Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Prepared by
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Board on Natural Resources
Board on Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate
May 2014
Prepared by
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Board on Natural Resources
Board on Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate
About this Publication
To reference this publication, please use the following citation:
Dan Edge
Daniel.Edge@oregonstate.edu
Wendy Fink
WFink@aplu.org
Cover photo and document design: Caryn M. Davis, Forestry Communications, Oregon State University. Additional images courtesy of Bryan Bernart
Photography; Logan Bernart, OSU; Matt Betts, OSU; Dai Crisp, Lumos Winery; Kevin Davis; Terrence E. Davis; Camille Freitag, OSU; Dave Leer, OSU;
Kansas Department of Transportation; Marcus Kauffman, Oregon Department of Forestry; Garrett Meigs, OSU; Brenda Miraglia; Oregon Department
of Transportation, Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI); Oregon Natural Resources Education Program (ONREP); OSU College Forests; OSU News
& Communications; USDA Forest Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; U.S. Department of Agriculture;
Wisconsin Department of Transportation; Harold Zald, OSU.
Contents
7 Introduction
16 Grand Challenge 1: Sustainability
We need to conserve and manage natural landscapes and maintain
environmental quality while optimizing renewable resource productivity to meet
increasing human demands for natural resources, particularly with respect to
increasing water, food, and energy demands.
28 Grand Challenge 2: Water
We must restore, protect and conserve watersheds for biodiversity, water
resources, pollution reduction and water security.
38 Grand Challenge 3: Climate Change
We need to understand the impacts of climate change on our environment,
including such aspects as disease transmission, air quality, water supply,
ecosystems, fire, species survival, and pest risk. Further, we must develop a
comprehensive strategy for managing natural resources to adapt to climate
changes.
50 Grand Challenge 4: Agriculture
We must develop a sustainable, profitable, and environmentally responsible
agriculture industry.
52 Grand Challenge 5: Energy
We must identify new and alternative renewable energy sources and improve
the efficiency of existing renewable resource-based energy to meet increasing
energy demands while reducing the ecological footprint of energy production and
consumption.
66 Grand Challenge 6: Education
We must maintain and strengthen natural resources education at all levels
to have the informed and engaged citizenry, civic leaders, and practicing
professionals needed to sustain the natural resources, ecosystems, and
ecosystem services of the United States.
84 Appendix A: Glossary for Science, Education, and Outreach Roadmap for Natural
Resources
86 Appendix B: Science, Education and Outreach Roadmap for Natural Resources
Contributors
88 Appendix C: Crosswalk for priority areas in the NR Roadmap with priorities
identified in the ESCOP Science Roadmap for Agriculture
In
November of 2010, the Agricultural Experiment Station Committee
on Organization and Policy (ESCOP) published the Science Roadmap
for Food and Agriculture (Association of Public and Land-grant
Universities [APLU] 2010), which identified research priorities
for agriculture for the next decade. Though the definition of agriculture1 in
the report includes natural resources, the focus of the report was primarily
agriculture, with natural resources largely treated as an input into agriculture.
Because of the lack of emphasis on natural resources in the report, several
individuals in the natural resources academic community reacted to the report
with disappointment, feeling that another story needed to be told, one with a
more natural resources-centric perspective.
While there have been many high-level reports and strategic plans written
about the topics covered by this report, most have tended to break natural
resources into sub-disciplines representing particular resources: atmospheric,
coastal, fisheries, forests, marine, rangelands, water, wildlife and others.
Although universities frequently segregate these fields through disciplines, the
resources themselves are all interrelated and need to be dealt with as a whole.
With that in mind, the APLU Board on Natural Resources (BNR) and Board on
Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate (BOAC) jointly created the Science, Education,
and Outreach Roadmap for Natural Resources (hereafter NR Roadmap).
The BNR represents over 500 university scientists in the fields of ecology,
fish and wildlife, forestry, minerals and water resources. The BOAC represents
over 250 university scientists in the fields of atmospheric, marine, and coastal
sciences.
1 See Appendix A for definitions of commonly used terms.
APLU Boards on Natural Resources and Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate — 7
The goals of the NR Roadmap are to:
Chart a path for natural resources research, education, and outreach direction
for public universities for the next 5-10 years;
Identify major challenges, knowledge gaps and priorities;
Provide guidance for policy makers in strategic planning and investment;
Support natural resources agencies, professional societies, and non-
governmental organizations in advocating for the use of sound science in natural
resources decision-making; and
Facilitate the development of interdisciplinary research, education and outreach
teams focused on natural resources challenges.
