Ecological Change and three aspects of facets of ecological problems

Long term ecological change is monitored at 26 sites in North America and Antarctica as part of a scientific effort to generate baseline data against which to measure field responses to conditions.

Rules or laws of ecology

Solving ecological problems

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For example coastal California, Florida and the Chesapeake Bay, in addition to mountain forests or grassland steppes, are examples of some of the sites for which good evidence exists to see changes in productivity, populations and turn-over of soil and vegetational nutrients.

The California Current System (CCS) is a coastal up welling biome, as found along the eastern margins of all major ocean basins. These are among the most productive coastal ecosystems in the world ocean. The CCS sustains active fisheries for a variety of finfish and marine invertebrates, modulates weather patterns and the hydrologic cycle of much of the western United States, and plays a vital role in the economy of myriad coastal communities.

The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) is a 3,160 hectare reserve located in the White Mountain National Forest, near Woodstock, New Hampshire. The on-site research program is dedicated to the long-term study of forest and associated aquatic ecosystems.

The Santa Barbara Coastal LTER is located in the coastal zone of southern California near Santa Barbara. It is bounded by the steep east-west trending Santa Ynez Mountains and coastal plain to the north and the unique Northern Channel Islands archipelago to the south. Point Conception, where the coast of California returns to a north to south orientation, lies at the western boundary, and the Santa Clara River marks its eastern edge.The site lies on the active boundary of the Pacific Oceanic Plate and the North American Continental Plate. High levels of tectonic activity have created dramatic elevation gradients in both the terrestrial and the underwater landscapes of the site. The Santa Barbara Channel includes some of the deepest ocean basins known on the continental shelf along with remarkable submarine canyons and escarpments.

Research activities of the Eastern Shore of Virginia's VCR/LTER focus on the mosaic of transitions and steady-state systems that comprise the barrier-island/lagoon/mainland landscape of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Primary study sites are located on Hog Island, Parramore Island and mainland marshes near Nassawadox VA. The VCR/LTER maintains a laboratory facility in Oyster, VA.

The majority of Florida Coastal Everglades LTER sites are located in freshwater marsh, estuarine mangroves, sea grass estuary ecosystems in Everglades National Park. Everglades National Park covers approximately 4300 km2 of south Florida and is part of the greater Everglades ecosystem which extends north to Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River. Research Our research focuses on understanding ecosystem processes along the two major drainage basins in Everglades National Park: Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough. We are particularly interested in the dynamics at the estuarine ecotone, where freshwater and estuarine wetlands meet. This ecotone is dynamic in the landscape in response to changing freshwater inflow (with Everglades restoration), sea level rise (climate change responses), and disturbance (particularly hurricanes and fire). This represents the third largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states.

Our SGS site encompasses a large portion of the Colorado Piedmont Section of the western Great Plains. The extent is defined as the boundaries of the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), which is managed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and the Pawnee National Grassland (PNG), which is managed by the US Forest Service. Expansion into the PNG has allowed us to explore the biotic interactions of the SGS ecosystem across a range of climatic, geologic, topographic and land use conditions. The CPER has a single ownership and landuse (livestock grazing). The PNG is characterized by a mosaic of ownership and land use. Ownership includes federal, state or private and land use consists of livestock grazing or row-crops. There are NGO conservation groups that exert influence over the area, particularly on federal lands. This varied land use and diversity associated with land users and managers substantiates the importance of the sgs-lter to the area.

Three facets of ecological problems are always:

Ecological Change can be seen and understood as alterations in the relationships existing at any time among these three components of the labor theory of value:

The above categories of land, labor and wealth --or three components of the labor theory of value-- are related because John Locke, among many others, believed that the time it takes to produce something determines its value, worth or true contributions to wealth.

A real Arbiter of Value:

the steam engine changed everything, even how we think.

The steam engine reversed the importance of land and labor after its introduction.

The time it took to do something was no longer a single measure of value or the worth of anything. Instead the costs of resources, especially energy and waste heat became important measures of efficiency.