Christopher Neill

Idiomas

Áreas de atuação

Projetos de pesquisa

• 2018 - Atual

  Intensification in the world's largest agricultural frontier: Integrating food production, water use, energy demand, and environmental integrity in a changing climate, Descrição: This project addresses the grand challenge of how agricultural crop production in the Amazon and Cerrado (savanna) regions of Brazil could be intensified while maintaining the biodiversity, carbon storage, lower temperatures and regional generation of rainfall that remaining forests and woodlands provide. The project will consist of three main parts. The first part will be farm-scale field experiments to evaluate how different and more intensive crop management influences emissions of greenhouse gases from soils, water quality and habitats in streams, and demands for energy. The second part will simulate how the distributions of crops within this agricultural frontier region respond to farm management decisions and government policies, global greenhouse gas concentrations and future climate. The final part will use computer models to investigate the potential responses of the food production system, the water cycle, and energy use and demand to changing climate and different potential pathways of agricultural intensification. This will show how agriculture, energy, and water might be optimized to both increase food production but also preserve the forests and savannas that influence climate and suitability for agriculture over a large portion of South America. This proposal addresses the globally-important issue of how to protect and sustain tropical agriculture, climate, and forest cover. It will provide new knowledge about the implications of the intensification of soybeans and other crops for the atmosphere, land-atmosphere exchanges of water vapor that contribute to regional rainfall, and the quality of water and stream habitats in tropical watersheds. Results will be transmitted to policymakers and producers in Brazil through direct communication with state and federal government agencies; a 10-week immersion Policy Lab in which US and Brazilian graduate students will use science from this project to create policy papers; and direct interactions with a major Brazilian soybean producing company to study crop management options. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / COE, MICHAEL T. - Coordenador / LEFEBVRE, PAUL - Integrante / Marcia N. Macedo - Integrante / DEEGAN, L. A. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Integrante / ANDREA D. ALMEIDA CASTANHO - Integrante / BRITALDO SOARES-FILHO - Integrante / Glenn Bush - Integrante / Veerabhadra Kotamarthi - Integrante / Beth Drewniak - Integrante / Paulo Moutinho - Integrante.

• 2018 - Atual

  Considerando o nexo entre segurança hídrica, energética e alimentar e as comunidades tradicionais: uma abordagem integrada para o Cerrado, Descrição: O Cerrado concentra a maior produção agrícola e pecuária do Brasil, um resultado alcançado às custas da conversão de mais da metade da vegetação nativa do bioma e significativas consequências sobre a biodiversidade, o balanço hidrológico e o clima regional. Os efeitos cumulativos advindos do avanço da fronteira agrícola associados às mudanças climáticas globais em curso têm tornado o regime de precipitação menos previsível, com impactos diretos sobre a produtividade das lavouras e pastagens, o abastecimento de água para a população, e a geração de energia nas hidrelétricas. Neste contexto, os esforços para o aumento na produção de alimentos têm focado não somente na expansão das áreas cultivadas, mas também na intensificação e adoções de nova técnicas de manejo para mitigar os efeitos dos extremos climáticos. Estas medidas, no entanto, podem aumentar as demandas de uso da água e de energia, o grau de ameaça da biodiversidade, e a vulnerabilidade dos pequenos agricultores e comunidades tradicionais que sofrem com as rápidas mudanças na paisagem. Buscando avançar no conhecimento científico e social sobre como a produção de alimentos no Cerrado impacta ou é impactada pelo clima, e como a expansão e intensificação da agricultura pode mudar as demandas do uso da água e energia e o grau de vulnerabilidade das populações tradicionais. Este projeto visa integrar várias bases de dados já existentes e algumas em construção para alcançar os seguintes objetivos: 1) definir para o tempo presente os limitantes climáticos e hidrológicos para a produção e intensificação agrícola; 2) avaliar como a intensificação da agricultura e as técnicas de manejo para mitigação das variações climáticas têm afetado as demandas de uso da água e de energia; 3) avaliar o grau de vulnerabilidade das populações tradicionais, incluindo povos indígenas e quilombolas, diante da expansão e intensificação agrícola, e mudanças climáticas; 4) avaliar os benefícios da recuperação de áreas degradadas para os recursos hídricos, a conservação da biodiversidade e a estabilidade do clima regional. O alcance destes objetivos será possível pelo engajamento de quatro diferentes grupos de pesquisa com os seus bancos de dados disponíveis e projetos complementares em andamento o que permitirá uma análise integradora e direcionada às metas deste projeto. Uma série temporal de mapas de produtividade de diferentes culturas agrícolas está sendo gerada no âmbito de um projeto coordenado pelo IPAM (financiado pelo CNPq/ANA), um outro projeto que integra pesquisadores da UNB, IPAM e WHRC (financiado pela NSF) está avaliando quais são as demandas de uso de água e energia dos atuais sistemas agrícolas do Cerrado. Este conjunto de dados permitirá avaliar como a variabilidade do clima tem afetado a produtividade das lavouras e determinar quais seriam as mudanças na demanda de uso de água e energia com a intensificação da agricultura em áreas mais adequadas a este processo. A equipe do projeto IPAM-ISPN (com financiamento do GCF-CEPF) fornecerá um mapeamento de povos indígenas, quilombolas e outras comunidades tradicionais, que sobreposto a vários outros mapas de cobertura no uso da terra, de clima, demanda e oferta de recursos hídricos permitirá avaliar o grau de vulnerabilidade das populações tradicionais aos efeitos da expansão e intensificação agrícola e mudanças climáticas. Um outro projeto com pesquisadores do IPAM-LAPIG (financiado pela Fundação Moore) fornecerá uma série temporal de mapas atualizados de áreas de pastagens e do nível de produtividade e degradação destas áreas, o que servirá como um insumo chave para uma análise preditiva para o avanço da agricultura e de priorização das atividades de restauração em áreas que maximizem os benefícios hidrológicos, climáticos e sociais. Por fim, desenvolveremos em conjunto com as equipes de todas as instituições colaboradoras e projetos co. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / TRUMBORE, SUSAN - Integrante / MACEDO, MARCIA N. - Integrante / SILVÉRIO, DIVINO V. - Integrante / COE, M. T. - Integrante / LEFEBVRE, P. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Integrante / BUSTAMANTE, MERCEDES C. - Coordenador / Laerte G. Ferreira - Integrante / ANE ALENCAR - Integrante / Claudinei Oliveira-Santos - Integrante / Julia Shimbo - Integrante / Wanderley Rocha - Integrante / Leonardo Maracahipes-Santos - Integrante / Lucas Navarro Paolucci - Integrante / Ludmila Rattis - Integrante / Nubia Marques - Integrante / Karinna Matozinhos - Integrante / Paulo Ricardo Ilha Jiquiriçá - Integrante / Michael Lathuillière - Integrante / Charles Caioni - Integrante / Leandro Maracahipes - Integrante / Eddie Lenza - Integrante / Letícia Gomes - Integrante / Bárbara de Queiroz Carvalho Zimbres - Integrante / Antônio Carlos Silverio da Silva - Integrante / Robson Santana de Oliveira - Integrante / Manoel Euzebio de Souza - Integrante / Ana Heloisa Maia - Integrante / Cristina Dias da Silva Amorim - Integrante.

