Interdisciplinary Modeling: Water-Related Issues and Changing Climate - New Mexico State University

Graduate course in interdisciplinary modeling: water-related issues and climate change offered at University of Nevada, Reno in Summer 2012

Interdisciplinary Modeling for Water-Related Issues Graduate Course

The science and management of aquatic ecosystems is inherently interdisciplinary, with issues associated with hydrology, atmospheric science, water quality, geochemistry, sociology, economics, environmental science, and ecology. Addressing water resources issues in any one discipline invariably involves effects that concern other disciplines, and attempts to address one issue often have consequences that exacerbate existing issues or concerns, or create new ones (Jørgensen et al. 1992; Lackey et al. 1975; Straskraba 1994) due to the strongly interactive nature of key processes (Christensen et al. 1996). Thus, research and management of aquatic ecosystems must be interdisciplinary to be most effective, but such truly interdisciplinary work is often difficult to implement. Interdisciplinary modeling is a useful approach for managing and understanding aquatic ecosystems, but there are several challenges to the implementation of successful interdisciplinary modeling of aquatic ecosystems, including (1) different spatial and temporal scales that specific disciplines are concerned with (Nilsson et al. 2003); (2) differences in degrees of uncertainty of data and models (Crockett 1994; Minns et al. 1996), and (3) lack of awareness of what modeling options are available in an interdisciplinary sense. All of these are intertwined with (4) difficulties in communication between disciplines, where different terminology and perspectives can get in the way of discussing common issues or concerns (Cullen 1990; Nicolson et al. 2002; Nilsson et al. 2003). And finally, (5) scientists and modelers need to be educated and trained about interdisciplinary approaches (Nicolson et al. 2002; NSF 2000; USGS 1999). This course is designed to address many of the challenges identified above by introducing students to models that are available in different disciplines and how such models might be applied together to address aquatic ecosystem issues, addressing issues of variability and uncertainty in implementing interdisciplinary approaches, and giving students experience in working in interdisciplinary teams to apply interdisciplinary modeling approaches to increase knowledge about aquatic ecosystems. These students will then be better-prepared for professional or academic careers in which they interact with peers from other disciplines to address real-work aquatic ecosystem issues. Faculty from different disciplines at different universities participated in this course by giving lectures on modeling topics. Much of the material being used in this course is based on outcomes from the Interdisciplinary Modeling for Aquatic Ecosystems Curriculum Development workshop that was held at Granlibakken Conference Center and Resort on July 17-22, 2005. This workshop resulted in the development of course materials for a graduate level course with an overall objective of engaging interdisciplinary discourse in modeling aquatic ecosystems. The submission includes materials from the 2015 and 2012 offerings of the course. Materials for the 2005, 2008 and 2010 course have not been included in this package. As an interinstitutional course, the course had different numbers at different institutions (e.g., NRES 730 at University of Nevada Reno, RGSC 618 at New Mexico State University, and GEOS 697 at Boise State University). The materials are organized in the nres730_ecstatic_new.zip as follows: Syllabus and schedule for the 2012 offering at New Mexico State University (618_syll_sched_2012.pdf) and syllabus and schedule for the 2015 offering at Boise State University (697_syll_sched_2015.pdf) are in the root directory. Folder “info_faculty” includes the individual schedule and syllabus files for each course year. Each lecturer was also asked to fill out a lecture information worksheet (the base worksheet is included in this folder) to provide information for students to review before each lecture. Folder “evolving_curric” includes course materials for lectures, labs, exercises, and projects Folder “lectures” includes folders for each lecture and associated labs as appropriate. The folders are ordered according to the class schedule for each year. Most lecture folders contain a lecture information file (“lectinfo_.pdf”), lecture slides, and associated lab files if a lab was associated with the lecture topic. It is recommended to review the “lectinfo_.pdf” file first to see lecture goals, required reading, context, and preparatory work. Each folder also includes a .pdf file of the associated wiki page. In some cases, a “readme_.docx” file is included to indicate of special software is needed or other guidance to complete exercises. Folder “other_ex” includes the following additional exercises that were done during the classes: Folder “conceptual_mod” includes the interactive exercise that was done early during each class offering to get students thinking about issues with linking models between disciplines. Folder “stella_lab” includes the wiki page about this lab that introduced students to Stella software. In teaching the class, we had education licenses for Stella, an object-oriented software that was useful for interacting across disciplines about modeling. The software was used for several lab exercises during the class. A purchased license is required to do those exercises. Folder “interdisc_toolbox” in the “2015” folder contains pre- and post-surveys that were used for group interactions about collaboration and communication. This exercise was only done in 2015. Folder “projects” includes class projects assigned to students during the class. Each time the class was offered, students were put into interdisciplinary groups to develop modeling approaches and do preliminary modeling of complex water resources issues. Faculty provided materials and gave presentations for these projects that are included in the project folders. Each student group prepared a presentation and report on their project, and some also shared their modeling materials are included in the project folders. Folder “wiki_items” includes two pages about the class that were on the wiki that may be of interest. Some of the links on these pages may not work. As noted, a wiki was used each time the course was offered, and the submission includes .pdfs of the wiki pages that may have links to pages for the 2008 and 2010 course offerings that are on a google sites page that will probably be discontinued in 2021.Materials on those pages may not be accessible

Expression profiling of snoRNAs in normal hematopoiesis and AML

Key Points A subset of snoRNAs is expressed in a developmental- and lineage-specific manner during human hematopoiesis. Neither host gene expression nor alternative splicing accounted for the observed differential expression of snoRNAs in a subset of AML.</jats:p