Conceptual Framework
Historians often tie the success of the nation’s land-grant universities to their
tripartite mission of education, research, and outreach. Originally created to provide
a practical and liberal arts education to average citizens, land-grant universities
expanded their mission to include research and outreach with the passage of the
Hatch and Smith-Lever Acts. This roadmap attempts to honor the tripartite mission
by including education and outreach goals along with research goals.
The NR Roadmap is set in the context of the changing nature of funding
opportunities and research needs. Calls for more interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary
research are now routine among federal agencies funding research. Also routine are
calls to include education and outreach goals during research development, not as
an afterthought. Although the timeframe for implementation of the NR Roadmap is
the next decade, we acknowledge that many of the resources we deal with have
ecological and evolutionary processes with broader temporal and spatial scales.
This roadmap is framed around the following societal needs to:
Optimize renewable resource productivity while maintaining environmental
quality;
Conserve and manage natural landscapes while addressing increasing human
demands for natural resources;
Protect, conserve and restore watersheds for biodiversity, water resources, and
pollution reduction;
Enhance water security globally;
Understand the impacts of climate change on environmental processes;
Develop a comprehensive strategy for managing natural resources to adapt to
climate changes;
Create a sustainable, profitable, and environmentally responsible agriculture
industry;
Ecosystems are critical components of cultural, social and economic systems as they
interact with water and climate to produce critically important natural resources,
biodiversity, and an array of services upon which humans depend. Climate change
threatens disruption of these systems on a massive scale, but our understanding
of these complex systems and their reaction to rapid, multiple changes brought on
by climate change is limited. Like water science, the difficult questions for natural
resources and climate change lie in the complexity of the systems and the likely
changes. While our knowledge of individual species reactions to individual stressors
is good, our knowledge of an entire ecosystem response to the full suite of climate
change variables is meager and will not be useful to natural resource managers or
policy makers as it currently stands.
To remedy this situation, much greater research on the following will be
necessary:
Observational and Experimental Approaches — Many of the greatest challenges
in understanding the effects of climate change on natural resources involve
interactions between multiple climate variables, natural processes, and society.
Ecosystem responses to climate change are contingent upon a large number of
location, history, and stochastic variables.
Simulations and Modeling — Computer models, whether statistical, dynamical,
or mixed, provide useful tools for testing our understanding of the behavior of
natural and human systems. If such models have been validated, they can serve
as valuable planning and management tools.
Management, Risk and Uncertainty — Risk evaluation and management of natural
resources in the context of climate change requires real-time monitoring data,
comprehensive exploration of the consequence of management choices, and
models for testing management hypotheses. There is especially poor cross-
disciplinary knowledge of the uncertainties associated with climate change and
climate change impacts, leading inevitably to poor or biased understanding of
uncertainty by natural resource managers and other stakeholders.
As mentioned before, the Delphi survey named agriculture as one of the six grand
challenges of natural resources and we have chosen in this roadmap to reference
the ESCOP Science Roadmap for Agriculture (APLU 2010) rather than writing a chapter
specifically on creating sustainable agriculture. However, we would be remiss if we
did not highlight the importance of developing a sustainable agricultural industry
to the sustainability of our natural resources. Furthermore, we must also point out
that agriculture cannot exist without the natural resources base upon which it exists,
namely clean and abundant water, healthy soils, pollinators, genetic biodiversity,
and a stable climate.
In lieu of a chapter, we provide a visual overview, in the form of a crosswalk
(Appendix 3), of commonalities and differences between the NR Roadmap’s and the
ESCOP Roadmap’s priorities.
Between 1980 and 2000, U.S. energy usage grew 21 percent. Though the past decade
has seen some plateauing of energy consumption in the U.S., energy consumption
is expected to rise again once the economy fully recovers. Even now, the U.S. is
increasing exports of natural gas. To support this current and growing consumption,
the U.S. expends a great deal of capital to produce or purchase energy sources,
often at a cost to natural resources.
While the environmental effects of traditional, carbon-based energy are fairly
well-known, most renewable energy sources are still quite new. Renewable energy
research during the coming decades will need to balance various needs including
environmental stress, public perception and acceptability, regional differences,
economics, technical feasibility, geopolitics, and fluctuations in the supply, demand,
and price of non-renewable energy forms.
Areas of scientific focus should be to:
Improve understanding of costs and benefits of energy development and use
and public perceptions related to energy.
Minimize impacts of increasing energy demands on natural resources.
Maintain available energy and increase efficiency to reduce ecological footprint.
14 — Science, Education and Outreach Roadmap for Natural Resources
Provide educational opportunities to students, teachers, and consumers on the
social, political, and environmental challenges related to energy production and use.
