A Review of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy (2007) / Chapter Skim
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4 Evaluating Thematic Priorities and Cross-Theme Integration
4 Evaluating Thematic Priorities and Cross-Theme Integration
Pages 41-68
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From page 41... ...
The draft plan identifies 21 research priorities (Table 4-1)
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 42 TABLE 4-1 Priorities Identified by the JSOSTa 1 Understand the status and trends of resource abundance and distribution through more accurate, timely and synoptic assessments 2 Understand interspecies and habitat-species relationships as a basis for forecasting resource stability and sustainability 3 Understand human use patterns that may influence resource stability and sustainability 4 Apply advanced technologies to enhance the benefits of various natural resources from the open ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes 5 Understand the initiation and evolution of hazard events and apply that understanding to improve forecasts of future hazard events 6 Understand the response of coastal and marine systems to natural hazards and apply that understanding to assessments of future vulnerability to natural hazards 7 Apply understanding to develop multihazard risk assessments and to support development of model, policies, and strategies for hazard mitigation 8 Understand the interactions between marine operations and the environment 9 Apply understanding of environmental factors to characterize and predict conditions in the maritime domain 10 Apply understanding of human behavior to develop the information and tools necessary to carry out effective, safe, and secure marine operations 11 Apply understanding of marine operations to enhance the marine transportation system 12 Understand ocean-climate interactions across regions 13 Understand the impact of climate variability and change on the ocean, including its biogeochemistry and ecosystems 14 Apply understanding of the ocean to help project future climate changes and their impacts 15 Understand and predict the impact of natural and anthropogenic processes that govern the overall level of ecosystem productivity 16 Apply understanding of ocean-related socioeconomic activities to assess the ability of marine ecosystems to provide essential goods and services
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From page 43... ...
• The wording of some research priorities suggests that they do not involve research but rather that they are activities or operations that have no clear research component (e.g., Priorities 11 and 16)
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From page 44... ...
However, it is also due to the difficulty in discerning from the plan what research will not be done as a result of the choice of research priorities. In places where it is possible to comment sensibly on issues of balance, the committee does so.
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From page 45... ...
Many of the research priorities identify a need for "understanding," and it would be helpful -- and potentially inspiring -- if some needed process studies were identified in the plan that could be conducted during the next decade. These inclusions could illustrate linkages among the priorities and the cross-cutting role of broad-ranging fundamental research as suggested in Chapter 3.
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From page 46... ...
For example, climate change is the fundamental driver in the system (arrows point outward)
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From page 47... ...
. While this makes sense from the viewpoint of categorizing human dependence on the ocean, it suffers as a logical organizing principle for research priorities.
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but the former references only archaeological sites such as shipwrecks. The committee recommends clarifying the definition along with highlighting the research priorities that relate to these resources.
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EVALUATING THEMATIC PRIORITIES 49 Clarity and Appropriateness of the Priorities The priorities themselves are good and need only minor adjustments. One suggested adjustment is that the priorities provide a better sense of the difficulties and challenges inherent in the natural and social sciences.
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INCREASING RESILIENCE TO NATURAL HAZARDS The research priorities under this theme are as follows:
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EVALUATING THEMATIC PRIORITIES 51 5. Understand the initiation and evolution of hazard events and apply that understanding to improve forecasts of future hazard events.
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ENABLING MARINE OPERATIONS The following research priorities are listed under this theme: 8. Understand the interactions between marine operations and the environment.
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The ORPP defines marine operations to encompass commercial, recreational, and defense and security matters. The document provides good justification for further research by correctly noting that marine operations can be expected to grow in importance in the future and therefore require a strong ocean science and technology base to maintain their vitality.
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 54 • Understanding the environmental impacts of transportation in the Arctic, especially as new routes become available with reduction in sea ice; and • Quantifying the environmental impact of chronic leaks of oil and fuel in marinas and harbors (see recommendation from NRC, 2003c)
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THE OCEAN'S ROLE IN CLIMATE The research priorities under this theme follow: 12. Understand ocean-climate interactions across regions.
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 56 the intent to address both the role of the ocean in climate and the impact of climate variability and change on the ocean. However, this latter objective is clearly recognized in the rationale for the theme, and it is included as an explicit priority.
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While some of the related issues could be deferred to an implementation plan, assessing the feasibility of meeting the ocean observing requirements for the priority research articulated in the plan does depend strongly on what is assumed about satellite missions. For example, the current skill in estimating the ocean's physical state is very dependent on the global coverage and integrating nature of altimetric measurements of sea level, and the objective of making useful predictions of climate variations may not be achievable without these satellite observations.
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, but they need to be explicitly and clearly recognized within the research priorities. RECOMMENDATION: Linkages with other themes should be improved.
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The larger challenge of understanding the interaction of processes across time and space scales could be articulated more clearly in Priority 12. IMPROVING ECOSYSTEM HEALTH The following research priorities are listed under this theme: 15.
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 60 Clarity and Appropriateness of the Priorities Priority 15 emphasizes the incorporation of existing physical, chemical, and biological knowledge across different temporal and spatial scales to address ecosystem questions. However, existing information will not be sufficient to support the development of the dispersal models or the next generation of trophic models called for under this priority.
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Priority 16 seems to suggest that modeling of social and economic factors will predict the impact of human society on marine ecosystems, but not enough is known about the ecological dynamics and system vulnerabilities such as trophic interactions, species-habitat functionalities, and thresholds to build such models. The supporting text acknowledges the need for better models and more information, but this is not clear from the wording of the priority statement.
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 62 The supporting text for Priority 16 calls for new approaches to evaluate consumptive and nonconsumptive use of resources and the need to take into consideration the rights of future generations. In addition to developing new approaches, there is a need to collect finer-scale spatial and temporal data on consumptive and nonconsumptive use of ocean resources.
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There are large gaps in our understanding of how marine ecosystems are organized and function, and how the individual biotic, chemical, and physical components of marine systems respond to both natural and anthropogenic forcings, which are not addressed in the current plan. Information
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REVIEW OF THE OCEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES PLAN 64 should be translated into a form that is useful to resource managers and policy makers. ENHANCING HUMAN HEALTH The research priorities under this theme follow: 18.
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For example, the statement "the use of marine species as mechanistic models for the study of diseases, toxicology and biochemical processes relevant to human health" can be altered so that potential contributions to other important fields such as genetics and neuroanatomy are not excluded. The scope of recommended research can be expanded by simply rewording the phrase to "the use of marine species as mechanistic models for a range of processes relevant to human health, including the study of diseases, toxicology, biochemistry, and other important processes." An important problem with research priorities included in this theme is that the distinction between Priorities 18 and 19 is not clear.
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Balance of Research Areas and Activities This theme includes an appropriate balance between substantive research areas, except for the uneven discussion of basic research among the four research priorities. A strength of the priorities is recognition of the multidisciplinary nature of research needed to advance this theme.
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EVALUATING THEMATIC PRIORITIES 67 research is not unnecessarily constrained, and im portant linkages among research themes are de scribed. The importance of both process studies and quantification of risk should be clearly emphasized.
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