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John J. Kineman

Contact Information

Senior Research Scientist
Office: Rm S250c Ekeley
Tel: 303-735-0288
Email: John.Kineman@colorado.edu

Research Activities

1. Informatics and the Vulnerability of Ecosystem Services in Deltaic Systems
2. Ecological Vulnerability Model
3. Comparison of Intrinsic and Instrumental Value systems for Ecology

My research involves relational complexity and niche theory as applied to ecological informatics and information enterprise design. This work is aimed at improving the representation of complex living systems in informatics, and improving the ability of our informatics systems and enterprises to communicate with society, policy, and ethics. My current work focuses on the Indo-Pacific hemisphere.

1. Vulnerability of ecosystem services in deltaic systems with respect to climate change

This work established a "World Deltas Network" (WDN) as a pilot project for Coastal GTOS. The research team produced a series of digital maps delineating delta boundaries. This is the first step in facilitating a collaborative research network – to establish a common agreement on study area in digital form, which can then be used to window various data for each delta, such as Landsat mosaics the team also made available for two years, a decade apart. These data will be used to assess land loss and ecological change in global deltas, following indications of global decline in deltaic systems worldwide, reported by Prof. James Coleman of Louisiana State University. A central “World Deltas Database” was also established by Prof. George Hart at Louisiana State University, and this is now linked to the WDN primary website located at FAO/GLCN in Rome. Research continues at CIRES toward developing methods for modeling and mapping ecological functions in deltaic and other low-lying regions of the global coast.

Achievements thus far including the following:

• The launch of the WDN website, including the World Deltas Database³ (WDD) architecture. The website presents results from the pilot study, information on methodologies used for functional analysis of coastal deltas, and interactive maps with downloadable data.
• A pilot study of 12 deltas using a geophysical analysis to produce delta extent maps.
• Preliminary ecosystem vulnerability analysis of ecosystem services in the Nile delta is underway integrating the FAO-GLCN’s Land Cover Classification System.

2. Ecological Vulnerability to Algal invasion in Hawaii Island – a niche modeling technique*

This project applies a niche model technique I am developing, to forecast and map potential vulnerability to algal invasions in Hawaii. The project team is accessing recent studies of algal invasion to construct a demonstration of the model approach. In the next year, if funding continues, we will begin developing the modeling architecture that will integrate this technique into operational systems. The approach is highly intuitive and easily visualized, making it appropriate for interacting with experts and iteratively improving the model. A web-site has been developed for the project.

The approach is valuable, in its simplicity and decomposability into elements that an ecologist can relate to and evaluate. The approach is highly transparent, so that ecological assumptions and implications can be evaluated. The technique constructs response functions in each dimension, then combines them in an appropriate way (scalable between two different ways of combining axes) to produce the hypervolume, which is then mapped out geographically. That is the simple case, on top of which more complex models can be assembled by combining sub-models, including competitive or synergistic assumptions, or even iterating the suitability surface with modifications of the underlying data as the niche is realized. The goal was to create a method that is decomposable into intuitive ecological functional responses that an investigator can easily manipulate based on additional knowledge. In this way it can aid capture of, data from lab studies, indigenous knowledge, or just ecological intuition. The idea is to add ecology back into the statistics.

The larger implications of this work for eco-informatics and information enterprises is that it will greatly improve ecological information by adding its natural functional component. This will in tern allow better communication of ecological conditions and trends, including threats and opportunities, to policy, management and decision making.

3. Comparison of Intrinsic and Instrumental Value systems for Ecology

This work involves a large system view of how we place value on nature – from intrinsic or human perspectives. I produced a paper in 2005 on “Vedic Ecology and the New Eco-Accounting” which was published in the International Society for Systems Science. This led to collaboration with Dr. K. Anil Kumar of the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Institute of Higher Learning in Puttaparthi, A.P. India this year, on the theme of “Information as Communication.” A paper by that title was presented as a keynote talk in Pune, India on January 31, for a symposium on developing India’s national plans for biodiversity and ecosystem informatics infrastructure. The paper will be published in a suitable journal or the ISSS. The theme of this work is to consider a wholistic view of information as a function of nature that communicates and induces change. The work has produced a new information and communication theory.