Issues pertaining to sustainability of natural resources are the focus of local, regional,
and national discussion. In a democracy such as ours, the development of natural
resources policy involves interactions among professional managers, the public and
elected officials. Public acceptance of natural resources plans and their effectiveness
for achieving sustainable management depends upon the integration of scientific
information and societal values.
However, much of the American public has little understanding of the process by
which scientific knowledge is gained. That is, most people neither understand the
framing and testing of hypotheses, nor the difference between hypothesis testing
and construction of theory explaining a body of natural phenomena. Hence, it is
not surprising that citizens—and frequently their leaders—misunderstand and often
misconstrue scientific issues in discussions regarding the science and management
of natural resources. Only by advances in popular understanding of scientific process,
combined with more effective science communication, can discussion of natural
resources issues be elevated. This goal may be achieved by the following:
Include natural resources in K-12 education by incorporation into Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum and activities.
Strengthen natural resources curricula at the higher education level.
Improve the scientific literacy of the Nation’s citizens.
Communicate scientific information to the general public in efficient and effective
ways.
Promote natural resource stewardship.
Promote diversity in the natural resources professions.
Conclusion
It is hoped that the NR Roadmap will serve as a point of reference for discussions
about these crucial resources. Furthermore, the recommendations proposed in this
roadmap should justify increased funding and collaboration for research, education
and outreach in the natural resources.
References
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Experiment Station Committee on Organ-
ization and Policy—Science and Technology Committee. 2010. A Science Roadmap for
Food and Agriculture. Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Washington DC.
Services
Social and Economic
Goods Extraction
profit maximization (economic
capital depicted in Figure 2).
Time
rivers comprise only 0.3 percent of U.S. waters and have resulted in a
Expected Outcomes
agriculture; variability;
Improve models for predicting Identify and estimate location-
changing hydrologic regime specific climate drivers and
impacts on natural and their uncertainties under a
Climate change impacts are complex,
managed ecosystems – e.g., range of future scenarios;
that is, they cut cross traditional
range or forest health and yield Define the impacts of population, community, and
under warmer scenarios with uncertainty and irreversibility ecosystem boundaries, and they
increased evapotranspiration; associated with climate are often not fully understood
and change and their impacts on unless the cumulative impacts can
Coordinate climate and management strategies and be quantified across large spatial
ecosystem researchers and public policies for mitigating and long temporal scales. Research
data for improved modeling of climate change impacts; efforts to address cumulative
weather variability and extreme Develop improved impacts of climate change, and to
cyclical events (wildfire, insect communication language and quantify and understand uncertainty
and disease, cyclonic storms, education from the scientists/ related to the impacts, will enable
etc.) and their alteration by researcher to the decision us to effectively use our limited
predicted or forecast climate maker/politician/land manager, resources to prioritize mitigation
change. and public at-large; and strategies and manage climate
Management, Risk and Define best-practice tools and change risks at a scale that will
processes for quantifying and lead to the best outcome. Research,
Uncertainty teaching, and outreach are the
assessing risk (vulnerability,
Risk evaluation and management of susceptibility, and probability) key components to preparing for,
natural resources in the context of under typical natural resource mitigating, and adapting to future
climate change requires real-time management scenarios and climate changes. Better coupling
monitoring data, comprehensive for better managing under of teaching (kindergarten through
exploration of the consequence uncertain future conditions. graduate school) and outreach
of management choices, and
models for testing management
hypotheses. Cross-disciplinary
knowledge of the uncertainties
associated with climate change and
climate change impacts is especially
poor, leading inevitably to poor or
biased understanding of uncertainty
by natural resource managers and
other stakeholders. Among the
highest-priority challenges are to:
Determine the uncertainties
in estimates of ongoing and
future local and regional climate
change that arise from potential
errors in climate change drivers,
We must identify new and alternative renewable energy sources and improve
the efficiency of existing renewable resource-based energy to meet increasing
energy demands while reducing the ecological footprint of energy production
and consumption.
Between 1980 and 2000, U.S. need to focus our research. This
Table 1: A summary of marine renewable energy sources and examples of knowledge gaps regarding
possible environmental effects, with references for further reading.
Technology Examples of Environmental Knowledge Gaps Reference
Wave Energy Marine mammal and endangered fish interactions; alterations to benthic Boehlert et al. 2008, DOE
ecosystems; impacts on near-shore sand transport; electromagnetic effects; 2009, Boehlert et al. 2013
acoustic effects
Tidal Energy Acoustic effects, electromagnetic effects, benthic changes; fish and marine DOE 2009, Polagye et
mammal impacts al. 2011
Offshore Wind Seabird interactions; lights; acoustics; cetacean impacts with in-water Arnett et al. 2007, BOEM
structures 2011, Boehlert et al. 2013
Ocean Current Energy Entanglement, pelagic organism aggregation and community effects, elec- DOE 2009
tromagnetic effects, acoustic effects
Ocean Thermal Energy Thermal discharge effects, noise, entrainment and impingement DOE 2009
Conversion
Table 2: A summary of possible negative environmental effects from biomass energy production, with
references for further reading.
