QUAT 504a:
Biocomplexity in the Kuril Islands:
Investigating interdisciplinary in historical ecology and social evolution.

Autumn 2004, Thursdays 3:30-5pm, QRC 154.

This seminar provides an opportunity for interested faculty and students to explore avenues for biocomplexity research in the Kuril Islands. The seminar will bring together a diverse team of scholars to explore theory and method in coupled human-environmental dynamics. The context of this exploration is the development of an integrated interdisciplinary research project in the Kurils (involving synthesis of archaeological, ethnohistorical, paleoecological, paleooceanographic, geological, and paleoclimate data by means of a dynamic "coupled" model). Seminar participants will learn about each other's specialties, work on interdisciplinary integration and modeling, and refine an existing research proposal. Students attending the seminar (1 credit optional) will gain first-hand experience in the development of a complex inter-disciplinary research endeavor, interdisciplinary modeling, and the interdependency of physical and social processes in historical ecological context.

The seminar sessions will usually include an informal presentation of roughly 45 minutes by a member of the project team followed by 45 minutes of discussion. Semi-optional homework will include one or two reading assignments per week and written exercises as appropriate to the refinement of the research plan. The seminar should provide an exciting opportunity for intellectual growth at all levels.

Interested students or faculty are encouraged to contact Ben Fitzhugh

<fitzhugh@u.washington.edu> for updates and advance materials.

Students: may register for QUAT 504A - SLN 7498 1 Credit/No Credit
Instructor code 77777

Tentative Schedule:

September 30: Ben Fitzhugh
Overview of the Kuril Biocomplexity Project: Past and Future
Discussion: seminar goals and mechanics.
Inetllectual issues: What is Biocomplexity? How can it be understood?
Logistical issues: Challenges of interdisciplinary team coordination and integration.
[reading assignment: Nicolsen, C. et al. 2002 “Ten Heuristics for Interdisciplinary Modeling Projects” Ecosystems 5:376-384]
Michener et al.2001 “Defining and Unraveling Biocomplexity” Bioscience 51(12):1018-1023]

October 7: Darryl Holman and Ben Fitzhugh
Modeling ecology, demography, and society in island settings
Discussion: modeling goals, methods, and constraints.
Linking the ecological and social systems.
NSF reviews and potential improvements to the Kuril proposal

[assignment: Fitzhugh et al. 2003, “International Kuril Island Paleobigeography Project” NSF proposal and REVIEWS.]

October 14: Jody Bourgeois
Understanding the geological history and terrestrial ecology of the Kurils: what we know and need to know
Mike Etnier
Marine mammal biogeography: research and methods. The importance of the Kurils.
Discussion: the role of geological parameters in biocomplexity modeling.
How this research can contribute to Kuril biocomplexity goals?

October 21: Amy Hirons (University of Alaska Fairbanks)
Paleooceanographic methods for reconstructing marine ecology
Discussion: The interface of marine and terrestrial paleoecology. What scales of oceanographic
processes are dynamically engaged with island and human systems in the Kurils? How can
paleooceanographic processes and data be integrated in a dynamic biocomplexity model?

October 28:
Cecelia Bitz
Modeling paleoclimate and sea ice variation in the Bering Sea
Discussion: modeling paleoclimate, ice, ocean, and vegetation:
goals and limitations for the Sea of Okhotsk/ Kuril arc.
How can climate models be used to understand Kuril Paleoecology?
How can past climate-ecosystem-human interactions in the Kurils serve
as a model for understanding system sensitivities and human adaptability
in more complex ecosystems (e.g., Bering Sea)?

November 4: Ray Hilborne – date tentative
Fisheries ecology and biocomplexity modeling:
What works in Biocomplexity proposals and research.
Discussion: modeling dynamics/budget workshop.

November 5-10: Final proposal revisions.

November 10: Target to get proposal routed to Grants and Contracts

November 11: Veterans Day
Modeling workshop and proposal work (finalizing the Project description),
for those interested in coming in on this day off.

November 17: NSF DEADLINE

November 18: Ben Fitzhugh
Social evolution and the cultural background of the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea.
Discussion: relevance of the social change for understanding sensitivities,
vulnerability and resilience of cultural adaptive strategies.
Expanding/adapting the Kuril biocomplexity model for the Bering Sea-
the importance of generalization and extrapolation.

November 25: Thanksgiving – No class

December 2: Darryl Holman
Developing a prototype biocomplexity model with existing data
Discussion: The potential of GIS, System-dynamic modeling, and Agent-based
simulation in biocomplexity research.

December 9: Student reviews of other Biocomplexity research (successful proposals and publications).
Discussion: What is the potential of biocomplexity modeling and research for the future?
What are the new areas of research synthesis and understanding that are emerging
from this orientation? What are some of the limitations? To what extent is the potential
being met by recent and ongoing biocomplexity research?

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