Isotope monitoring and global change

“Transportation, energy and water will be issues for the next 100 million”

Fri, October 27, 2006

USGCRP 2001

Vulnerable water resources!

USGCRP 2001

•BiodiversityBiodiversity

•Biogeochem Biogeochem cyclescycles

•Climate changeClimate change

•EcohydrologyEcohydrology

•Infectious diseaseInfectious disease

•Invasive speciesInvasive species

•Land use/coverLand use/cover

BIOGEOCHEMISTRYBIOGEOCHEMISTRY -To what extent are pollutants entering the food and water supply and what are their origins?

ECOHYDROLOGYECOHYDROLOGY - How is groundwater level and stream flow impacted by land use?

INVASIVE SPECIESINVASIVE SPECIES - How do invasive species alter productivity and economic value of the landscape?

BIODIVERSITYBIODIVERSITY - What role do certain species play in ecosystems that make them critical for preservation?

INFECTIOUS DISEASESINFECTIOUS DISEASES - What is the geographic origin and migration pattern of disease vectors?

CLIMATE CHANGECLIMATE CHANGE - To what extent is climate change altering productivity of natural and manmade ecosystems?

LAND USELAND USE - How much can we harvest from or disturb

ecosystems before they suffer irreversible degradation?

Location of atmospheric sampling sites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group (NOAA/CMDL/CCGG), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) networks.

Location of sampling sites for the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) network and the Moisture Isotopes in the Biosphere and Atmosphere (MIBA) network.

Visualization of global data for 18O in precipitation from GNIP

From http://www.waterisotopes.org/

• http://www.basinisotopes.org/• Provide information on isotope measurements within NEON• Coordination among groups submitting NEON RFI responses • Organize workshops on isotope techniques useful for the NEON effort• Assist with development of isotope standards and QA/QC

Biogeosphere-Atmosphere Stable

Isotope Network Phase 2 -

BASIN-II• http://www.basinisotopes.org/• Provide information on isotope measurements• Coordinate communication among groups• Organize symposia and workshops on isotope techniques• Provides support for students• Assist with development of isotope standards and QA/QC

Two parts to NEON infrastructure design

1. Research Design

(a) national / multi-regional scale questions that require NEON’s observational research and cyber infrastructure (continental and domain toolboxes),

(b) national/multi-regional scale questions that require continental-scale manipulative experiments.

2. Core Wildland Site Locations

Identification of a specific location within each NEON climate domain where a core “wildland” site should be established. These 20 sites will become part of the NEON continental infrastructure backbone.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)

NEON is an infrastructure program to be funded by the MREFC account at NSF. 20 climate domains have been defined for the location of infrastructure.

Nate McDowell Dan MurnickNathaniel OstromDiane PatakiBrian PoppDarren SandquistLaurel SaitoAlyson SayerJed SparksHeidi SteltzerLeo SternbergPaddy SullyvanValery TerwilligerBruce VaughnJeff WelkerBlair Wolf

Steve BeaupreSharon BillingsGabriel BowenDave BowlingDave BreshearsRenee BrooksJeff ChantonTodd DawsonDavid DettmanRick DoucettBrian FryCarol KendallJennifer KingGuanghui LinStephen MackoJohn Marshall

Cast of many:

BASIN workshops:

September 16-17, 2004, Park City

December 12, 2004, San Francisco

March 1, 2005, Tucson

http://basinisotopes.org

What should an isotope monitoring network do?

• Generate fundamental data needed to address scientific questions in many fields

• Monitor changes in Earth’s ecological condition

• Stimulate technological innovation

• Educate new scientists and technical experts

• Inform society and policy makers

Centralized or de-centralized structure?

CentralizedUniformity of measurements, protocol and quality control

Source: Jeff Owen, 2004 De-centralizedLocal scientific “buy-in”More interest in the data,its quality and innovation

Isotope monitoring goals:

• Assess ecological condition and change

• Identify ecosystem functional or process changes using sensitive indicators

• Evaluate success of ecological management or environmental mitigation efforts - reference areas or reference period

Aquatic Aquatic measurementsmeasurements

Dissolved Organic MaterialParticulate Organic MaterialDissolved Inorganic CarbonDissolved Oxygen (DO)NitrateAmmoniumOxygen/Argon

Atmospheric Atmospheric measurementsmeasurements

N2O O2/N2

CO2

CH4

Water vaporParticulate OM

Terrestrial Terrestrial measurementsmeasurements

Plant leaves, tree ringsSoil OMAnimal hair, blood, feathers

What should we measure?

Continuous sampling of “integrator”Large spatial integration, simple

Transects to identify hot spots and hot moments

Mayer et al. 2002.

Isotope Network of Ecological Warning Signals

INEWS

Dave Williams – University of WyomingR. Dave Evans – Washington State University

Jim Ehleringer – University of Utah

INEWS - Isotopes as Sentinels of Change

H2ONHx/NOx

H2ON

INEWS Tracking isotopes of water and nitrogen at NEON core wildland sites: A sentinel of hydroecologic and biogeochemical responses to

global change

“inputs as a starting point”

“outputs as integrators of change”

Changes in source inputsChanges in buffering capacityShifts in biogeochemical processesChanges in structure and functionIntegration of disturbance effects

Tracking 2H and 18O of H2O at NEON fixed sites;A sensitive indicator of hydroecologic response to global change 2H & 18O of precipitation “inputs”

• Regional scale ET recycling• Source of atmospheric moisture• Event drivers of hydroecologic response

2H & 18O of discharge “outputs”• Integration of watershed processes (accumulation, recycling, mixing, losses)• Runoff separation (snowmelt, baseflow, storm)• Event selection

Ecosystem inputs – Sources of N to ecosystems

Durka et al. Nature 372:765

0

20

40

60

80

-4 4 8-2 2 6

15N (‰)

18O

(‰

)

Anthropogenic

Natural

Ecosystem outputs – Sources of nitrate in streams and capacity for ecosystems to process N

• What needs to be measured at a fundamental level to assist all branches of ecology?

• Figure out how to convince those who will benefit from this knowledge that an isotope network is needed