Possible Environmental Effects Reference
Air quality and net carbon emissions Bain 2003, Tilman 2009, NRC 2011
Biodiversity Bies 2006; Fargione et al. 2009, 2011; Webster et al. 2010; NRC 2011
Wildlife habitat loss and degradation Abbasi and Abbasi 2000, Wu 2000; Rowe et al. 2009, Tilman 2009, NRC 2011
Nutrient removal and loss Pimentel et al. 1983, National Academy of Sciences [NAS] 2003, Eisenbies et al.
2009, NRC 2011
Soil erosion and run-off Abbasi and Abbasi 2010
Water quality and use Pimentel et al. 2004, Schilling 2009, Murphy and Allen 2011, NRC 2011
Acidification — the process by which water bodies, such Diversity — the inclusion of different types of people
as rivers and lakes, and other natural features (as people of different races, cultures or sexual
become affected by excess acid can also be orientation) in a group or organization.
described as acidification.
Ecosystem — a community of living organisms (plants,
Adaptation — the act or process of adapting to new animals and microbes) in conjunction with the
environmental, social or cultural conditions, or the nonliving components of their environment (such
state of being adapted (i.e., adaptation to climate as the atmosphere, water and mineral soil),
change). interacting as a system.
Adaptive management — a structured, iterative process Ecosystem function — the interactions between
of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, organisms and the physical environment via
with an aim to reducing uncertainty over time via processes, such as nutrient cycling, energy flow,
system monitoring. soil development, and water budgeting.
Agriculture — the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, Ecosystem services — the important benefits for
and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel, drugs human beings or life systems that arise from
and other products used to sustain and enhance healthily functioning ecosystems, such as
human life. the production of oxygen, soil genesis, water
detoxification and pollination.
Best Management Practices (BMPs) — those practices
determined to be the most efficient, practical, Ecosystem structure — attributes related to the
and cost-effective measures identified to guide a physical state of an ecosystem; examples include
particular activity or to address a particular problem. species population density, species richness or
evenness, and standing crop biomass.
Biodiversity — the number, variety, and genetic variation
of different organisms found within a specified Environmental justice — the fair treatment and
geographic region. meaningful involvement of all people regardless
of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with
Bioenergy — renewable energy made available from
respect to the development, implementation and
materials derived from biological sources.
enforcement of environmental laws, regulations,
Biomass — biological material derived from living, or and policies.
recently living organisms.
Habitat — the area or environment where an organism
Biome — a major ecological community of organisms or ecological community normally lives or occurs.
adapted to a particular climatic or environmental
Hydrofracking or hydraulic fracturing — the use of
condition in a large geographic area.
pressurized solutions to cause fracturing around
Carbon sequestration — is the process of capture and horizontal boreholes to increase the flow of
long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide natural gas or petroleum to an extraction well.
(CO2).
Invasive species — non-native species that adversely
Climate change — a significant and lasting change in affect the habitats and bioregions they
the statistical distribution of weather patterns over invade economically, environmentally, and/or
periods ranging from decades to millions of years. ecologically.
Understand and apply more widely the concept Emphasize technological innovation. Precision Integrate forest management practices with over-
of socioecology: human and natural systems technologies (e.g., micro-irrigation) can en- all environmental sustainability and ecosystem
are linked and should thus be studied as one hance the sustainability of how humans use services protection goals. Currently this is only
broad human-natural system. water and soil. guaranteed by using non-mandatory guidelines
which require regular development and upgrades
to meet more intensive resource use.
Increase environmental justice. Determine the capacity of soil and water to Increase understanding of the integrated effects
meet current and future demands for agricul- of forest management and harvesting practices on
tural and forest products. soil, water and biodiversity protection needs.
More thoroughly apply Life Cycle Analysis to Evaluate the effectiveness of policies and Increase awareness towards reducing wood
major materials and natural resources. incentives that promote soil and water extraction from sensitive sites due to long term ef-
conservation. fects on reduced productivity.
Identify and account for external costs not in- Increase the spatial and temporal precision Develop realistic economic assessments of the
ternalized in prices. of climate simulations in order to improve long-term effect of current use rates on resource
outcomes prediction under future climate and ecosystem productivity.
scenarios (e.g., water availability; forest,
rangeland, and crop response to drought per-
sistence; and soil erosion).
