Ecosystem-based management for military training, biodiversity, carbon storage and climate resiliency on a complex coastal land/water-scape. (15th February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Christensen, Norman L.; Cunningham, Patricia A.; Matthews, Kimberly; Anderson, Iris C.; Brush, Mark J.; Cohen, Susan; Currin, Carolyn A.; Ensign, Scott; Hall, Nathan S.; Halpin, Patrick N.; Kirwan, Matthew L.; McNinch, Jesse R.; Paerl, Hans W.; Piehler, Michael F.; Rodriguez, Antonio B.; Tobias, Craig R.; Walters, Jeffrey R.
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental management. Volume 280(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-02-15
• Subjects: Ecosystem-based management on military lands -- Estuarine water quality -- Coastal marsh dynamics -- Coastal barrier island dynamics -- Forest biodiversity -- Adaptive management; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Environmental management -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Periodicals; 363.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111755
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-4797

Abstract

Abstract: The Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) was a 10-year multi-investigator project funded by the Department of Defense to improve understanding of ecosystem processes and their interactions with natural and anthropogenic stressors at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL) located in coastal North Carolina. The project was aimed at facilitating ecosystem-based management (EBM) at the MCBCL and other coastal military installations. Because of its scope, interdisciplinary character, and duration, DCERP embodied many of the opportunities and challenges associated with EBM, including the need for explicit goals, system models, long-term perspectives, systems complexity, change inevitability, consideration of humans as ecosystem components, and program adaptability and accountability. We describe key elements of this program, its contributions to coastal EBM, and its relevance as an exemplar of EBM. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Ecosystem based management (EBM) at coastal military installations requires cross-jurisdiction problem solving, long-term thinking, decision support tools, and adaptive management. Interdisciplinary research programs like DCERP aiming to support EBM embody many of these same opportunities and challenges. DCERP developed models to help sustain species diversity, assess impacts of current and future climate conditions on management strategies, and visualize sea level scenarios that could threaten military training land assets. Program success was facilitated by the duration and intensity of this ecological program, close collaboration among all DCERP team scientists across ecological modules, and the input of MCBCL managers and local stakeholders.