NSF Funding Research in Biocomplexity

Traditionally, high school and university curricula neatly fragment science into physics and chemistry, geology and biology. But that's not the way that the natural world works. In recognition of this disconnect, the National Science Foundation's "Biocomplexity in the Environment" program is funding explorations of the links that connect the living and nonliving components of the planet. Research sites involved in the effort span the globe, from coral reefs to estuaries, from urban/rural boundaries to deep sea thermal vent communities. The projects differ in scale, too, from sequencing genes to evaluating atmospheric aerosols. "The program started two years ago as a logical outgrowth of programs funding biology that were highly reductionist. Comments from reviewers suggested that a clear holistic approach to understanding interactions in the environment would be timely," says Rita Colwell, NSF director. Many of the funded investigations mix experimental research and data analysis. "Biocomplexity encompasses biodiversity, endangered species, conservation biology, as well as quantitative approaches to modeling and analysis. It promotes greater linkage between molecular biology and systems analysis. The field brings together all aspects of knowledge of environmental systems, from the submolecular to the molecular, all the way to studies of organisms, communities, and ecosystems," Colwell explains. Awards for 2001 total $55 million; the agency funded 15 percent of the submitted proposals. Projects fell into four broad categories: dynamics of coupled natural and human systems; coupled biogeochemical cycles; genome-enabled environmental sciences and engineering; and instrument development for environmental activities. The 2002 program is budgeted at $37.5 million and includes a fifth area called materials use: science, engineering, and society. "There have been incredible developments in materials science, such as biofilm formation," says Colwell. Each category includes a few large grants, as well as several smaller grants that allow researchers to conduct pilot projects or feasibility studies, hold workshops, take sabbaticals, or just get together less formally to brainstorm and plan projects. Of the 40-50 awards for 2002, half will be research projects and half will be exploratory or fund conferences or planning activities. "We fund proposals to explore, to see what can be done and how it should be done. Then investigators can come back with a full proposal," relates Colwell. Response to the exploratory support has been extremely positive. "Principal investigators just met at NSF, and they said that even in cases where the project wasn't funded, it was valuable to get together to talk and exchange ideas," she adds. Collaboration within and between departments and institutions is encouraged. Variations on the Biocomplexity Theme Biocomplexity problems present three defining characteristics that emerge from diverse types of data: uncertainty, resiliency, and vulnerability. For example, environmental systems tend to be nonlinear, and therefore not easy to predict. "Nature has feedback loops that do not necessarily follow an "a" to "b" to "c" to "d" trajectory. The system very often goes back to "a," which then leads to "q" or "z." Understanding the dynamics of systems that are complex is not simply linear in cause and effect. That's how the world is," explains Colwell. A project led by Herbert D. G. Maschner, an associate professor of anthropology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, illustrates the enormous complexity of biocomplexity. The team is evaluating salmon populations in the southern Bering Sea and central North Pacific, as well as in individual rivers and streams. They are developing models and simulations built on various types of data that span the biological, the physical, and the social. Sources of information span time, from archaeological data dating from 5,000 years ago, to modern commercial and subsistence catch data for the past 40 years, and information on salmon population ups and downs throughout the intervening years. The project also considers salmon harvesting methods in three key villages, and marine ecology and salmon reproductive biology. "Investigating the biocomplexity of human-ecosystem interactions at multiple time scales and at different levels of interaction is still in its infancy. We see this project as exploratory in nature, but one that could easily be expanded to include many more species over a wide region," explains Maschner. Grantees employ a variety of techniques to probe these unpredictable environmental interactions. At Johns Hopkins University, for example, professor of geography and environmental engineering Marc Parlange leads an investigation of instrumentation to measure emission and transport of biological aerosols in the atmosphere at various scales. The project focuses on pollen dispersal, and uses an approach called light detection and ranging to measure the concentration of aerosols, dust, and water vapor in the atmosphere. The work entails field experiments, data analysis, modeling, and simulations. In contrast, a biocomplexity project at Brigham Young University focuses on the small, but considers vast expanses of time. Assistant professor of zoology Michael Whiting and colleagues are sequencing 12 nuclear genes as well as the mitochondrial genomes of 2,500 species of insects. They will then use parallel processing algorithms to compare the enormous datasets to construct phylogenies that can explain modern insect biodiversity. Yet another program targets just one insect, which threatens the California wine industry by transmitting a deadly bacterial infection. "The glassy-winged sharpshooter is a tenacious, non-native, and difficult-to-study insect. While it appears to be limited by environmental conditions, human related activities such as quarantines, inspections, insecticide applications, economics, and international trade laws are probably equally important," explains Michael White, assistant professor of geography and earth resources at Utah State University in Logan. His team uses modeling strategies to test scenarios that predict when the insect is most threatening to California vineyards. "Our goal is to provide a simple interface with which policymakers can assess the impact and cost of various management practices on glassy-winged sharpshooter spread," he adds. And what they learn about this one invasive species can be applied to others. It's All Relative Many of the biocomplexity projects explore interactions between the inanimate and the animate. At the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, for example, Skip Walker and his coworkers investigate frost boils, which are small circles of exposed silty soil that peek out from the frost cover. A frost boil is one to two meters in diameter, and they are spaced two to tens of meters apart, depending on conditions. "These intriguing features cover large regions of the Arctic, and unique ecosystems are associated with them. Their formation has never been fully explained, and neither has their influence on ecosystem properties," Walker says. Frost boils present a vivid example of a self-organizing process, which is a hallmark of environmental biocomplexity--a living community springs up around the physical pattern. "We are examining the variation in frost boils and their ecosystem properties across the full arctic temperature gradient from northern Canada to near [the] tree line. Our hope is to unravel how these features influence vegetation patterns and other ecosystem properties and vice versa," Walker relates. It takes just the right soil surface temperature for a frost boil to form, and that in turn depends upon regional climate as well as insulation from snow cover or plants. Frost boils and pollen aerosols, salmon and 2,501 insect species, are but a few of the diverse biocomplexity projects that the NSF is funding (see www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/be/ere_be-competitions.html). Sums up Colwell: "NSF is at the cusp of change, as it should be. The program in biocomplexity addresses the ways that science will be done in the 21st century. Huge advances in information technology will bring a richer dimension to ecology and promote understanding of the interactions between humans and natural systems." Ricki Lewis (rickilewis@nasw.org) is a contributing editor for The Scientist.

NSF Funding Research in Biocomplexity

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