Go to TEMA top page ______IGBP-MESSC Second Term 1997-2001
Background and Concept
Japanese Universities and related organizations have carried out relevant research for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) as the first term 1992-1996 with financial support from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (MESSC), Japan. Based on results from the first-term activities, the second term (1997-2001) of IGBP-MESSC is planned to focus upon the complex processes of terrestrial ecosystems in watershed level. Information of terrestrial ecosystem processes are most vague in the present global environmental science. The IGBP-MESSC second term challenges this topic applying new technique of analysis and modelling. The second-term activities comprise TEMA (Global Change Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems in Monsoon Asia), approved as a core research by GCTE (Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem: IGBP Core Project) in 1992. TEMA is now supported by MESSC, the Japan Environment Agency and other relevant bodies. IGBP-MESSC second term particularly focuses on the budget of carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse gases in monsoon East Asia, across forest and freshwater ecosystems at watershed level.
Target Region
Perhumid seasonal climate dominates over monsoon East Asia. There, forest ecosystems continue across climatic zones and freshwater ecosystems are developed. It is an ideal region, in global change research, to examine dynamic ecosystem zonation in relation to climatic factors. In Japan, two focal stations are prepared: Tomakomai Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University (cool-temperate region), and Lake Biwa Watershed (warm-temperate region). Inter-East-Asian network for TEMA is now under construction.
Research Tasks
Task 1 Response of forest as biomass-cumulating systems
Forest ecosystems with developed three-dimensional shoot architecture
are characterized by huge biomass stock and production. As a result, they
show large inertia against rapid global change. Impacts of environment
change to forests are cumulative processes of shoot-level response and
feedback via forest architecture. Functional model with this feedback is
constructed to predict the forest-level change.
Task 2 Response of freshwater as chemical transfer systems
Freshwater ecosystem is characterized by fast turnover of biomass production
and thus quick response to environmental change. Based on the concept "forest-lake
interface", the direct and indirect (i.e., through land ecosystems)
impact of global change to freshwater systems is analysed with reference
to the budget of base sediment organic substance.
Task 3 Processes of gas flux in forest ecosystems
Soil-subsystem process plays a key role on forest ecosystem dynamics.
Budget of organic substance in aboveground biomass and soil can be traced
by tower-based monitoring and aerodynamic technique of analysis. The role
of soil as carbon pool and buffer in whole carbon budget is clarified.
Task 4 Processes of gas flux in watershed ecosystems
Reduction layer on terrestrial substrata is a major emission source
of CH4 and N2O,
radical greenhouse gases. Applying stable isotope analysis, dynamics of
reduction layer and mechanisms of greenhouse-gas emission are figured out
across the "forest-lake interface".
Contact Address
Eitaro Wada
Project leader
Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University
Email: wadaei@ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Takahito Yoshioka
Project officer
Institute for Hydrospheric-Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University
Email: yos@ihas.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Query to page master ____ kohyama@ees.hokudai.ac.jp