Toolik Field Station Base Funding

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

The Toolik Field Station (TFS) has been a major site for research in the North American Arctic since 1975. Much of what is known about structure and function of arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, effects of climate change, and feedbacks to global climate has emerged from long term, process-based ecological research at TFS. TFS-based work has resulted in significant discoveries on adaptations of organisms to the Arctic and population-level changes in animal and plant distributions and phenologies. Because climate is changing rapidly in the Arctic, continuing research into mechanisms of ecosystem response and feedbacks is a high priority. This need and ongoing interest by scientists from many disciplines in use of TFS promise a steady demand for TFS science support in the future. TFS supports the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research program (LTER), projects in the Arctic Observatory Network program (AON), NASA?s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), the Earthscope Transportable Array, and is a core site for the National Ecological Observatory Network program (NEON). TFS is a founding partner in the EU-sponsored International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT), which links field stations around the circumpolar Arctic, and a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS). At least 993 peer-reviewed journal articles, 161 books or book chapters and 144 dissertations and theses have been published on research based at TFS.