Award Abstract # 0822700
LTER: Comparative Study of a Suite of Lakes in Wisconsin

NSF Org: DEB
Division Of Environmental Biology
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM
Initial Amendment Date: December 19, 2008
Latest Amendment Date: July 29, 2015
Award Number: 0822700
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: louis kaplan
DEB
 Division Of Environmental Biology
BIO
 Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date: November 1, 2008
End Date: October 31, 2016 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $6,720,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $8,031,892.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2009 = $1,338,996.00
FY 2010 = $1,382,896.00

FY 2011 = $1,345,000.00

FY 2012 = $1,405,000.00

FY 2013 = $1,280,000.00

FY 2014 = $1,280,000.00
History of Investigator:
  • Emily Stanley (Principal Investigator)
    ehstanley@wisc.edu
  • Monica Turner (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Stephen Carpenter (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Robert Provencher (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Jake Vander Zanden (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Stephen Carpenter (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Timothy Kratz (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Emily Stanley (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Wisconsin-Madison
21 N PARK ST STE 6301
MADISON
WI  US  53715-1218
(608)262-3822
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: University of Wisconsin-Madison
21 N PARK ST STE 6301
MADISON
WI  US  53715-1218
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LCLSJAGTNZQ7
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH,
ENVIR SOCIAL & BEHAVIOR SCIENC
Primary Program Source: 01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01001314DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1195, 5209, 7218, 9169, 9177, 9178, 9251, 9278, EGCH, SMET
Program Element Code(s): 119500, 520900
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.074

ABSTRACT

Freshwaters are ecologically important and socially valued elements of landscapes and a nexus of hydrological, biogeochemical, biotic and human social interactions. The North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research project has been operating since 1981 in lake districts of southern and northern Wisconsin. During that time it has amassed an impressive long-term data set and understanding of the ecology of lakes and also been a leader in developing concepts for use in long-term ecological research, such as ecosystem services and ecosystem resilience. This renewal proposal builds on 33 years of prior research to examine integrated socio-ecological dynamics in the two study areas, focusing on the ecological, climatological and social processes that affect lake districts and the interactions among these processes. Four interrelated questions guide the proposed research: How and why have lake districts changed, and how will they change in the future? What are the major ecological and social responses of lake districts to climate change? How do multiple interacting drivers affect regional change in lake districts at multiple scales? and What are the magnitudes, interactions, and potential future flows of ecosystem services in lake districts? A diverse group of natural, social, and information scientists will undertake the research.

New synthetic understandings of the causes and consequences of ecological and social-ecological change in lake districts will be produced relevant to decisions of individuals and institutions concerned with the future of the region and the welfare of its residents. Results are integrated in K-12, undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, and data will be available and provided to individuals, non-governmental organizations, local, state and federal agencies, and to assist in global assessments of environmental and ecological change.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 230)
Aguilar, R., J. Pan, C. Gries, I. San Gil and G. Palanisamy "A flexible online metadata editing and management system" Ecological Informatics , v.5 , 2010 , p.26
Ahrenstorff, T. D., G. G. Sass and M. R. Helmus "The influence of littoral zone coarse woody habitat on home range size, spatial distribution, and feeding ecology of largemouth bass (micropterus salmoides)." Hydrobiologia , v.623 , 2008 , p.1
Ahrenstorff, T. D., G. G. Sass and M. R. Helmus "The influence of littoral zone coarse woody habitat on home range size, spatial distribution, and feeding ecology of largemouth bass (micropterus salmoides)." Hydrobiologia , v.623 , 2009 , p.1
Ahrenstorff, T. D., T. R. Hrabik, P. C. Jacobson and D. L. Pereira "Food resource effects on diel movements and body size of cisco (Coregonus artedi) in north-temperate lakes" Oecologia , v.173 , 2013 , p.1309 10.1007/s00442-013-2719-3
Alexander, M. L., M. Woodford and S. C. Hotchkiss "Freshwater macrophyte communities across landscape position and development gradients" Aquatic Botany , v.88 , 2008 , p.77
Allen, T. F. H., P. C. Allen, A. Malek, J. Flynn and M. Flynn "Confronting economic profit with hierarchy theory: The concept of gain in ecology" Systems Research and Behavioral Science , v.26 , 2009 , p.583
Ball, B.A., J.S. Kominoski, H.E. Adams, S.E. Jones, E.S. Kane, T.D. Loecke, W.M. Mahaney, J.P. Martina, C.M. Prather, T.M.P. Robinson and C.T. Solomon "Direct and terrestrial vegetation-mediated effects of environmental change on aquatic ecosystem processes" BioScience , v.60 , 2010 , p.590
Ball, B.A.;Kominoski, J.S.;Adams, H.E.;Jones, S. E.;Kane, E.S.;Loecke, T.D.;Mahaney, W.M.;Martina, J.P.;Prather, C.M.;Robinson, T.M.P.;Solomon, C.T.; "Direct and terrestrial vegetation-mediated effects of environmental change on aquatic ecosystem processes" BioScience , v.60 , 2010 , p.590-601
Bartrons, M., M. Papes, M. Diebel, C. Gratton and M. J. Vander Zanden "Regional-level inputs of emergent aquatic insects from water to land" Ecosystems , v.16 , 2013 , p.1353
Batt, R. D. and S. R. Carpenter "Free-water lake metabolism: addressing noisy time series with a Kalman filter" Limnology and Oceanography:Methods , v.10 , 2012 , p.20
Beardmore,Ben "Boater perceptions of environmental issues affecting lakes in northern Wisconsin." Journal of the American Water Resources Association , v.51 , 2015 , p.537
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 230)

