Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220

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Published online December 15, 2023
https://doi.org/10.5141/jee.23.069

Journal of Ecology and Environment (2023) 47:22

Long-term and multidisciplinary research networks on biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystems: findings and insights from Takayama super-site, central Japan

Hiroyuki Muraoka1,2* , Taku M. Saitoh1 and Shohei Murayama3

1River Basin Research Center, Gifu University, Gifu 501-1193, Japan
2Biodiversity Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan
3National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan

Correspondence to:Hiroyuki Muraoka
E-mail muraoka.hiroyuki.y6@f.gifu-u.ac.jp

Received: October 18, 2023; Revised: November 15, 2023; Accepted: November 15, 2023

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The publisher of this article is The Ecological Society of Korea in collaboration with The Korean Society of Limnology

Abstract

Growing complexity in ecosystem structure and functions, under impacts of climate and land-use changes, requires interdisciplinary understandings of processes and the whole-system, and accurate estimates of the changing functions. In the last three decades, observation networks for biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem functions under climate change, have been developed by interested scientists, research institutions and universities. In this paper we will review (1) the development and on-going activities of those observation networks, (2) some outcomes from forest carbon cycle studies at our super-site “Takayama site” in Japan, and (3) a few ideas how we connect in-situ and satellite observations as well as fill observation gaps in the Asia-Oceania region. There have been many intensive research and networking efforts to promote investigations for ecosystem change and functions (e.g., Long-Term Ecological Research Network), measurements of greenhouse gas, heat, and water fluxes (flux network), and biodiversity from genetic to ecosystem level (Biodiversity Observation Network). Combining those in-situ field research data with modeling analysis and satellite remote sensing allows the research communities to up-scale spatially from local to global, and temporally from the past to future. These observation networks oftern use different methodologies and target different scientific disciplines. However growing needs for comprehensive observations to understand the response of biodiversity and ecosystem functions to climate and societal changes at local, national, regional, and global scales are providing opportunities and expectations to network these networks. Among the challenges to produce and share integrated knowledge on climate, ecosystem functions and biodiversity, filling scale-gaps in space and time among the phenomena is crucial. To showcase such efforts, interdisciplinary research at ‘Takayama super-site’ was reviewed by focusing on studies on forest carbon cycle and phenology. A key approach to respond to multidisciplinary questions is to integrate in-situ field research, ecosystem modeling, and satellite remote sensing by developing crossscale methodologies at long-term observation field sites called “super-sites”. The research approach at ‘Takayama site’ in Japan showcases this response to the needs of multidisciplinary questions and further development of terrestrial ecosystem research to address environmental change issues from local to national, regional and global scales.

Keywords: biodiversity observation network, carbon cycle, ecosystem observation super-site, forest ecosystem, in-situ observation network, long-term ecological research network, phenology, Takayama super-site

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Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220