Improve agricultural and fisheries production Predict and evaluate how a growing and ur- Promote alternative practices that are less envi-
through more efficient use of land, water, en- banizing human populace with an increasing ronmentally taxing.
ergy, and chemicals. standard of living will affect how soils are man-
aged and how water is allocated.
Simultaneously increase the generation of re- Apply systems-level analytics to understand Promote understanding of the reasonable scale
newable energy while reducing the impacts feedbacks between humans, soil, and wa- and utilization rates of resources to reduce nega-
of infrastructure (e.g., wind farms, wells, pipe- ter and identify key leverage points for policy tive environmental effects.
lines) on fisheries and wildlife. makers to optimize the efficiency of public and
private conservation expenditures.
Evaluate how food production, freshwater Promote/manage forests for sustainable use of
availability, and natural landscapes can sus- non-forest timber products.
tainably coexist while facing a growing human
population.
* Items in Green come from ESCOP A Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture (APLU 2010); items in Blue come from the NR Roadmap; items in Purple are overlapping.
Items in Orange indicate the original wording of overlapping agricultural priorities.
Emphasize and promote an integrated sys- Understand the status and trends of re- Reduce the use of nonrenewable inputs in agri-
tems approach to research and outreach to source abundance and distribution through cultural production.
improve policy formulation that supports the accurate, timely assessments.
long-term sustainable management of dynamic
rangeland ecosystems.
Expand spatial and temporal scales of re- Understand interspecies and habitat-species Assess the capacity of agricultural and other
search to address heterogeneous biophysical relationships to support forecasting of re- managed systems to deliver ecosystem ser-
factors and response lags to management source stability and sustainability. vice, including trade-offs and synergies among
practices that influence rangeland productivity ecosystem services.
and ecosystem services.
Promote trans-disciplinary research to address Understand human-use patterns that influ- Enhance internal ecosystem services that sup-
crosscutting social and biophysical factors ence resource stability and sustainability. port production outcomes that reduce chemical
that influence the dynamics of rangelands and inputs.
tradeoffs resulting from changing demands for
potentially competing ecosystem services.
Emphasize and promote integrative social sci- Advance the environmental sustainability of Assess food animal production in relation to
ence research that addresses science-based ocean energy technologies. ecosystem services.
data interpretation and experience-based user
knowledge.
Document and assess contributions of man- Develop sustainable fishing practices and Develop innovative waste management
agement decisions to short- and long-term technologies. technologies.
outcomes of conservation programs.
Develop protocols and programs that generate Understand resiliency and adaptation to a Pursue systems-oriented and science-based
systematic and standardized evidence-based changing climate. policy and regulation for agricultural and other
assessments of conservation investments in managed systems.
rangelands.
Develop integrated research and outreach pro- Understand the interactions between coast-
grams that bridge rangelands, pastures and al and marine operations/use and the
hayfields. environment.
Quantify nutrients loads and im- Quantify current agriculture Develop techniques and Engage communities early, and in mean- Increase use of hydro-
pacts on watersheds. Identify use and overdraft. processes for removing phar- ingful ways, in decision and policy making economics to understand
methods to reduce loads while maceuticals from wastewater. processes at the watershed level, giving and predict how new tech-
maintaining healthy economies. them a voice and ensuring that the results nologies and policies will
are implementable and effective ultimately affect the condi-
tion of the targeted water
resource systems.
Identify water quality thresholds Quantify the impacts of in- Develop technology that allows Identify water impacts and poten- Increase economic under-
related to biological and human creased irrigation due to real-time monitoring and man- tial solutions resulting from existing standing of management
health. drought and changing climate agement of water systems. energy policy (i.e., production of biofuels, alternatives for wetland and
in agricultural areas and de- hydrofracking,etc.). aquatic systems.
fine sustainable use limits.
Determine the undeveloped foot- Improve understanding of Identify spatially-explicit land- Identify regional and national water impacts Enhance use of benefit/
prints needed in watersheds to introduced chemicals and scape and groundwater and potential solutions of existing agri- cost analysis and policies
sustain biodiversity, water quality, byproducts resulting from features that provide mech- culture policies and subsidies (i.e., water to increase understanding
or water quantity. hydrofracking. anisms of resistance and allocation laws, farm bill incentives, etc.). of public opinion (and de-
resilience to natural and man- terminants of) concerning
caused hazards, particularly economic-environmental
in disaster-prone areas (e.g., trade-offs in watersheds.
coastal habitats, areas of high-
seismic activity, etc.).
