PROBLEM STATEMENT

Ecosystem services of various sorts (e.g., purification of air and water, mitigation of floods and droughts, detoxification and decomposition of wastes, pollination of crops and natural vegetation, partial stabilization of climate, soil fertilization, maintenance of biodiversity, and such) are vital for the lives of humans and other species as well as for the continued viability of ecosystems. However, considerable evidence is accumulating to suggest that changes in climate, land use, and other human activities may be altering the performance of ecosystems and the services they deliver.

Your challenge is two-fold. First, pose a scientific question concerning the interaction of human activities and one or two specific ecosystem services. Then, propose the best "next generation" research plan to analyze this question in two strategically chosen geographic sites that have comparatively different levels of human activity (e.g., (a) urban coastal zone such as New Orleans or Shanghai; (b) mixed use zone such as Chesapeake Bay or Baja, California; (c) rural arid zone such as Patagonia or western Gobi, etc). The ecosystem services you consider for your question and in the design of your study at each site should come from the list developed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (see attached).

In your proposal please include the following six elements: (1) a conceptual framework for understanding and analyzing the interactive processes at work; (2) a set of testable hypotheses or research questions derived from the framework; (3) a brief description and justification of the strategic research sites where the hypotheses/questions will be tested; (4) a data plan for testing the hypotheses/questions in the chosen sites, complete with a description of methods (e.g., field experiments, social science surveys, computer-based predictive analyses), hypotheses, and analyses that will shed light on essential elements and dynamics of your framework; (5) a discussion of the broader impacts of your research for policy, resource management, and decision making; and (6) a list of at least 15 references essential to shaping your design.

Your goal is to design a study that will yield the clearest understanding of the human activities-ecosystem services interactions specified in your question within and across your two selected geographic sites. In so doing, please propose a combination of empirical work to test proposed relationships and computational/ statistical/mathematical modeling to extend them in space or time, and quantify the uncertainty associated with the resulting explanations and predictions/forecasts. In your empirical tests and models please be certain to discuss the sources and types of data that you would need to collect and how you would go about obtaining them. Since your aim is both to advance fundamental scientific understanding and to have broader relevance for environmental management, policy and decision-making, please design your study not only to produce well-grounded empirical findings but also to yield original insights into the key social and natural processes.

Your proposed research should be novel and original in both the approaches it deploys and the insights it yields. And, though you need not provide a detailed literature review, indicate clearly how your proposal is original yet builds upon existing research approaches. We are not asking you to develop a budget or management plan for this research, but would like to orient your thinking toward a project that would cost roughly $2M per year for five years. In general terms, these resources would provide for example, a research team of about 3 to 5 senior (faculty- type) investigators, 3 to 5 postdoctoral fellows, about 10 graduate students and/or technicians, and 20 part-time undergraduates, and rental access to facility class instrumentation and computation (e.g., isotope mass spectrometers, research vessels and aircraft, parallel computing facilities), and all of the materials, supplies and travel characteristic of a well-funded research team. Please consider these loose resource guidelines and allocations as budget possibilities not budget limits. Their purpose is simply to help anchor your thinking.

Proposal/Presentation Guidelines and Components

Your powerpoint should include the following seven sections:

1. Problem Statement
2. Research Questions/ Hypotheses
3. Conceptual Framework
4. Geographic Sites
5. Data Plan/ Research Methods
6. Broader Implications & Conclusion
7. Key References

You may also include any handouts or Webpages you see fit for your presentation. Your presentation should last a maximum of 15 minutes. How you allocate your time across the seven sections above and your group members is up to you. In addition to the powerpoint presentation, your group is require to prepare a 3-5 page narrative proposal which covers the same seven sections listed above. This narrative will be distributed to the expert panel in advance of your presentation on Sunday afternoon.