• 2017 - Atual

  Long Point Wildlife Refuge vegetation monitoring in response to grazing study, Descrição: The Trustees of Reservation. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2017 - Atual

  Baseline vegetation and soil moisture monitoring, Descrição: Tidmarsh West restoration project. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2016 - 2017

  Quantifying nitrogen removal by innovative alternative septic systems and potential for enhanced nitrogen removal by labile carbon additions, Descrição: The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and its partners, the Buzzards Bay Coalition, Inc. and Barnstable County Department of Health and the Environment, will quantify the nitrogen removal benefits of conversion of Title 5 septic systems to innovative alternative (I/A) systems. In addition, they will quantify whether the addition of a carbon source will increase nitrogen removal in I/A systems. MBL will compare nitrogen removal from a standard Title 5 system and two I/A systems, one of which will receive short-term addition of labile carbon designed to increase nitrogen removal. The project will take place in West Falmouth Harbor, which is listed as a nitrogen impaired Category 4a waterbody by MA DEP. All septic systems will be located within 100 m of the shoreline. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / JAKUBA, R. W. - Integrante / G. Heufelder - Integrante.

• 2016 - Atual

  Legados do desmatamento e da degradação florestal na fronteira agrícola Amazônica: impactos sobre a biodiversidade, o ciclo do carbono e os recursos hídricos, Descrição: No ecótono Amazônia-Cerrado, mudanças do uso da terra têm alterado fundamentalmente a dinâmica, o funcionamento e a estrutura das florestas estacionais semideciduais. Essas alterações, por sua vez, influenciam o clima local/regional através de disrupções do ciclo hidrológico, do carbono e de energia, com efeitos cascatas que ameaçam a biodiversidade regional e a integridade dos córregos da região. Apesar desses efeitos persistirem por décadas e interagirem com mudanças climáticas globais, as possíveis trajetórias de florestas e ambientes aquáticos permanecem pouco entendidas na fronteira agrícola Amazônica, bem como os seus impactos à biodiversidade e aos serviços e funções ecossistêmicos associados. Isto se dá em grande parte devido à falta de estudos que consigam avaliar no longo prazo como as interrelações entre florestas e ecossistemas aquáticos de água doce são alteradas em paisagens fragmentadas e sob forte influência da agricultura em larga escala. Nosso objetivo é responder às seguintes questões: 1) Quais os impactos no longo prazo da interação entre fragmentação florestal, extremos climáticos e distúrbios pelo fogo na estrutura, diversidade e funcionamento de florestas de transição entre a Amazônia e o Cerrado? 2) Qual a resiliência de florestas localizadas na fronteira agrícola Amazônica que sofreram múltiplos distúrbios e qual a consequência disso para processos ecossistêmicos e para a biodiversidade local e regional? 3) O desmatamento e a degradação das florestas tropicais já estão alterando os balanços de água e energia de uma maneira muito mais acelerada do que o esperado, devido ao aumento da emissão de gases de efeito estufa? Tais mudanças seriam maiores durante a estação seca e em anos de seca severa? O desmatamento e as mudanças de uso da terra estão modificando o regime hidrológico na escala de bacias hidrográficas? Como essas mudanças estariam afetando os processos ecossistêmicos de florestas de terra firme, o que consequentemente afetaria as florestas ripárias? 4) Qual o papel de florestas ripárias na manutenção da integridade dos ecossistemas aquáticos em paisagens agrícolas?. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / TRUMBORE, SUSAN - Integrante / MACEDO, MARCIA N. - Integrante / SILVÉRIO, DIVINO V. - Integrante / LEFEBVRE, PAUL - Integrante / COE, M. T. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Coordenador / JOHNSON, MARK S. - Integrante / BUSTAMANTE, MERCEDES C. - Integrante / DEEGAN, LINDA - Integrante / Laerte G. Ferreira - Integrante / Claudinei Oliveira-Santos - Integrante / Julia Shimbo - Integrante / Wanderley Rocha - Integrante / Leonardo Maracahipes-Santos - Integrante / Lucas Navarro Paolucci - Integrante / Ludmila Rattis - Integrante / Nubia Marques - Integrante / Karinna Matozinhos - Integrante / Paulo Ricardo Ilha Jiquiriçá - Integrante / Michael Lathuillière - Integrante / Charles Caioni - Integrante / Gilselda Durigan - Integrante / Jennifer Balch - Integrante / Beatriz Schwantes Marimon - Integrante / José Henrique Schoereder - Integrante / Eduardo Queiróz Marques - Integrante / Shaun R. Levick - Integrante / Elizabeth Nichols - Integrante / Vanessa Soares Ribeiro - Integrante / Leandro Juen - Integrante / Helena Cabette - Integrante / Manuel Eduardo Ferreira - Integrante / Luiz Antonio Martinelli - Integrante / Caroline Nóbrega - Integrante / Michael Keller - Integrante / Daniel Magnabosco Marra - Integrante / Rogêrio Libério Pereira - Integrante.

