Long Term Ecological Sites Investigate Pandemic

Richard B. Primack 

“Those who are ready to go are already invited.”  Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

In a recent paper in Ecosphere, scientists describe how the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network can be used to investigate ways in which ecosystems and ecosystem processes might be affected by the anthropause, the reduction in human activity associated with the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021. 

Long-term research from high-latitude/altitude locations (e.g., Niwot Ridge, North Temperate Lakes, Bonanza Creek, and Arctic LTER sites) shows that large between-year variability and underlying long-term trends prevent the early detection of COVID-related effects on phenology, gross primary production, and other ecosystem attributes. 

Figure 1.  Chlorophyll content and Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) did not change in a lake at Niwot Ridge during the 2020 pandemic.

Research at the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER reveals that increased home septic system use and agricultural waste (unharvested and decaying crops) likely increased nutrients in estuaries, resulting in rapid green-up of marsh vegetation. 

Figure 2.  The Enhanced vegetation index (EVI) increased in Georgia coastal marshes during the 2020 pandemic.

 

At three LTER aquatic and marine sites (1) the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER in southern California, (2) the North Temperate Lakes LTER in Wisconsin, and (3) the Moorea Coral Reef LTER site in the central South Pacific Ocean, the different spatial scales of human behavior and the varying connectivity of animal populations prevent easy generalizations from being made about the ecosystem effects of the pandemic.

Figure 3.  Fisheries practices and animal populations are striking different at contrasting LTER sites, obscuring the effects of the pandemic.

These case studies show how long-term ecosystem studies can potentially be used to distinguish the short-term impacts of the pandemic from inter-annual variation and long-term changes in ecosystem pro-cesses.

Published in Ecosphere journal. 

 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.401 

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/MTRPHXYRXMSWP44KF5RF?target=10.1002/ecs2.4019

Primack presents to National Science Teachers Association

“It is folly to attempt to educate children within a city. The first step must be to remove them out of it.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal. 

On April 2, Professor Richard Primack presented a keynote address at the National Science Teachers Association annual meeting in Houston, Texas. His talk, Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Concord, provided an overview of the research that he and his students have been doing over the past 20 years with support from the National Science Foundation.  

 

Richard Primack at the conference along with David Foord and Lisa Janeway from the Brandwein Institute.

 

As he describes, “I spoke about how a warming climate is causing the plants of Concord, MA, to flower and leaf out earlier now than in the time of Henry David Thoreau in the 1850s. I tailored my talk to emphasize projects that science teachers could use to help their students investigate the biological effects of climate change, such as the use of twig experiments.”

Boston University undergrads Selby Vaughn (left) and Taylor Reagan evaluating twig experiments in the Primack lab. 

 

Because of the pandemic, this was the first time in three years that the NSTA conference had been held in person. While the conference normally has around 10,000 attendees, this year there were just 4,000 people. Primack’s talk was sponsored by the Brandwein Institute, an environmental foundation.