; fertilization PRESSES: Climate change; nutrient loading; sea-level rise; increased human resource use HUMAN BEHAVIOR Regulation Markets Migration Institutional Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 HUMAN OUTCOMES Exposure risk Quality of life Human health Perception and value Q4b Geophysical Template Socio-cultural-economic Template Q4a Q5 External drivers earthquake, tsunami

4. LTER Network Decadal Plan Integrated Science for Science and the Environment (aka ISSE) Three Themes 1. Land and Water Use Change – the dynamics of urban, exurban, and working systems 2. Climate Change, Variability, and Extreme Events 3. Nutrient Mobilization and Species Introductions Funding Mechanisms No ISSE Program ULTRA LTER Working Group Proposals (8) – CNH Science Council to develop cross network initiatives Augmentation of NSF LTER Budget

5. 2009 LTER All Scientists Meeting Integrating Science and Society in an Ever-Changing World September 14-16, 2009 at YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colorado Important Dates March 4– second call, including preliminary program March 9 – Information to sites on funding March 22 – working group submission opens April 1 – housing reservations open May 1 – poster submission opens June 1 – meeting registration opens June 15 – housing reservations close; room block released July 1 –working group and poster submissions close August 15 – final program Discussion Issues Graduate Student Symposium on 13 September ILTER Meeting on Ecosystem Services on 12 and 13 September Some funding for travel provided by the LTER Network Office Working Groups

6. BNZ LTER Synthesis Issue of Canadian Journal of Forest Research (CJFR) Title: The Dynamics of Change in Alaska’s Boreal Forests: Resilience and Vulnerability in Response to Climate Warming

7. Climate Sensitivity and Resilience/Vulnerability Response of White Spruce Growth to Climate (McGuire et al.) Response of Stream Flow to Climate (Jones et al.) Response of Permafrost and Effects of Ecosystems (Jorgensen et al.) Changing Moss Communities (Turetsky et al.) Climate Variability and Snow Shoe Hare Population Cycles (Kielland et al.)

8. Long term response of stream flow to climatic warming in headwater streams of interior Alaska (Jones and Rinehart) Overview: With climatic warming and permafrost thaw, flowpaths through watersheds underlain by permafrost will likely change Predicted shift towards greater base flow contributions to stream flow and less flashy storm hydrographs Objectives of research to synthesize patterns in stream flow hydrographs over 29 year record for three headwater streams draining watersheds with varying extents of underlying permafrost.

9. Factors Affecting Permafrost Degradation Topography Insolation Runoff Lapse Rate Snowfall Surface Water albedo convective heat Ground Water advective heat Soil Texture Peat vs Gravel vs Silt Drainage Moisture Thermal properties Vegetation Albedo Shading Insulation Snow Interception Loess Permafrost Gravel Riverbed Thick Peat Retransported Silt Bedrock Stratified Silt and Sand Thaw Lake Ground Ice Thaw settlement

10. Consequences of Permafrost Degradation Hydrologic reorganization Stream export changes (sediment, DOC) Soil carbon sequestration or loss Trace gas emissions Habitat shifts Habitat use and wildlife abundance Infrastructure Damage Overland transport Approximately 70% of Interior Alaska susceptible to permafrost loss

11. 1)Use meta-analysis to address key assumptions about moss and boreal ecosystem Moss vs. vascular NPP Moss vs. vascular decomposition Changing moss abundance with  N, temp, fire 2) Apply insight to understand implications of changing moss abundance across LTER sites Goals for synthesis chapter

12. Hare cycle on Riparian trap grid BNZ LTER 1998-2008 Kaplan-Meier survival estimates Remains of lynx-killed snowshoe hare

13. Disturbance, Successional Dynamics in Resilience/Vulnerability Changing Plant Communities in Floodplain Turning Points (Hollingsworth et al.) Forest Growth Dynamics in Upland and Floodplain Turning Points (Yarie et al.) Spatial and Temporal Structure of Fungal Communities (Taylor et al.) Alaska’s Changing Fire Regime (Kasischke et al.) Fire and Resilience (Johnstone et al.) Fire, Trees, and Nitrogen (Mack et al.) Insect and Pathogen Disturbance Regimes (Juday et al.)

14. Research Questions (Hollingsworth) Are there identifiable understory turning points that mirror the overstory changes in succession? Have changes in climate been manifested in unexpected understory vegetation changes? Methods Introduction Results: Cover Results: Composition Conclusions

15. FP3 – White Spruce

16. Concluding remarks (Taylor et al.) Fungal diversity in soil is staggering We cannot yet fully capture fungal diversity Taxa that appear to be rare at a given sampling time and place are not necessarily regionally rare or unimportant Boreal forest fungal diversity has strong patchiness at multiple spatial scales, moderate seasonal dynamics, and yet unexpected inter-annual stability Soil horizon is an over-riding factor in fungal niche partitioning Relating all this diversity to function will be a gargantuan but exciting and worthwhile undertaking

17. Key questions (Johnstone) How well do these conceptual models fit our understanding of forest dynamics in Alaska? –Evidence for stable cycles? –Evidence for feedback mechanisms that generate these cycles? –Evidence of fire generating threshold responses?

18. Fire, nitrogen loss, and nitrogen availability in black spruce forests of Interior Alaska Michelle C. Mack 1, Leslie A. Boby 1, Edward A.G. Schuur 1, Jill F. Johnstone 2, Teresa N. Hollingsworth 3 and F.S. Chapin, III 3 1 University of Florida 2 University of Saskatchewan 3 University of Alaska Fairbanks

19. Regional Syntheses of Resilience/Vulnerability Climate Feedbacks of Alaska’s Boreal Forests (Euskirchen et al.) Resilience of Human Communities in interior Alaska (Kofinas et al.) Overall Synthesis of Resilience/Vulnerability Vulnerability and Resilience of Alaska’s Boreal Forest to Climate Change: A Synthesis of Bonanza Creek LTER Research (Chapin et al.)

20. 1. What are the feedbacks to climate in Alaska’s boreal forest? 2. What can we say about the magnitude of these climate feedbacks, both historically and in the future? 3. What are the primary unknowns in obtaining a better understanding of these feedbacks, and what role can earth system models play in helping us better understand these feedback? The changing effects of Alaska boreal forests on the climate system E. Euskirchen, A.D. McGuire, F.S. Chapin III, T.S. Rupp Key Questions:

21. Important Dates for Special Issue November – Titles January – Outlines (haven’t received one outline) February 20th – Powerpoint presentations of progress (haven’t received two) April 17 – Rough Drafts to Terry, Roger, and myself May 1 – Feedback from Terry, Roger, and myself June 1 – Submission of manuscript to me June 8 – Send all manuscripts to CJFR on CD

22. Breakout Groups Biophysical changes in the boreal forest: permafrost and climate feedbacks (Jorgenson, Euskirchen) Climate sensitivity of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Jones, McGuire) Changing community dynamics of mosses, vascular plants (Turetsky, Hollingsworth) Microbial and pest response to climate change (Taylor, Juday) Changing fire regime and its impact on nitrogen and resilience (Kasischke, Johnstone, Mack) Changing animal dynamics and ecosystem services (Kielland, Kofinas)

23. Charge to Breakout Groups Within Paper Coordination Across Paper Coordination Papers need to be frame in Resilience/Vulnerability framework – Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion. 8000 words maximum Different perspectives of co-authors are fine. Key thing is for paper to clarify these different perspectives and outline how we move forward to reconcile the perspectives.