• 2016 - Atual

  Alternative ecological futures for the American Residential Macrosystem, Descrição: This project investigates urbanization?s impact on the ecological homogenization of the American Residential Macrosystem (ARM) in terms of plant biodiversity, soil carbon and nitrogen cycle pools and processes, microclimate, hydrography, and land cover. This similarity of ecological characteristics is driven by complex and dynamic human actions at multiple scales?e.g., parcel, neighborhood, and region?that will shape the structure and function of the ARM over 50 to 100 year time frames, with potentially significant continental scale effects on ecological processes and environmental quality. This research addresses two core questions. First, what factors contribute to maintenance and change in the ARM? While this macrosystem is a relatively homogeneous mixture of grass lawns, shrubs, trees and impervious surfaces, there is a critical need to determine how drivers of change such as shifts in human population and ethnicity, increasing desires for biodiversity and water conservation, and regulations governing water use and quality will interact with stabilizing factors such as social norms, property values, neighborhood and city covenants and laws, and commercial interests. Researchers will test the hypothesis that that although dispersal from natural and interstitial areas, climate change, and changes in homeowner knowledge will promote ecological change; institutions, norms and values will function as counteracting, stabilizing forces on these ecological dynamics. This hypothesis will be tested by evaluating the factors that motivate change and stability at multiple scales. Results will be used to produce quantitative, data-based scenarios of future land-use patterns in the ARM. Second, what are the ecological implications of alternative futures of this macrosystem for community assembly and ecosystem function at parcel (ecosystem), landscape (city), regional (Metropolitan Statistical Area), and continental scales? The hypothesis to be tested is that management that promotes nutrient- and water-use efficient and wildlife-supporting plants as well as lower inputs of water and nutrients will give rise to greater regional biodiversity across trophic levels, higher nutrient retention, lower water use, and reduced runoff and losses of soil carbon and nitrogen from residential yards at the regional scale. Five types of residential parcels that vary in management goals and intensity and embedded semi-natural interstitial ecosystems will be studied in six U.S. cities across the U.S. (Boston, Baltimore, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, and Los Angeles), to quantify influences on ecological dynamics. This information will be linked to land use scenarios to address the regional and continental-scale impacts of these effects. Three postdocs will be mentored as co-investigators on this project. The research program will also include interaction with municipal decision makers focused on sustainability and add a new ?Panel of Experts? feature to the YardMap citizen science program developed at Cornell University.. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / GROVE, J. MORGAN - Integrante / LERMAN, SUSANNAH B. - Integrante / GROFFMAN, PETER M - Coordenador.

• 2015 - 2016

  Reducing Nutrient Release from Cranberry Bogs, Descrição: Nutrient discharges from cranberry bogs to groundwater and surface waters are a potential source of nitrogen and phosphorous pollution and impairments to coastal and fresh waters. With respect to nitrogen loading models to coastal watersheds used to establish nitrogen TMDLs, there is often uncertainty as to what loading rates to assign to cranberry bogs. The Buzzards Bay Coalition, in partnership with the Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of Massachusetts Cranberry Experiment Station, proposed to study the release of nitrogen and phosphorus from cranberry bogs to better understand these nutrient loadings. Automated sampling equipment will be used to collect samples when large movements of water occur, such as during harvest flooding or following heavy rains.. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / JAKUBA, R. W. - Coordenador / C. DeMoranville - Integrante / C. Kennedy - Integrante.

