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<br />support AMWG's broad concerns on how to best manage anfsust:iin competing goods . <br />and services of rivers to benefit both humans, and the natural ecosystems to which <br />humans belong. This means that single resources (and their research programs) are not <br />studied in isolation from other resources or from the socio-cultural context. Further, truly <br />integrative river science should aim to both understand and ultimately predict how rivers <br />respond to human activities and outside forces such as climate variability. Human <br />activities include, for example, flow regulation, water extractions, land use alterations, <br />and recreational use. Understanding will come from the developed integrated Core <br />Monitoring Program and Long Term Experimental Program. Predication comes from a <br />synthesis of findings in a quantitative framework. <br /> <br />TRANSITIONING TO INTEGRATED <br />INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE <br /> <br />Several steps are necessary to transition to more integrated interdisciplinary <br />science approaches. First, the Center's Strategic Science Plan is the foundation from <br />which all monitoring and research strategies should be derived. The purpose of this plan <br />is to use stakeholders' information needs to formulate the critical research questions of <br />this time. The phrase "of this time" is used because priority areas will change over time <br />(e.g., due to droughts, endangered species status) and the science plan must be adaptive <br />like management. <br /> <br />Second, all members of interdisciplinary research teams (e.g., physical, <br />biological, cultural) should together develop a conceptual model that illustrates the . <br />information needed to answer each highly prioritized question. Some of this information <br />will be core monitoring and some will be research. Such models are critical to <br />identifying knowledge gaps and scientific directions, Some of the high priority questions <br />may be answerable using the theories and methods from single disciplines, but <br />justification to do the work must be made in the context of the entire strategic plan. For <br />CRE programs, the vast majority of the high priority questions will require input from <br />multiple disciplines. <br /> <br />Third, thc science information needs of stakeholders should be identified along <br />with interdisciplinary teams that will gather the data; this should result in a list of core <br />measurements and/or research tasks along with a timetable for each priority question. The <br />challenge is to determine which "keystone" components of the almost infinite number of <br />measurable physical, chemical and biological parameters in a river system should be <br />studied to most comprehensively evaluate the interrelationships among them in a river <br />system that are critical to answering the priority questions in the science plan, <br /> <br />Fourth, leaders should be identified for priority research questions. That person <br />does not represent his!her area (physical, biological, cultural resources) but is responsible <br />for making sure all the information that is needed to answer the critical question is <br />gathered and the timeline adhered to. This person will also be responsible for the <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />USGS SBSC GCMRC Strategic Science Plan - FY 2005-2009 <br />Draft, October 22, 2004 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />14 <br />