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 Ecosystems
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Does clear-cutting tropical rainforests change the amount of carbon dioxide or methane released into the atmosphere? If so, how will that process affect the local plant growth or global climate?
How does changing land use in New England affect the flow of sediments and nutrients into streams, lakes, or estuaries? How are fish populations affected?
How does precipitation acidified by emissions from factories and automobiles affect the forests of North America?
Many of the environmental changes currently being studied are caused by human activity—some of which can and perhaps should be modified in order to protect the health of the environment and, in short order, our own health.
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Ecosystems studies teach us that everything touches everything else—human activity on land quickly and directly affects the air above us and the waters around us. Scientists at the Ecosystems Center—the largest research unit at MBL—are looking at how organic carbon, which underlies the biochemistry of all life on Earth, finds its way from land to sea and how that in turn affects food webs in coastal areas. These studies are being conducted in New England—at Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod and at Plum Island Sound on Massachusetts' northeast shore—and at remote sites ranging from Alaska to Brazil.
MBL Ecosystems Center scientists gather data from model ecosystems and build computer models for the same reason MBL biologists study squid brains and sea urchin eggs: learning how normal, healthy systems work is a critical part of understanding biological disease and environmental degradation.
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A Global Center of Ecological Research
Researchers from the Ecosystems Center conduct on-site research at locations worldwide and use databases and computer models to study large-scale environmental questions. Many research projects are intensely collaborative bringing together the expertise of biologists, ecologists, geneticists, and other MBL research scientists.
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"The Ecosystems Center addresses important societal issues as well as important scientific issues. Science cannot go on in a vacuum. Our work must apply to big issues - pollution, biodiversity, global change."
- John Hobbie, Co-Director of the Ecosystems Center |
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Questions on a Global Scale
The MBL's largest research unit is the Ecosystems Center, an interdisciplinary group of scientists who study the structure and function of ecosystems. Center scientists explore the biology, chemistry, and geology of the planet's ecosystems, looking for the general principles that govern interactions between living organisms and the environment.
Ecosystems researchers travel around the world to study temperate forests and tropical pastures, New England estuaries and arctic tundra. Their goal is understanding and being able to predict—how ecosystems respond to change, whether it is caused by natural forces or human activity.
During the short Arctic summer, Ecosystems Center scientists have for many years travelled to a small research camp located on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska where they conduct experiments on the ecological effects of warmer temperatures, higher light levels, differing nutrient levels, and greenhouse gases.
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