• 2015 - Atual

  The Sustainability of Riparian Forests in Expanding Amazonian Agricultural Landscapes (NSF), Projeto certificado pelo(a) coordenador(a) Marcia Nunes Macedo em 29/03/2019., Descrição: Riparian forest buffers along streams can reduce the potential negative effects of forest clearing on stream water quality and stream habitat by intercepting nutrients, providing shade to reduce temperature and protecting stream channels. This project will examine how deforestation, cropland expansion and the shift of crop agriculture from single-cropping to double-cropping with greater fertilizer use will influence the structure and sustainability of riparian forests and the ability of riparian forests to keep nutrient runoff from reaching streams and being transported downstream. The project will focus on the Brazilian Amazon state of Mato Grosso, a global hotspot of deforestation, expansion of soybean cropland and intensification of agriculture by double cropping of soybeans coupled with increased fertilizer use.. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / MACEDO, MARCIA N. - Coordenador / COE, M. T. - Integrante / DEEGAN, L. A. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Integrante.

• 2014 - Atual

  Baywatchers?A Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program for Buzzards Bay, Descrição: For over 25 years, Baywatchers have monitored the health of Buzzards Bay and its harbors, coves, and rivers. The Baywatchers program is the largest, longest-running volunteer-based coastal monitoring effort in New England. This Bay Health data forms the foundation of all the Coalition?s work to restore and protect the Bay.. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / DEEGAN, L. A. - Integrante.

• 2014 - Atual

  O papel dos rios no ciclo de carbono na Amazônia, Descrição: Este projeto objetiva desenvolver as ferramentas para descrever, de maneira compreensiva, a biogeoquímica dos sistemas fluviais da Amazônia e seu papel nos ciclos regional e global de carbono, para tornar possível prever sua influência e respostas a um clima em mutação. Nossas hipóteses são: (H1) A hidrologia é o principal fator controlador da biogeoquímica do carbono (e nutrientes associados) nos rios da Amazônia. Portanto, alterações na quantidade de chuva (e descarga) resultarão em novos níves funcionais nestes sistemas; (H2) Existem conjuntos comuns de fatores controladores da biogeoquímica do carbono (e nutrientes associados) nos rios tropicais da Amazônia. Nossa atual incapacidade em elaborar modelos que descrevam adequadamente estes sistemas em todas as escalas resulta da falta de conjuntos de dados intercomparáveis de longo prazo, em vez da inadequação dos modelos e; (H3) Rios desempenham um papel ativo no balanço geral de carbono destas bacias. Mudanças climáticas que afetem estes sistemas também modificarão seu papel na retroalimentação com a atmosfera e no ciclo regional de carbono. Os produtos deste projeto serão fundamentais para o atual esforço nacional de desenvolvimento de um modelo climático brasileiro, auxiliando na criação de um desenho original, no qual não somente a biosfera, mas também a retroalimentação fluvial será considerada no ciclo regional de carbono. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Coordenador / DEEGAN, L. A. - Integrante / BALLESTER, M. VICTORIA R. - Integrante / RICHEY, JEFFREY EDWARD - Integrante / Alex Pratz - Integrante / Hilandia Brandão da Cunha - Integrante / Kelli Cristina Aparecida Munhoz Moreira - Integrante / Daimio C. Brito - Integrante / ERICH COLICHIO - Integrante.

• 2013 - 2016

  XINGU Project: Integrating land use planning and water governance in Amazonia: towards improved freshwater security in the agricultural frontier of Mato Grosso, Descrição: The expansion of intensive crop agriculture in tropical forests is a global phenomenon driven by land availability, shifts in diet to more meat consumption and growth of human populations and incomes. These land-use changes have not been accompanied by significant improvements in water governance. This will become increasingly important as changes to climate impact the amount, timing and variability of precipitation upon which this agricultural system depends. Moreover, we will examine the critical issue of Freshwater Security associated with expanding soybean agriculture in the agricultural frontier of Amazonia (upper Xingu River Basin, Brazil). We will identify: 1) how impacts from land conversion, cropland expansion and agricultural intensification interact to affect regional evapotranspiration, rainfall generation, river flooding, water quality and stream habitats and the thresholds of change that will endanger agricultural production, traditional regional livelihoods and downstream water-related infrastructure, and 2) what mechanisms of water governance and distribution of environmental information services are best suited to facilitate integrated water management by decision makers resource uses and other stakeholders. We will engage soybean farmers and cattle ranchers through existing collaborations. We will also involve municipal officials, small producers, fishers and river-based businesses to determine to what extent a virtual water and hydrological modeling tools can influence stakeholder understanding of water security and will seek to identify potential institutional mechanisms to manage inevitable water management tradeoffs. To provide support for an informed decision making process, we will analyze regional population movements, social and cultural integration of migrants, relations between indigenous and non-indigenous local population regarding livelihood, water resources and the role of media in relation to environmental policy and decision making regarding freshwater security. (AU). , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / COE, M. T. - Integrante / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Integrante / ELSENBEER, H. - Integrante / JOHNSON, MARK S. - Integrante / BALLESTER, M. VICTORIA R. - Integrante / DEEGAN, LINDA - Integrante / Silvia Molina - Integrante / Maria Elisa Garavelo - Integrante.