Identify land use variables (in- Improve understanding of the Increase precision of ground- Define water impacts resulting from re- Increase social science
dicators) impacting watershed presence of introduced chem- water data and models to better gional and national residential and urban research that identifies
biodiversity and associated thresh- icals and byproducts resulting manage lands that recharge development patterns and identify potential decision-making processes
olds beyond which watersheds are from carbon injection in deep aquifers and prevent ground- alternatives and solutions. that are necessary for wa-
impacted or degraded. water wells. water quality degradation from tershed solutions.
agricultural and other sources.
Define components of natural Apply geospatial approaches Examine water impacts resulting from ex- Increase understanding of
regimes to maintain ecosystem such as modeling and remote isting transportation patterns and policies how educational, incentive,
services, and develop regime- sensing technologies to better (impervious surface, sprawl, habitat loss, or regulatory tools change
based standards for water quality model water quality and quan- etc.) and analyze effects of potential solu- the behavior of the individ-
and quantity that maintain eco- tify future water supply and tions (mass transit, high speed rail, cluster ual and institutional users
system function and biological demand at a regional and na- development, etc). of water resources.
diversity, from headwater streams tional scale.
to estuaries.
Improve understanding of sub- Use satellite and advanced Analyze inter- and intra-basin policy alterna- Develop a holistic un-
surface flow and groundwater and information technologies to pre- tives required to balance water supply with derstanding of our water
surface water interactions crucial dict potential water conflict at demand and ensure resilience of supply in resources in a systems
for biological communities and all scales and inform policy and the face of disaster and climate change. context.
provide mechanisms for resilience management.
to drought, climate warming, and
disturbance.
Define achievable restoration tar- Analyze the importance of scale for
gets for urban and agricultural watershed management and BMPs imple-
streams. mentation to maximize cost effectiveness
and ecological lift.
Assess the optimal places to focus future
crop production and livestock grazing within
sustainable water use limits.
Assess regional and national water pric-
ing, policy, conservation, and management
structures needed to balance water demand
with sustainable supply
Develop crop and livestock sys- Develop new management and Develop cropping systems and Develop new approaches to Develop river basin-scale
tems requiring less water per institutional arrangements to irrigation strategies using im- reduce nutrients, pathogens, institutional and planning ap-
unit of output. sustain groundwater systems, paired and recycled water while pesticides, salt, and emerging proaches that integrate land
including real-time data networks protecting soil health and quality. contaminants in agricultural runoff use, water, and environmental
and decision support systems and sediments. and urban interests for robust
to optimize use of surface and management solutions.
groundwater.
Develop systems with increased Develop watershed management Address institutional barriers Determine socioeconomic barriers Investigate policy needs to sus-
resilience to flooding, drought systems that more effectively to the use of non-conventional to adoption of new water quality tain agricultural water supplies
and interruptions in supply. capture water during intense pre- waters. practices and develop innova- and increase institutional and
cipitation events and store it for tive approaches to encourage and administrative flexibility.
use during droughts. sustain adoption.
Develop institutional arrange- Assess public health issues relat- Develop methods for onsite treat-
ments facilitating water sharing ed to pathogens and heavy metal ment of tile drainage water.
across sectors. contamination.
Develop water pricing and other Explore marginal water treatment Explore new methods to reduce
market-based approaches. technologies to reduce energy water quality impacts from ani-
requirements for treatment. mal waste.
* Items in Green come from ESCOP A Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture (APLU 2010); items in Blue come from the NR Roadmap; items in Purple are overlapping.
Items in Orange indicate the original wording of overlapping agricultural priorities.
Identify signals of climate Develop mechanistic eco- Identify uncertainties of Development of climate Improve and evalu- Quantify costs and ben-
change that inform short-, system models comparable future climate parameters change scenarios relevant at ate existing models for efits of adaptation at the
intermediate-, and long- to statistical models, suitable as a function of spatial local to regional scales and use in climate change farm level and for spe-
term predictions, forecasting for ecosystem manage- scale, given uncertainties time horizons that include and weather variability cialty crops, livestock and
and early warning involving ment planning under climatic in mode accuracy, future factors ranging from unique studies; for addressing grain crop production
whole-system structure and futures. anthropogenic forcing, physical features not cap- carbon, nitrogen, and systems.
function. natural variability, and at- tured by climate models, such water changes in re-
tributable past changes. as lake influences, to regional sponse to climate; and
projections of changes in land for assessing resource
use, environmental policies, or needs and efficiencies.
economics.
Define effects of predicted Improve climate-based mod- Identify and estimate Improve and develop physi- Develop and test new Assess economic impacts
climate change on nature-hu- els for areas where we are location-specific climate cal and empirical downscaling crop models for pe- and costs of adaptation
man interactions. expecting the most rapid drivers and their uncer- techniques tailored to agri- rennial fruit crops, for entire foods systems.
global impacts ( e.g., melt- tainties under a range of culturally relevant variables vegetables, and other
ing tundra). future scenarios. (e.g.,. leaf wetness, livestock “specialty” food crops,
heat stress, and drought and wood products; and bio-
freeze risk). fuel crops.
