A. Center/Institute/Program

Ecosystems Center/Marine Biological Laboratory

Woods Hole, MA 02543

Phone: 508-289-7193

Fax: 508-457-1548

E-mail: hducklow@mbl.edu

Director/Chairperson: Dr. Hugh Ducklow

Representative to AERC: Dr. Hugh Ducklow

Alternate: Dr. Jerry M. Melillo

B. Major objectives of the Center/Institute/Program

1. Understand how ecosystems work through studying the controls on nutrient cycling.

2. Study interactions of ecosystems with the atmosphere and with regional and global climate.

3. Study response of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to specific types of human disturbance.

4. Educate future scientists and citizens.

C. Major ecosystem research emphases

1. Predicting, through modeling, ecosystem effects of global climate change.

2. Basic ecology and response to change of Arctic tundra, lakes, and streams.

3. Response of lake sediments, forest nitrogen cycles, and trace-gas emissions from forests to increases in sulfur and nitrogen in precipitation.

4. Response of coastal ecosystems to disturbance.

D. Staff

Permanent scientific staff: PhD: 10, MS: 1

Scientific support staff: Staff scientists: 1, Postdocs: 9, Technicians: 29, Research associates: 2

Other support staff: Clerical: 2, Administrative: 4, Editorial: 1

Summer undergraduates: 9

E. Approximate annual funding (recent year)

Core funding: $267,000/yr, Source: Endowment income

Grants: $7,750,000/yr, Major sources: NSF, NASA, EPA, DOE

F. Areas and facilities for ecosystem research studies

1. Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), Toolik Lake, Alaska (site operated by the University of Alaska).

2. Harvard Forest LTER, Petersham, MA (site operated by Harvard University).

3. Plum Island Ecosystem LTER, Massachusetts.

4. Abisko Naturvetenskapliga Station (site operated by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Abisko, Sweden).

5. Fazenda Nova Vida, Rondonia, Brazil (site operated by CENA, University of Sao Paulo).

6. Stable Isotope Lab for Ecological Research, Marine Biological Laboratory.

G. Research staff directly involved in ecosystem research (names and specialty areas)

Deegan, Linda – ecology and behavior of commercial and sport fish, shellfish

Giblin, Anne – metal and nutrient chemistry of soils and sediment

Hobbie, John – arctic aquatic ecosystems, microbial aquatic ecology

Hopkinson, Charles S., Jr. – productivity, metabolism, nutrient cycling of wetland pelagic benthic systems

Melillo, Jerry – forest ecology, trace gas release, global ecology

Neill, Christopher – wetland nutrient cycling

Peterson, Bruce – nutrients in aquatic ecosystems, stable isotopes

Rastetter, Edward – models of ecosystem processes

Shaver, Gaius – physiological ecology, arctic tundra ecosystems

Steudler, Paul – chemical analysis, trace gas release from forests

Vallino, Joseph – modeling, microbial ecology

H. Long-term data sets (code name, number of years of data, computer accessibility)

Arctic LTER data set available.