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

The North Temperate Lakes (NTL) Long-Term Ecological Research Program seeks to understand long-term change in lakes and lake districts. This is an ongoing program that began in 1981 and focuses on two sets of study lakes; one group of lakes resides in Wisconsin’s Northern Highland Lake District (forested landscape) and the other is in the Yahara Lake District (urban and agricultural landscape) in the south-central region of the state. During the 2008-2014 funding cycle, we focused on four interacting themes:

  1. Perception of long-term change: How and why have lake districts changed, and how will they change in the future?
  2. Climate forcing of change: What are the major ecological and social responses of lake districts to climate change?
  3. Interacting Drivers, Scales of Space and Time, and Regional Change: How do multiple interacting drivers affect regional change in lake districts at multiple scales?
  4. Ecosystem Services: Past, Present and Future: What are the magnitudes, interactions, and potential future flows of ecosystem services in lake districts?

 

Pursuit of these questions resulted in: 262 journal articles plus book chapters, 1 book, 24 graduate theses/dissertations, development of a suite of new tools to facilitate research and environmental monitoring, multiple data sets that are easily and freely downloadable,  direct and indirect support for hundreds of students, enhancement of K-12 and university-level educational activities, diverse outreach activities including an art-science initiative and open houses to share science with the public, and inspiration for several new, affiliated research initiatives.  Examples of project outcomes for each of the four study themes include the following:

A. construction of phosphorus (P) budgets for Lake Mendota over a 30-year period revealed substantial inter-annual variability, and despite aggressive management efforts, there has been no notable decline in P inputs to the lake. These budgets suggest that improvements associated with management activities have been countered by increasing occurrence of large storms that are particularly effective at delivering this critical nutrient to the lake.

B.  NTL researchers developed the first-ever model of climate effects on lake ice and temperature dynamics to better understand changes associated with warming and shortened ice duration over a time scale of 100 years

C.  Several NTL studies focused on the factors that determine the spread of aquatic invasive species across the landscape, and the ecological and economic consequences of these unwanted plants and animals. These studies revealed that invasives were far more prevalent in Wisconsin lakes than had been thought, but that populations of these unwanted invaders typically occur at relatively low densities. Along with this research, NTL scientists developed an interactive public web page that reports on the presence of the four major aquatic invaders for Wisconsin lakes.

D. Lakes provide a variety of ecosystem services, or human benefits, yet these benefits are difficult to quantify and manage. In an effort to improve understanding of ecosystem services, a group of NTL investigators developed an interdisciplinary class for graduate students on ecosystem services. This class resulted in a peer-reviewed article about the class, several new data sets and models for quantifying ecosystem services, and inspired a new study initiative on the future of ecosystem services in the Yahara Lakes watershed.

 

Collectively, these diverse activities have provided myriad insights into the nature and causes of long-term change in lakes, and the tools, data, and the next generation of scientists to study and manage these ecosystems, and sought to transfer the technology and understanding to resource managers, policy makers, and the public at large.


Last Modified: 01/29/2017
Modified by: Emily H Stanley

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