Define interactions and ef- Improve climate-based mod- Define the impacts of Develop methods to spatially Develop and test new Integrate economic with
fects of climate and habitat els for key insects, diseases, uncertainty and irrevers- interpolate climate data. livestock models fo- environmental and so-
changes to population, meta- and disease vector dynam- ibility associated with cused on heat stress cial impacts of climate
population, and community ics, and potential human, climate change and im- and greenhouse gas change and adaptation
dynamics and change at animal and plant health pacts on management mitigation in livestock (e.g., valuation of ecosys-
ecosystem boundaries, along impacts. strategies and public facilities. tem services, impacts on
habitat gradients, and within policies for mitigating farm structure, and rural
ocean current systems, at lo- impacts. livelihoods, social equity
cal to regional scales. and justice, etc.).
Develop practical tech- Improve methods for quanti- Develop improved com- Develop sophisticated real- Develop and test new
nologies for measuring, fying carbon pools and fluxes munication language and time weather-based systems insect, pathogen and
analyzing, and assessing suitable for incorporation into education from the sci- for monitoring and forecasting weed models to project
environmental responses to ongoing inventory programs entists/researcher to the stress periods, pest and weed future range shifts, pop-
climate change, especially on such as for fisheries, for- decision maker/politician, pressure, and extreme events. ulation dynamics, and
full ecosystem levels. estry, etc. and public at-large. epidemiology.
* Items in Green come from ESCOP A Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture (APLU 2010); items in Blue come from the NR Roadmap; items in Purple are overlapping.
Items in Orange indicate the original wording of overlapping agricultural priorities.
Risk perception, in- Characterizing and ana- Develop adaptive strategies for live- Systems and BMPs to Identification of gaps Economic impacts of mitiga-
vestment decision lyzing climate uncertainty stock, including managing weather reduce greenhouse gas in knowledge, so- tion policies on agriculture and
making under uncer- and impacts on system extremes; accounting for costs and emissions for crops, ani- cioeconomic biases, the food sector, including costs
tainty, and the role of productivity; demand constraints of renovation or relo- mals and animal waste and other factors of energy and other inputs,
temporal discounting. for water, nutrients, and cation of facilities; information on systems, and food process- constraining effective environmental impacts, and re-
other resources; and the breeds more tolerant to stress- ing and other food system communication to gional and social equity.
environment. es; managing waste; and biofuel activities beyond the farm target audiences.
production. gate.
The role of Spatial and temporal Develop new, more tolerant crop Systems and practices to Evaluate framing of Evaluate policy mechanisms,
participatory pro- dynamics of production varieties through convention- offset emissions by seques- issues for optimum including tax incentives, en-
cesses in scenario systems. al breeding, molecular-assisted tering carbon in trees and communication ef- vironmental and land use
development. breeding, and genetic engineering. soil and also methods to fectiveness for target regulation, agricultural sub-
University emphasis on crops not quantify offsets, including audiences. sidy and trade policies,
currently being addressed by com- measurement uncertainty. insurance policies and disaster
mercial seed companies. assistance, soil and water con-
servation policies, and energy
policies including those involv-
ing carbon trading and biofuel
production.
Test and design de- Systems characterization, Develop new, rapid breeding tech- Greenhouse gas and car- Use new technolo-
cision support tools including a comprehen- nologies to quickly respond to bon accounting tools for gies and social
for adaptation and sive coverage of farm emergent vulnerabilities to previ- farmers and food system networking for com-
mitigation measures sizes and types, com- ously nonthreatening diseases and users. munication with
appropriate for dif- modity transportation pests. target audiences.
ferent producers and and storage systems,
consumers. and food processing and
distribution.
Conduct full life-cycle analyses of costs and Identify and test new biofuel products from Develop uniform indicators of environmental
benefits of different energy sources at local waste streams of land management activities. effects of energy development and use.
through national scales.
Quantify trade-offs among land/sea-use al- Identify and test new or more efficient ener- Quantify biodiversity impacts of energy devel-
ternatives (i.e., fisheries, forestry, grazing) gy extraction methods from existing biofuel opment and use (e.g., slash and coarse woody
in areas that may be developed for energy products. debris removal for biofuels; fish passage and
production. hydrological changes at hydropower facilities;
etc.).
Quantify public perceptions regarding energy Develop marine renewable energy sources. Quantify behavioral changes and mortality
development and land/sea-use alternatives. of organisms associated with energy devel-
opment and use (e.g., bird mortality at wind
turbines; marine mammal and fish attraction or
avoidance of tidal energy facilities; relationship
of animal movements to electromagnetic field
changes; etc.).
