Transdisciplinary synthesis for ecosystem science, policy and management: The Australian experience

Interdisciplinary collaboration from diverse science teams can produce significant outcomes

Scientific teams are increasingly diverse in discipline, international scope and demographics. Diversity has been found to be a driver of innovation but also can be a source of interpersonal friction. Drawing on a mixed-method study of 22 scientific working groups, this paper presents evidence that team diversity has a positive impact on scientific output (i.e., the number of journal papers and citations) through the mediation of the interdisciplinarity of the collaborative process, as evidenced by publishing in and citing more diverse sources. Ironically these factors also seem to be related to lower team member satisfaction and perceived effectiveness, countered by the gender balance of the team. Qualitative data suggests additional factors that facilitate collaboration, such as trust and leadership. Our findings have implications for team design and management, as team diversity seems beneficial, but the process of integration can be difficult and needs management to lead to a productive and innovative process.

Forty years of invasion research: more papers, more collaboration...bigger impact?

Scientific research has become increasingly collaborative. We systematically reviewed invasion science literature published between 1980 and 2020 and catalogued in Clarivate Analytics Web of Science to examine patterns of authorship and the relationship between co-authorship and annual citation rates. This study analysed 27,234 publications across 1,218 journals and demonstrated that, as the number of publications in invasion science has exponentially increased, the number of authors publishing per year and the average number of authors per paper have also increased. The rising number of authors per paper coincides with a marked decline of single-authored publications; approximately 92% of publications in this dataset were multi-authored, with single-authored papers comprising less than 4% of all papers published in 2020. The increase in multi-authored papers is likely driven by multiple factors, including the widespread perception that collaboration increases scientific quality. The number of authors is positively correlated with perceived research impact; papers with two or more authors produce research that is more frequently cited compared to single-authored papers, and papers with five or more authors have annual citation rates almost double that of single-authored papers. The complexity, context-dependence and urgency of biological invasions contributed to the rise of the highly collaborative field of modern invasion science.

Principles for Leading, Learning, and Synthesizing in Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research

Synthesizing heterogeneous findings from different scientific disciplines, thematic fields, and professional sectors is considered to be a critical component of inter- and transdisciplinary research endeavors. However, little is known about the complex interplay between synthesizing heterogeneous findings, leading creative synthesis, and learning about leading and synthesizing. In the present article, we therefore focus on the key interactions between leading and synthesizing, between synthesizing and learning, and between learning and leading in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts and compile a set of 21 principles that guide the interactions between these components. We use these principles to reflect ex post on the benefits and challenges we encountered in developing a nationwide monitoring program for river restoration in Switzerland and draw lessons learned for future inter- and transdisciplinary research endeavors. We conclude that learning and synthesizing do not happen on their own but need to be designed as intentional and purposeful processes.

Bridging the science-practice gaps in nature-based solutions: A riverfront planning in China

Prominent gaps exist between science and practice in the field of nature-based solutions (NBS) worldwide, with relatively well formulated concepts but less clear application procedures. China urgently needs to address this gap because many so called NBS practices advance rapidly nowadays, including river landscapes. Advocating planning as a bridging procedure in China's top down governance system, this study introduces NBS planning for the Jialing River in Wusheng County to address three challenges: how to transform the riverfront planning from specialized to holistic, how to effectively communicate NBS in planning, and how to incorporate both scientific results and local wisdom into NBS decision-making. A planning scope was negotiated to incorporate holistic solutions. Five NBS paradigms were identified for better communication, and then spatially allocated with specific design guidelines and governance strategies. Our pilot study calls for reflection on the communication of NBS to the public, and alternative models of NBS implementations customized to different government regimes.

Global Climate Change and Pollen Aeroallergens: A Southern Hemisphere Perspective

Climatic change will have an impact on production and release of pollen, with consequences for the duration and magnitude of aeroallergen seasonal exposure and allergic diseases. Evaluations of pollen aerobiology in the southern hemisphere have been limited by resourcing and the density of monitoring sites. This review emphasizes inconsistencies in pollen monitoring methods and metrics used globally. Research should consider unique southern hemisphere biodiversity, climate, plant distributions, standardization of pollen aerobiology, automation, and environmental integration. For both hemispheres, there is a clear need for better understanding of likely influences of climate change and comprehending their impact on pollen-related health outcomes.

Ecological Data Should Not Be So Hard to Find and Reuse

Drawing upon the data deposited in publicly shared archives has the potential to transform the way we conduct ecological research. For this transformation to happen, we argue that data need to be more interoperable and easier to discover. One way to achieve these goals is to adopt domain-specific data representations.

When multi-functional landscape meets Critical Zone science: advancing multi-disciplinary research for sustainable human well-being

Environmental degradation has become one of the major obstacles to sustainable development and human well-being internationally. Scientific efforts are being made to understand the mechanism of environmental degradation and sustainability. Critical Zone (CZ) science and research on the multi-functional landscape are emerging fields in Earth science that can contribute to such scientific efforts. This paper reviews the progress, similarities and current status of these two scientific research fields, and identifies a number of opportunities for their synergistic integration through functional and multi-functional approaches, process-based monitoring, mechanistic analyses and dynamic modeling, global long-term and networked monitoring and systematic modeling supported by scaling and deep coupling. These approaches proposed in this paper have the potential to support sustainable human well-being by strengthening a functional orientation that consolidates multi-functional landscape research and CZ science. This is a key challenge for sustainable development and human well-being in the twenty-first century.