• 2013 - Atual

  Disrupted Nitrogen Cycles in the Brazilian Amazon (NSF), Descrição: The impacts of large-scale use of high levels of N fertilizer in crop agriculture are well known in many parts of the world. However, they are understudied in tropical regions that today generally use little N fertilizer but are poised to undergo an explosive increase in N as a result of cropland expansion and intensification. This project addresses the growing issue of human modification of the N cycle in the tropics and its impacts on the global atmosphere and regional water quality. It will provide new knowledge on the implications of soy production, the rapid expansion of double cropping with maize in the Amazon, and potential fertilizer management strategies. We will focus on the two most important of these impacts?the production of N2O gas and the leaching losses of mineral N, predominantly in the form of nitrate, from croplands and its movement into surface waters. The project leverages a large investment in field infrastructure and work in ecosystem ecology at Tanguro Ranch in eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil as well as biogeochemical, remote sensing and modeling work across Mato Grosso and the Amazon.. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / Marcia N. Macedo - Integrante / COE, M. T. - Integrante / DAVIDSON, E. A. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Integrante / G. L. Galford - Integrante.

• 2012 - 2016

  Plum Island Ecosystems LTER, Descrição: The Plum Island Ecosystems LTER (PIE LTER) located in northeastern Massachusetts is an integrated research, education and outreach program with the goal of developing a predictive understanding of the long-term response of watershed and estuarine ecosystems to changes in climate, land use and sea level and to apply this knowledge to the wise management and development of policy to protect the natural resources of the coastal zone. PIE LTER research is focused in the estuary and watersheds of Plum Island Sound in northeastern Massachusetts. The estuary is fed by the Ipswich, Rowley and Parker Rivers with a combined drainage basin of 609km2. The Plum Island Sound estuary is a coastal plain, bar-built estuary with extensive areas of productive tidal marshes: the largest expanse of intertidal marsh in the Northeast.. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / DEEGAN, L. A. - Integrante / A. Giblin - Integrante / J. Vallino - Integrante.

• 2011 - 2016

  Science to Support Cultural Landscape Management and Restoration, Beech Tree and Paine Conservation Trusts, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2011 - 2015

  Ecological Homogenization of Urban America, Descrição: Urban, suburban and exurban environments are important ecosystems and their extent is increasing in the U.S. The conversion of wild or managed ecosystems to urban ecosystems is resulting in ecosystem homogenization across cities, where neighborhoods in very different parts of the country have similar patterns of roads, residential lots, commercial areas and aquatic features. Funds are provided to test the hypothesis that this homogenization alters ecological structure and functions relevant to ecosystem carbon and nitrogen dynamics, with continental scale implications. The research will provide a framework for understanding the impacts of urban land use change from local to continental scales. The research encompasses datasets ranging from household surveys to regional-scale remote sensing across six metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) that cover the major climatic regions of the US (Phoenix, AZ, Miami, FL, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, St. Paul, MN and Los Angeles, CA) to determine how household characteristics correlate with landscaping decisions, land management practices and ecological structure and functions at local, regional and continental scales. This research will transform scientific understanding of an important and increasingly common ecosystem type (?suburbia?) and the consequences to carbon storage and nitrogen pollution at multiple scales. In addition, it will advance understanding of how humans perceive, value and manage their surroundings. The award will leverage an extensive, multi-scale program of education and outreach associated with ongoing LTER and/or ULTRA-EX projects. Activities include K-12 education and outreach to community groups, city/regional planners, natural history museums, state and local agencies and non-governmental organizations. Graduate students will participate in a Distributed Graduate Seminar in Sustainability Science (DGSS) initiated by NCEAS and the University of Minnesota Institute on Environment. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / NELSON, KRISTEN - Integrante / PATAKI, D. E. - Integrante / CAVENDER-BARES, J. - Integrante / GROFFMAN, P. M. - Coordenador / HALL, S. J. - Integrante / HEFFERNAN, J. B. - Integrante / HOBBIE, S. E. - Integrante / MORSE, J. L. - Integrante / BETTEZ, N. - Integrante / POLSKY, C. - Integrante / CHOWDHURY, R. ROY - Integrante / STEELE, M. - Integrante / GROVE, J. M. - Integrante / OGDEN, L. - Integrante / LARSON, K. - Integrante / O'NEIL-DUNNE, J. - Integrante.

• 2011 - 2012

  Cranberry Bog Nutrient Loss Study, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2011 - 2012

  Socioenvironmental Impacts of "Green" Energy in the Amazon, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / Leah VanWey - Integrante / A. Foster - Integrante.

