Over the past century, Alaska has been warming twice as quickly as the global average, with some of the largest annual air temperature increases occurring in continental--or interior--boreal forests. This warmer, drier climate has triggered unprecedented changes in disturbance regimes and species ranges resulting in new patterns of forest recover with distinct ecosystem structures and functions, which have altered the abundance, distribution, and access to ecosystem services by Alaskans.

The intellectual merit of our research at Bonanza Creek (BNZ) Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site derives from our comprehensive program to understand cross-scale interactive effects of changing climate and disturbance regimes on the Alaskan boreal forest, to study associated regional feedbacks to the climate system, and to identify vulnerabilities and adaptation opportunities to social-ecological change with Alaskan communities. Over the last five years, BNZ produced 368 peer-reviewed journal articles, including publications in Nature, Science, and PNAS, and supported 28 theses and dissertations. We also created broader impacts for a range of target populations: local K-12 students, 45 rural Alaskan villages and towns, a national network of artists and writers, and state, national, and international policymakers.

Our work contributed to >60 synthesis papers. For example, multi-decadal seedfall records contributed to syntheses of seed production testing predictions of ecological theory, functional mechanisms, and species responses to changing climate and disturbance. Similarly, our long-term streamflow and chemistry data contributed to cross-latitudinal syntheses of stream chemistry. Our research has informed conceptual syntheses of ecosystem response to changing climate and disturbance regimes and how ecological legacies can be used to predict changes in ecosystem state. Finally, our Permafrost Carbon Network synthesis work has led to new understanding of the role of permafrost soils in climate feedbacks and the Earth System, which was featured in the Six Assesment Report of the Internation Panel on Climate Change.

Our In a Time of Change (ITOC) program is an environmental science, arts, and humanities (eSAH) program that produces events focused on social-ecological themes related to boreal forests. It is linked to eSAH programs at other LTER sites and provides network-wide leadership in this area [132, 133]. Over the last grant cycle, ITOC produced two programs. First, Microbial Worlds, launched in 2017, focused on the roles microbes play in environmental health. Audience surveys showed an increase in knowledge and motivation to learn about microbes and appreciation of science. Second, in 2020, ITOC launched Boreal Forest Stories, which explores the integration of narrative in collaborative eSAH projects about the boreal forest. Forty-two participating artists, teams, and organizations gathered bi-monthly with BNZ scientists for virtual workshops and four in-person field trips. The project will culminate in a public exhibit with literary readings, live performances, educational activities, and a book.

Our education research and outreach program, in collaboration with the Arctic and Earth SIGNs project, developed a culturally responsive learning framework to meet in-school and out-of-school needs on climate change learning and citizen science in Indigenous communities or other STEM underserved groups. We applied and adapted this framework in our BNZ citizen science and Schoolyard LTER programs that use Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment and two BNZ-created citizen science programs on boreal berry ecology. Results from educational experiments support the idea that community and citizen science with scenario stories development provides a promising method to connect data to action for a sustainable and resilient future. 

Over the past five years, we conducted 80 professional development workshops for 1,400 formal and informal educators and community members, reaching over 4,000 youth. More than 2,000 students engaged in year-long or multi-year climate change investigations and stewardship action projects. In the 2019 Climate Change in My Community workshop and in our 2020 Climate & Energy Connections e-Course, more than 90% of participants increased their confidence to teach real-world inquiry activities. These self-reported outcomes reflect participants’ willingness to facilitate an inquiry-learning process, decreased fear of math and/or science, and the ability to share information about climate change. Our Fostering Science program provides science adventure camps for youth (age 10-16) in State care. Our week-long day camp has grown from five campers in 2017 to 40 campers in 2023, and  more than 50% of our campers are Alaska Native. 

Last Modified: 07/15/2024
Modified by: Michelle C Mack