Profiling physicochemical and planktonic features from discretely/continuously sampled surface water

There is an increasing need for assessing aquatic ecosystems that are globally endangered. Since aquatic ecosystems are complex, integrated consideration of multiple factors utilizing omics technologies can help us better understand aquatic ecosystems. An integrated strategy linking three analytical (machine learning, factor mapping, and forecast-error-variance decomposition) approaches for extracting the features of surface water from datasets comprising ions, metabolites, and microorganisms is proposed herein. The three developed approaches can be employed for diverse datasets of sample sizes and experimentally analyzed factors. The three approaches are applied to explore the features of bay water surrounding Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan, as a case study. Firstly, the machine learning approach separated 681 surface water samples within Japan into three clusters, categorizing Odaiba water into seawater with relatively low inorganic ions, including Mg, Ba, and B. Secondly, the factor mapping approach illustrated Odaiba water samples from the summer as rich in multiple amino acids and some other metabolites and poor in inorganic ions relative to other seasons based on their seasonal dynamics. Finally, forecast-error-variance decomposition using vector autoregressive models indicated that a type of microalgae (Raphidophyceae) grows in close correlation with alanine, succinic acid, and valine on filters and with isobutyric acid and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in filtrate, Ba, and average wind speed. Our integrated strategy can be used to examine many biological, chemical, and environmental physical factors to analyze surface water.

Implementation Science for the Environment

The establishment of the field of implementation science was motivated by the understanding that medical and health research alone is insufficient to generate better health outcomes. With strong support from funding agencies for medical research, implementation science promotes the application of a structured framework or model in the implementation of research-based results, specifically evidence-based practices (EBPs). Furthermore, explicit consideration is given to the context of EBP implementation (i.e., socio-economic, political, cultural, and institutional factors that could affect the implementation process). Finally, implementation is monitored in a robust and rigorous way. Today, the field of implementation science supports conferences and professional societies as well as one dedicated journal and numerous others with related content. The goal of these various activities is to reduce the estimated, average "bench to bedside" time lag of 17 years for uptake of EBPs from health research into routine practice. Despite similar time lags and impediments to uptake in the environmental domain, a parallel field of implementation science for the environment has not (yet) emerged. Although some parallels in needs and opportunities can easily be drawn between the health and environmental domains, a detailed mapping exercise is needed to understand which aspects of implementation science could be applied in the environmental domain either directly or in a modified form. This would allow an accelerated development of implementation science for the environment.

Attitudes and norms affecting scientists' data reuse

The value of sharing scientific research data is widely appreciated, but factors that hinder or prompt the reuse of data remain poorly understood. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action, we test the relationship between the beliefs and attitudes of scientists towards data reuse, and their self-reported data reuse behaviour. To do so, we used existing responses to selected questions from a worldwide survey of scientists developed and administered by the DataONE Usability and Assessment Working Group (thus practicing data reuse ourselves). Results show that the perceived efficacy and efficiency of data reuse are strong predictors of reuse behaviour, and that the perceived importance of data reuse corresponds to greater reuse. Expressed lack of trust in existing data and perceived norms against data reuse were not found to be major impediments for reuse contrary to our expectations. We found that reported use of models and remotely-sensed data was associated with greater reuse. The results suggest that data reuse would be encouraged and normalized by demonstration of its value. We offer some theoretical and practical suggestions that could help to legitimize investment and policies in favor of data sharing.

Trans-disciplinary research in synthesis of grass pollen aerobiology and its importance for respiratory health in Australasia

Grass pollen is a major trigger for allergic rhinitis and asthma, yet little is known about the timing and levels of human exposure to airborne grass pollen across Australasian urban environments. The relationships between environmental aeroallergen exposure and allergic respiratory disease bridge the fields of ecology, aerobiology, geospatial science and public health. The Australian Aerobiology Working Group comprised of experts in botany, palynology, biogeography, climate change science, plant genetics, biostatistics, ecology, pollen allergy, public and environmental health, and medicine, was established to systematically source, collate and analyse atmospheric pollen concentration data from 11 Australian and six New Zealand sites. Following two week-long workshops, post-workshop evaluations were conducted to reflect upon the utility of this analysis and synthesis approach to address complex multidisciplinary questions. This Working Group described i) a biogeographically dependent variation in airborne pollen diversity, ii) a latitudinal gradient in the timing, duration and number of peaks of the grass pollen season, and iii) the emergence of new methodologies based on trans-disciplinary synthesis of aerobiology and remote sensing data. Challenges included resolving methodological variations between pollen monitoring sites and temporal variations in pollen datasets. Other challenges included "marrying" ecosystem and health sciences and reconciling divergent expert opinion. The Australian Aerobiology Working Group facilitated knowledge transfer between diverse scientific disciplines, mentored students and early career scientists, and provided an uninterrupted collaborative opportunity to focus on a unifying problem globally. The Working Group provided a platform to optimise the value of large existing ecological datasets that have importance for human respiratory health and ecosystems research. Compilation of current knowledge of Australasian pollen aerobiology is a critical first step towards the management of exposure to pollen in patients with allergic disease and provides a basis from which the future impacts of climate change on pollen distribution can be assessed and monitored.