DESCRIPTION >>> BioMERGE Workshop III

BEF has mostly focused on grassland ecosystems (McNaughton 1993, Tilman et al. 1996, Hooper and Vitousek 1997, Hector 1998), with some attention to freshwater microbial (McGrady-Steed et al. 1997, Naeem and Li 1997) and invertebrate communities (Hulot et al. 2000, Johnsson and Malmqvist 2000, Norberg 2000) under laboratory conditions. To merge global scenarios of changing biodiversity and changing climate will require expanding BEF to other terrestrial systems such as forests and natural freshwater systems.
A number of reviews have considered BEF as applied to other systems such islands, Mediterranean ecosystems, agricultural systems, and tropical systems (Steinberg and Geller 1993, Swift and Anderson 1993, Davis and Riocharson 1995, Vitousek et al. 1995, Silva 1996), but we need to go further.
Cross-biome synthesis requires that issues surrounding the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic drivers (ASW-I) and the methods of integrating taxonomic and functional diversity (ASW-II) be addressed first. Experts on each biome class, as used in the Biodiversity Scenarios, will need well-developed principles and tools for cross-biome synthesis. By 2004, these principles and tools will be available to apply to this challenge. Thus, ASW-III logically follows ASWs I-II.
ASW-III will begin its incubation with results from ASWI and ASWII on extrinsic/intrinsic factors and functional groups, respectively. The goal will be to apply what has been learned from theory, observation, and experiment to GCTE established terrestrial biome systems. For each biome, the relative roles of extrinsic factors in governing ecosystem functions of these systems will be evaluated. Production will be the focus, as cross-biome production is well studied at the biome level (Melillo et al. 1993, Cao and Woodward 1998, Prentice et al. 2000).
Because the majority of biodiversity resides in the tropics, we have chosen Southeast Asia as the setting for this ASW. The workshop will be held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malasian Borneo, at the Hyatt Kota Kinabalu. Borneo provides an ideal setting for ASW3, with rich biological diversity at multiple scales. The region's tropical systems are among the least well understood and most rapidly changing tropical settings.

Workshop Resources>>>

ASWIII Agenda

BORNEO TOURISM >>>

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