NSF Org:	DEB Division Of Environmental Biology
Recipient:	UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Initial Amendment Date:	December 27, 2000
Latest Amendment Date:	August 10, 2004
Award Number:	0080609
Award Instrument:	Continuing Grant
Program Manager:	Henry L. Gholz DEB  Division Of Environmental Biology BIO  Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	January 1, 2001
End Date:	December 31, 2005 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$2,800,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$3,132,012.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2001 = $788,112.00 FY 2002 = $755,700.00 FY 2003 = $752,000.00 FY 2004 = $836,200.00
History of Investigator:	F. Stuart Chapin (Principal Investigator) terry.chapin@alaska.edu Roger Ruess (Co-Principal Investigator) A. David McGuire (Co-Principal Investigator) Marilyn Walker (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus 2145 N TANANA LOOP FAIRBANKS AK  US  99775-0001 (907)474-7301
Sponsor Congressional District:	00
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus 2145 N TANANA LOOP FAIRBANKS AK  US  99775-0001
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	00
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	FDLEQSJ8FF63
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Population & Community Ecology, LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH, ENVIR SOCIAL & BEHAVIOR SCIENC, International Research Collab, Ecosystem Science
Primary Program Source:	01000102DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT app-0102  app-0103  app-0104
Program Reference Code(s):	1195, 5209, 5926, 9169, 9177, 9178, 9251, 9278, EGCH, SMET
Program Element Code(s):	112800, 119500, 520900, 729800, 738100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.074

ABSTRACT

The Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research program focuses on improving our understanding of the long-term consequences of changing climate and disturbance regimes on boreal forests. The overall objective is to determine the major controls over forest dynamics, biogeochemistry, and disturbances and how these factors interact in the face of a changing climate. The forest dynamics theme addresses successional changes in biotic populations and communities following disturbance, emphasizing the relative importance of historical legacies, stochastic processes, and species effects in determining successional trajectories and the sensitivity of the trajectories to climate. Changes in the carbon cycle during succession hinge on changes in forest dynamics and other element cycles, but also influence nutrient availability and microenvironment and therefore successional changes in forest dynamics. Regional and landscape controls over disturbance regimes focus on processes that are responsible for the timing, extent, and severity of disturbances. Our research design uses experiments and observations at intensive sites in three successional sequences (floodplains, south-aspect uplands, north-aspect uplands) to document the processes that drive successional change. We will establish the larger context for these intensive studies by studying two large regions, a relatively uniform region in interior Alaska and along a climate gradient from the warmest to the coldest areas in Alaska. Through synthesis we will address three important ecological issues. (1) How do species characteristics and diversity influence biogeochemistry and disturbance regime within ecosystems and landscapes? (2) How can we conceptualize spatial and temporal scaling as the basis for linking processes and patterns from ecosystems across landscapes? (3) How do positive and negative feedbacks that operate within ecosystems influence the sensitivity of ecosystems (i.e., their sustainability) to perturbations, such as changes in climate and disturbance regime?

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