SCOPE, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY 



The objective of the Tundra Biome Program is to acquire a basic understanding of tundra, both 

 alpine and arctic, and taiga. Collectively these are referred to as the cold-dominated ecosystems. 

 The program's broad objectives are threefold: 



1. To develop a predictive understanding of how the wet arctic tundra 

 ecosystem operates, particularly as exemplified in the Barrow, Alaska, 

 area. 



2. To obtain the necessary data base from the variety of cold-dominated 

 ecosystem types represented in the United States, so that their behavior 

 can be modeled and simulated, and the results compared with similar 

 studies underway in other circumpolar countries. 



3. To bring basic environmental knowledge to bear on problems of de- 

 gradation, maintenance, and restoration of the temperature-sensitive and 

 cold-dominated tundra/taiga ecosystems. 



Durii^ 1970, funding limitations prohibited full implementation of these objectives. Never- 

 theless a research design was developed which focused on bioenvironmental research in Alaska. 

 The principal objective of the 1970 research was to determine initial responses by ecosystem 

 components to a variety of natural and artificial disturbances or perturbations. In so doing, a 

 substantial emphasis was placed on basic research of fundamental processes and properties on 

 undisturbed controlled sites. 



The 1970 program is divided into two major subprograms: ecosystems of the arctic coastal 

 tundra and site investigations along a bioenvironmental gradient ranging from the arctic coastal 

 tundra into the interior taiga of subarctic Alaska (Fig. 1). The rationale for this approach was 

 to provide an in-depth research effort on major Alaskan ecosystems. 



Research on the arctic coastal tundra was concentrated in the immediate vicinity of Barrow, 

 Alaska. Barrow had previously been designated as the intensive site for the U.S. IBP Tundra 

 Biome. The locale was familiar to several generations of arctic scientists and the results of past 

 studies were available in a variety of forms. It was postulated that these two considerations would 

 permit an extension in the interpretation of the 1970 findings over many years and different types 

 of summer climates. The presence of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory with its excellent 

 researchand logistical facilities permitted this portion of the program to mobilize within a matter 

 of weeks. Other sites on the Arctic Coastal Plain were visited at irregular intervals. The Cape 

 Simpson oil seeps provided an opportunity to examine the long term effects of oil on the tundra 

 ecosystem. Numerous visits to the areas within the Prudhoe Bay oil fields permitted the gathering 

 of information with which comparisons with Barrow and other areas are possible and provided the 

 experience from which long-term research plans can be designed. This concentration of manpower 

 and projects in the arctic coastal tundra was endorsed by an external review committee. The 

 report of that group was distributed with the September Newsletter. 



The entire coastal tundra prc^ram was under the direction of the Biome Director, Jerry Brown, 

 and the Barrow site was directed by Larry Tieszen. 



The bioenvironmental subprc^ram consisted of comparative investigations along a bioclimatic 

 gradient which parallels the several proposed transportation corridors between Fairbanks and 

 Prudhoe Bay. Selection of sites was largely determined by the location of revegetation plots which 

 were established in 1969 by University of Alaska scientists under contract to the Trans Alaska 

 Pipeline System (TAPS).* The current program undertook basic ecological studies in areas 



Now Alyeska Pipeline Service Company 