• 2010 - 2015

  PIRE: Land Use, Ecosystem Services and the Fate of Marginal Lands in a Globalized World, Descrição: One of humanity's greatest contemporary challenges is producing enough food to sustain human populations in developing regions while preserving naturally-functioning habitats that provide key ecosystem services such as clean drinking water, biodiversity, carbon storage, and climate moderation. This PIRE project leverages substantial existing investments in Africa by the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) to mount an international and interdisciplinary study of this great challenge. One of the goals of the MVP is to increase food security by providing local populations in 14 Millennium Villages (MVs) with agricultural interventions such as mineral fertilizers and high-yield seeds. This PIRE project builds upon the MVP's rigorous ongoing evaluation of responses to this agricultural intensification and adds a new dimension of analysis by examining the impacts of the agricultural intensification on land use decisions, human well-being, and ecosystem services at the local and landscape levels. This project focuses on two MVs, in Sauri, Kenya and Mbola, Tanzania. It also incorporates the wealth of data, including survey and field measurements and analyses of remotely sensed imagery, from all 14 MVs across Africa. There are three main experimental components of this project. First, the PIRE team will examine how agricultural intensification acts within communities using indicators such as land-use change, human well-being, ecosystem function, and biodiversity. Second, they will analyze the larger MVP dataset to examine how population density, degree of landscape modification, and climate influence responses to agricultural intensification. Third, for a subset of MVs and nearby non-MV "control" villages, the team will take measurements of ecosystem function and analyze the impacts of agricultural intensification over time. Faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from the U.S. and African universities will study both the social and biological consequences of the MVP agricultural interventions. The interdisciplinary expertise of the PIRE team will enable the team to, for example, combine social survey data with satellite remote sensing data to test whether agriculture intensification within MVs actually "saves land for nature" by changing behaviors such that outside the villages there is reduced agricultural activity and reduced conversion of natural areas to agriculture. The project aims to create a multi-institutional, multinational, and interdisciplinary educational environment for students and faculty from three U.S. institutions and two African institutions. Cross-cultural mentoring and collaboration is a focus for participants at all levels, benefitting U.S. and African students and faculty. Approximately 50 U.S. undergraduate and Masters students will receive scientific training through core courses, field courses, workshops, and internships. U.S. Ph.D. students will be supported for MVP-focused research theses projects and receive language training in Swahili before spending substantial time in East Africa collaborating with African partners. Project faculty will develop a new interdisciplinary and international course on the "Natural and Social Dynamics of Land-Use Change" using data from Africa and engaging African faculty and students. The project will provide U.S. students with international and interdisciplinary research training in the context of sustaining food production and ecosystem services in developing countries. By examining the impact of MV interventions on people and the environment, the project will provide information that could guide future policies for enhancing human wellbeing, food security, and environmental conservation in one of the world's most impoverished regions. This PIRE project will draw upon the individual strengths of the U.S. and African universities and combine them with several exis. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / MUSTARD, JOHN - Integrante / MELILLO, JERRY - Integrante / Leah VanWey - Integrante / Sriniketh Nagavarapu - Integrante.

• 2010 - 2010

  Acquisition of Trace Gas Analytical Instrumentation for Ecosystem Analysis, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / H. Ducklow - Integrante / J. Tang - Integrante / M. Conte - Integrante.

• 2010 - Atual

  Agricultural expansion in the Brazilian Amazon and its influence on the water, energy, and climate cycles (NSF), Descrição: Este estudo avalia os efeitos da mudança do uso da terra na ciclagem de água em pequenas bacias hidrológicas em áreas de cerrado e de floresta. O projeto abrange dezenove microbacias em áreas dominadas por vegetação nativa, pastagem, e lavoura (soja), aonde coletamos dados climáticos e hidrológicos. Na escala regional, usaremos estes dados de campo e análises de sensoriamento remoto para informar modelos hidrocllmáticos.. , Situação: Em andamento; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / MACEDO, MARCIA N. - Integrante / COSTA, MARCOS HEIL - Integrante / COE, M. T. - Integrante / BRANDO, P. M. - Coordenador.

• 2009 - 2014

  Baywatchers?A Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program for Buzzards Bay, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2009 - 2011

  Coupled Social and Natural Drivers of deforestation and Ecosystem Change at the Amazon Cropland Frontier, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / Leah VanWey - Integrante.

• 2008 - 2011

  IPY: Improving the Public's Understanding of Polar Research Through Hands-On Fellowships for Science Journalists in the Arctic and Antarctic, Descrição: This project is being developed for science journalists to increase and improve the reporting of the science of polar environmental change. It is modeled after the existing science journalism program run by the Marine Biological Laboratory since 1986. This project will enable 30 science journalists to travel to the Arctic and ten journalists to Antarctica over three years to study and experience polar research in an intensive, hands-on manner. The program has 3 components: a week long Polar Hands-On course at the Toolik Field Station in Alaska in which the journalists conduct science; a one-week period in which journalists will be teamed to work with polar research scientists; and travel for journalists to travel to Palmer Station in Antarctica to spend two weeks participating in Antarctic research. Journalists will submit regular dispatches about their work in the form of a Polar Science Blog and will produce stories about their experience. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / G. R. Shaver - Integrante / H. Ducklow - Integrante / John Hobbie - Integrante / Bruce Peterson - Integrante.