Conduct economic analyses regarding present Identify and develop markets for renewable Identify sources and quantify water and air pol-
and future energy production costs compared energy. Many such markets require process, lution associated with energy production.
to the projected costs of renewable energy. transportation, or combustion modifications.
* Items in Green come from ESCOP A Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture (APLU 2010); items in Blue come from the NR Roadmap; items in Purple are overlapping.
Items in Orange indicate the original wording of overlapping agricultural priorities.
Increase water-use efficiency in steam produc- Develop K-12 science programs to en- Devise agricultural systems that utilize inputs
tion and cooling systems. gage youth in renewable energy and support efficiently and create fewer waste products.
teachers that explain the social, political and
environmental challenges associated with fos-
sil fuels and the challenges and opportunities
for transitioning to renewable sources.
Increase efficiency and use of existing energy Promote college and post-graduate programs Assess the environmental, sociological, and
sources/infrastructure (e.g., hydrofracking for that develop a capable and diverse workforce economic sustainability of biofuel and coprod-
natural gas production). through mentored research internships and uct production at local and regional levels.
fellowships. Energy development and produc-
tion will require well-trained scientists from
diverse STEM-related disciplines. The need
for graduate degrees in this sector necessi-
tates increased funding for internships and
fellowships.
Increase fuel conversion efficiency for biofuels. Promote renewable energy outreach programs Develop technologies to improve production-
through the university land-grant system that processing efficiency of regionally appropriate
enable the public to better understand the sus- biomass into bioproducts (including biofuels).
tainability and environmental impacts of their
energy choices and increase energy conserva-
tion practices.
Evaluative mechanisms to assess effective- Federal agencies must maintain support for Include in K-12 standards a demonstration
ness of K-12 natural resource curricula that applied research. of the process through which new scientific
assess the degree to which concepts are knowledge is realized.
retained over multiple years and used in multi-
faceted, integrated critical thinking exercises.
Evaluate the most effective suite of experien- Understand the factors affecting undergrad- Conduct pedagogy research to determine what
tial activities that maximize understanding of uate and graduate enrollments and career is needed to more effectively include active
natural resource science and management opportunities in natural resources-related inquiry into teaching and learning at both the
and address key components of STEM req- fields. K-12 and higher education levels.
uisites, and develop and evaluate integrated
programs for effectiveness in knowledge reten-
tion, critical thinking, and application over the
long-term.
Understand the potential use of technology as Expand university training to include both tradi- Train more science journalists.
a bridging tool for connecting youth to the out- tional base of technical knowledge, skills, and
doors, and develop a better understanding of behaviors, and problem-solving, quantitative
the role of social science and use of social in- reasoning, critical thinking, and communica-
dicators in youth that lead to behavior change. tion skills.
* Items in Green come from ESCOP A Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture (APLU 2010); items in Blue come from the NR Roadmap; items in Purple are overlapping.
Items in Orange indicate the original wording of overlapping agricultural priorities.
Fund research to understand the linkage be- Integrate natural resources management Understand the factors that lead to women and
tween ways that decisions are made and ways with natural sciences and engage knowledge minorities choosing natural resources curricula
that scientific information is communicated about the cutting edge science (e.g., genetic and careers in numbers far below their propor-
and broaden strategies for science communi- engineering, atmospheric dynamics, biologi- tion in the population.
cations, which will require teams of experts in cal control, fire physics, etc.), not as separate
communication, decision science, and natural courses, but as issues integrated into applied
resources scientists. natural resources courses.
Develop better methods of communicating un- Integrate quantitative modeling with monitoring Understand the factors contributing to the im-
certainty and probability to the public because and data assimilation and increase future lead- balance in enrollment of women and minorities
these terms are interpreted as meaning a lack ers’ ability to work with quantitative models. among various natural resources disciplines,
of understanding. and how this imbalance may affect the avail-
ability of highly qualified professionals in the
workforce.
Develop methods to lessen the influence of Integrate natural science with social sciences
conformational bias in order to effectively com- and humanities within the human context that
municate uncertainty and probability in natural determines policy and practice.
resources.
Revised reward structures within scientific A cross-APLU study might recommend al-
agencies and universities so that communicat- ternative exploratory structures to enhance
ing scientific information to decision makers is interdisciplinary engagement across university
appropriately valued. Federal grants should re- campuses and lead to more innovation in edu-
quire a comprehensive plan for communication cating our future natural resources stewards.
of the results of natural resources research to
decision makers and communicating research
results to non-scientific audiences at a level
that makes a real difference, not as an after-
thought or “add-on.”