It should also address the communications and education challenges of sustaining an interactive dialogue among interested parties. An extended record of past climate change on a regional basis for past 200 years should be assembled. Information needed for improving the understanding of role of episodic events in ecosystem health. It is important to recognize that ecosystems are often dependent on variability, for example hurricanes recharge Florida aquifers. The magnitude and frequency of changes should be characterized.
Ecosystems respond differently to long-term, gradual change than to abrupt episodic change.
Meteorologists must strive to provide information relevant to ecologists. Often, appropriate information from models is not made available because meteorologists focus on summary information, while ecologists are interested in more details. Ecologists need better regional-scale projections, supported by better computing capabilities and validation of projections. Meteorologists should investigate ensemble forecasting techniques for regional projections of natural variability as a substitute for raw computing power. Ecosystem response to long-term change as well as episodic events should be characterized.