• 2008 - 2008

  Land use Change, Carbon Offsets and Carbon Sequestration: A Case Study in Essex and Middlesex Counties, MA, Descrição: Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2007 - 2009

  Influence of Land Use on Watershed Hydrology and Biogeochemistry at the Amazon Agricultural Frontier, Descrição: This project will examine how the clearing of tropical forest for pasture and soybean cultivation along the agricultural frontier in the Amazon, alters the movement of water from land to streams, the quality of stream water and the export of dissolved and particulate ma-terials from small watersheds. This work will be done at a unique location where the hydrology, chemistry and export of dissolved and particulate materials can be compared in multiple small watersheds in forest, pasture and soybeans. Comparisons of nested watersheds that contain small and larger streams with and without well-developed riparian zones within each land use will test how stream size influences water flowpaths, water quality and the locations within watersheds, such as stream riparian zones, where key transformations of nutrients and dissolved carbon take place. Sampling of water volumes and chemistry in throughfall, overland flow, soil solution and in upland and riparian groundwater will be combined with sampling of stream water during rain events, and used with hydrologic end member mixing models to distinguish the contributions of individual hydrologic flowpaths to stream flows. Experiments with solute and isotopic tracers will quantify important chemical transformations in important hydrologic flowpaths. Continuous measurement of water flows and regular sampling of stream water chemistry will quantify total annual export of materials from watersheds in different land uses and from watersheds at the dif-ferent scales. This work will be incorporated in a biogeochemical model to assess how changes to land use are likely to influence water flows and water chemistry in larger rivers. This work will advance ecosystem ecology by: 1) coupling study of hydrology and biogeochemistry in tropical watersheds, 2) providing the first assessment of the effect of soybean cultivation on wa-tershed hydrology and biogeochemistry, 3) demonstrating where key biogeochemical transfor-mations take place withi. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Integrante / ELSENBEER, H. - Integrante / DAVIDSON, E. A. - Integrante.

• 2007 - 2009

  Sandplain grassland restoration at Herring Creek, Descrição: Creating or expanding sandplain grassland from recently-cultivated land or from agricultural grassland (typically pastures or hayfields as seen in Fig. 1) is an important potential mechanism for adding to the limited area of current sandplain grasslands. The principle goal is to convert agricultural grassland to sandplain grassland by managing for native forb and graminoid species, controlling nonnative invasive species, and altering soils and microhabitat. Agricultural grasslands often outnumber the proportion of sandplain grassland where they occur, opening up opportunities for conversion. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2004 - 2008

  Quantifying and Scaling Land-Water Connections and River-Channel Biogeochemistry in Amazon River Networks, Descrição: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has important effects on the functioning of streams and rivers. As the extent of deforestation increases, the transport of material downstream in large river basins can also be affected. We will use remote sensing, combined with our field data collected in the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA) in Amazonia on how deforestation has influenced the structure and chemistry of streams in forested and deforested areas, to estimate the extent of drainage basin networks that have been influenced by forest clearing over time. We will do this for the Ji-Parana River watershed and its 14 sub-basins, a total area of 75,260 km2 in Rondonia, where deforestation has increased rapidly since the 1980s. We will also apply an ecosystem model, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model, to estimate the movement of carbon and nutrients from forest and pasture into small streams. These estimates will be used as input to a model that calculates carbon and nutrient retention and transport in river channels, to estimate the movement of carbon and nutrients downstream in the Ji-Parana River and its sub-basins. We will calibrate these models with our data, collected in our small watersheds studies in Rondonia as part of LBA, on the fluxes of carbon and nutrients move from land to small streams in forest and pasture. We will validate our estimates of material fluxes at the large river basin scale by comparing our model results with LBA data on water chemistry and material flux measured in the Ji-Parana River basins. This project will advance our understanding of how changes in land cover influence the ecological and biogeochemical functioning of Amazon rivers and how these changes are altering the fluxes of carbon and nutrient fluxes at the regional scale in the Amazon basin. It will improve understanding of carbon and nutrient dynamics of the Amazon and specifically the question of the transport of carbon and nutrients from terrestrial ecosystem. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Integrante / BALLESTER, M. VICTORIA R. - Integrante / DEEGAN, LINDA - Coordenador / Reynaldo Luiz Victoria - Integrante.

• 2004 - 2007

  Building the Scientific Base for Coastal Plain Pond Conservation, Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / MCHORNEY, R. - Integrante.

