Dr. Robert Costanza, Director, The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics
Research Interests: Ecosystem Ecology, Ecological Economics
Dr. Costanza's research group is concerned with modeling ecological systems on several scales, ranging from microcosms to large regional landscapes. His group participates in the Multiscale Experimental Ecosystem Research Center (MEERC), which consists of an integrated set of micro and mesocosms designed to explore the effects of scale (time, space and complexity) on the response of ecosystems to nutrient inputs and contaminant stresses. MEERC uses whole ecosystem experiments. It allows models tested and calibrated with extensive experimental data from microcosms to be extrapolated to larger scale mesocosms and macrocosms for testing of various scaling rules. Work methods for comparing the results of complex simulation models to experimental data, analysis of the effects of model and data resolution on predictability and comparisons of aggregate complex and simple models are also included.
The interactions between ecological and economic systems cannot be ignored on the larger spatial scales of regional landscapes, bio-regions and the earth as a whole. Dr. Costanza's group is working on several spatially explicit regional scale simulation models aimed at integrating analysis of ecological and economic systems. These models are being extended to include the economic components of the system, including the behavior of farmers, the economic driving forces behind land-use change decisions and the value of ecosystems.