Seasonal snowcover dynamics beneath boreal forest canopies

The accurate simulation of snowpack deposition and ablation beneath forested areas is confounded by the fact that the vegetation canopy strongly affects the snow surface energy balance. The canopy alters the radiation balance of the snowcover, and reduces the wind speed at the snow surface. Data collected as part of the BOREAS experiment are used to analyze the effects of a variety of forest canopies on the climate at the snow surface. Simple algorithms are developed and used to adjust climate data collected above forest canopies to the snow surface. A 2-layer coupled energy- and mass-balance snowmelt model is used to simulate the deposition and ablation of the snowpack at five forested sites within the Canadian boreal forest for the 1994-1995 snow season. Results of the snowcover simulations indicate that the net snowcover energy balance remains close to zero for the winter months, but exhibits a sharp increase in the spring months. The rapid energy gain in the spring is strongly controlled by canopy cover, and is dominated by net radiation fluxes, with minor contributions from sensible, latent, soil, and advected energy fluxes. Net snowcover irradiance dominates during the spring months due to increased solar intensity and longer day lengths, coupled with increased radiation transmission through canopies at high sun angles, and reduced snowcover albedo resulting from the deposition of fine organic debris. Turbulent (sensible and latent) energy fluxes comprise a relatively minor portion of the net snowcover energy exchange, indicating that the sub-canopy snowcover is relatively insensitive to the meteorological parameters controlling these fluxes. The low thermal conductivity of organic-rich boreal soils must be considered for studies focusing on snowcover development when soil heat flux comprises a large portion of the snowcover energy balance. Model outputs at all sites generally show good agreement with measured snow depths, indicating that the techniques used in these investigations accurately simulate both the deposition and ablation of seasonal snowcovers. Results indicate that snowcovers in the boreal environment may be more sensitive to land-use transitions, rather than climate shifts, due to the strong control exerted by vegetation canopies on radiation transfer processes. The results also suggest that simple canopy adjustment algorithms may be effectively applied to spatially distributed snowcover simulations. More data is required to evaluate the accuracy of these methods for computing energy transfer within canopies having significantly different structures than the sites used in this study

Simulation of Water and Energy Fluxes in an Old-Growth Seasonal Temperate Rain Forest Using the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) Model

In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), concern about the impacts of climate and land cover change on water resources and flood-generating processes emphasizes the need for a mechanistic understanding of the interactions between forest canopies and hydrologic processes. Detailed measurements during the 1999 and 2000 hydrologic years were used to modify the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model for application in forested systems. Major changes to the model include improved representation of rainfall interception and stomatal conductance dynamics. The model was developed for the 1999 hydrologic year and tested for the 2000 hydrologic year without modification of the site parameters. The model effectively simulated throughfall, soil water content profiles, and shallow soil temperatures for both years. The largest discrepancies between soil moisture and temperature were observed during periods of discontinuous snow cover due to spatial variability that was not explicitly simulated by the model. Soil warming at bare locations was delayed until most of the snow cover ablated because of the large heat sink associated with the residual snow patches. During the summer, simulated transpiration decreased from a maximum monthly mean of 2.2 mm day⁻¹ in July to 1.3 mm day⁻¹ in September as a result of decreasing soil moisture and declining net radiation. The results indicate that a relatively simple representation of the vegetation canopy can accurately simulate seasonal hydrologic fluxes in this environment, except during periods of discontinuous snow cover

Recurrent transcriptional responses in AML and MDS patients treated with decitabine

The molecular events responsible for decitabine responses in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia patients are poorly understood. Decitabine has a short serum half-life and limited stability in tissue culture. Therefore, theoretical pharmacologic differences may exist between patient molecular changes in vitro and the consequences of in vivo treatment. To systematically identify the global genomic and transcriptomic alterations induced by decitabine in vivo, we evaluated primary bone marrow samples that were collected during patient treatment and applied whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, RNA-sequencing, and single-cell RNA sequencing. Decitabine induced global, reversible hypomethylation after 10 days of therapy in all patients, which was associated with induction of interferon-induced pathways, the expression of endogenous retroviral elements, and inhibition of erythroid-related transcripts, recapitulating many effects seen previously in in vitro studies. However, at relapse after decitabine treatment, interferon-induced transcripts remained elevated relative to day 0, but erythroid-related transcripts now were more highly expressed than at day 0. Clinical responses were not correlated with epigenetic or transcriptional signatures, although sample size and interpatient variance restricted the statistical power required for capturing smaller effects. Collectively, these data define global hypomethylation by decitabine and find that erythroid-related pathways may be relevant because they are inhibited by therapy and reverse at relapse

Forage fish interactions: A symposium on creating the tools for ecosystem-based management of marine resources

Forage fish (FF) have a unique position within marine foodwebs and the development of sustainable harvest strategies for FF will be a critical step in advancing and implementing the broader, ecosystem-based management of marine systems. In all, 70 scientists from 16 nations gathered for a symposium on 12–14 November 2012 that was designed to address three key questions regarding the effective management of FF and their ecosystems: (i) how do environmental factors and predator–prey interactions drive the productivity and distribution of FF stocks across ecosystems worldwide, (ii) what are the economic and ecological costs and benefits of different FF management strategies, and (iii) do commonalities exist across ecosystems in terms of the effective management of FF exploitation