• 2003 - 2006

  Nitrogen Movements from Uplands to Streams, Descrição: Humans now exert a major influence on the amount of nitrogen that moves from terrestrial ecosystems to streams and rivers. Understanding how nitrogen is transformed or lost as it moves with water from the upland portions of watersheds to streams is central to our understanding the fate of the anthropogenically-fixed nitrogen added to the earth's terrestrial ecosystems. Progress on understanding watershed nitrogen cycling requires information on both hydrology and biogeochemical transformations. Flowpath hydrology determines how and where water moves, while biogeochemical transformations control the form and quantity of nitrogen ultimately delivered to streams. When humans alter land cover, they influences watershed nitrogen flux by altering the relative sizes of different flowpaths and by altering the transformations of nitrogen within flowpaths. Work in this proposal will quantify how the clearing of Amazon tropical rainforest for pasture influences the movement of nitrogen from uplands to streams in small watersheds by: 1) Quantifying how much water reaches streams by different hydrologic flowpaths and how those flowpaths change when tropical forest is cleared for pasture, 2) Quantifying how nitrogen is transformed in different hydrologic flowpaths, and 3) Combining information on flowpath water movement and flowpath nitrogen transformations to estimate of how land cover influences nitrogen delivery to larger streams and rivers. Water moving as overland flow, shallow subsurface flow and riparian groundwater flow will be measured in three instrumented watersheds in: 1) forest, 2) pasture and 3) forest that will be cleared for pasture. Concentrations of natural conservative solutes in flowpaths will be used to trace water sources and to distinguish different flowpaths that contribute to stream flow. In other experiments, conservative tracers will be added with ammonium or nitrate injected into flowpaths to examine their production and consumption. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Integrante.

• 2003 - 2003

  Hydrological Science to Support Biodiversity Conservation in Massachusetts, Descrição: The Nature Conservancy, Massachusetts Chapter. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2002 - 2005

  Key Connections in Amazonian Stream Corridors, Descrição: Deforestation in the Amazon has the potential to alter the biogeochemistry of carbon and major nutrients over large regions and to alter the movements of these materials among adjoining ecosystems. Small streams dominate the total length of stream channels in the landscape. They receive material from adjacent uplands and contribute material to larger rivers. Because of their position, small streams and their riparian zones thus play a key role in the landscape as regulators of material fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and larger rivers of the Amazon Basin. Our goal is to develop an understanding of how carbon (C) and nutrients are transformed as water moves from uplands through small streams to larger rivers in forested and deforested landscapes. We will do this by: 1) focusing on carbon and nutrient transformations in riparian zones and small stream channels?key connection points in the landscape where these transformations are potentially of major importance but very poorly known in tropical landscapes; 2) comparing these transformations in drainage basins with different proportions of forest and pasture land use and in streams of different sizes, and; 3) coupling our process level work with information on land use and riparian zone structure derived from remote sensing and models of stream channel processing to predict regional changes in biogeochemical budgets.. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / KRUSCHE, A. V. - Integrante / DEEGAN, L. A. - Coordenador / BALLESTER, M. VICTORIA R. - Integrante / VICTORIA, REYNALDO LUIZ - Integrante.

• 2002 - 2003

  Sandplain Restoration and Conservation Experiment, Descrição: Massachusetts Environmental Trust. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Coordenador.

• 2002 - 2002

  Controlled Environment Facilities for Examination of the Effects of Climate Change and Human Land Use on Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems, Descrição: This award supports the acquisition of instrumentation to be part of controlled environment facilities at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), to support research and education on the effects of climate change and human land use on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The new facilities will contain controlled environment chambers for experiments that examine the effects of environmental variables such as temperature, light and CO2 on the cycling of key elements such as C, N, and P, trace gas exchange with the atmosphere and the movements of dissolved and particulate carbon and nutrients. One pair of plant growth chambers will be capable of maintaining below-freezing temperatures under high light intensities, which are particularly important for examining climate changes that extend the growing season in the spring and fall, and in the Arctic at any time of year. A second pair of growth chambers will be optimized for microbial culture and soil incubation work. Both pairs of chambers will usable for experimentation on aquatic soils and sediments, and on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem microcosms.. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / G. R. Shaver - Coordenador / C. S. Hopkinson - Integrante / J. Vallino - Integrante / John Hobbie - Integrante.

• 2000 - 2003

  The Biogeochemical consequences of Agricultural Intensification in the Amazon, Descrição: NASA LBA Program. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / MELILLO, J. M. - Coordenador / STEUDLER, P. A. - Integrante / CERRI, C. C. - Integrante.

• 2000 - 2000

  An Analytical Laboratory for Examination of Land Use Change and its Consequences for Aquatic Ecosystems, Descrição: NSF Field Stations and Marine Laboratories Program. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / A. Giblin - Coordenador.

• 1998 - 2001

  Linking Soil Biogeochemistry to surface Water Chemistry in Small Drainage Basins of the Amazon, Descrição: NASA LBA Program. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / DEEGAN, L. A. - Coordenador / VICTORIA, REYNALDO LUIZ - Integrante.

• 1996 - 1999

  Trace Gas Fluxes Associated with Land-use and Land-cover Changes in the Brazilian Amazon Basin, Descrição: NASA program. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / MELILLO, J. M. - Coordenador / STEUDLER, P. A. - Integrante.

• 1996 - 1998

  Links Between Soil Nutrient Dynamics and Surface Water Biogeochemistry Following Deforestation for Pasture Agriculture in Amazonia, Descrição: National Science Foundation Environmental Geochemistry and Biogeochemistry Program. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / DEEGAN, L. A. - Coordenador.

• 1996 - 1997

  Biogeochemical Consequences of Land use Change in the Amazon Basin, Descrição: National Science Foundation Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. , Situação: Concluído; Natureza: Pesquisa. , Integrantes: Christopher Neill - Integrante / MELILLO, J. M. - Coordenador / STEUDLER, P. A. - Integrante.