Opportunities for advancing carbon cycle science in Mexico: toward a continental scale understanding Rodrigo Vargas a, *, Henry W. Loescher b,c , Tulio Arredondo d , Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald d , Rube ´n Lara-Lara e , Enrico A. Ye ´pez f a Departamento de Biologı ´a de la Conservacio ´n, Centro de Investigacio ´n Cientı´fica y de Educacio ´n Superior de Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico b National Ecological Observatory Network, Boulder, CO, USA c Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA d Instituto Potosino de Investigacio ´n Cientı ´fica y Tecnolo ´ gica, San Luis Potosı ´, Mexico e Departamento de Oceanologı ´a Biolo ´ gica, Centro de Investigacio ´n Cientı ´fica y de Educacio ´n Superior de Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico f Departamento de Ciencias del Agua y del Medio Ambiente, Instituto Tecnolo ´ gico de Sonora, Ciudad Obrego ´n, Sonora, Mexico 1. Introduction Understanding the processes that govern carbon cycle dynamics at the land, oceans and larger, continental scales is important in the role of science informing decision-makers, as well as for advancing fundamental research (Anderson and Bows, 2008). It is important to recognize that most research advancing carbon cycle science (CCS) is overwhelmingly produced in developed countries. This leaves developing countries underrepresented when building a continental- or global-scale understanding of CCS, and with a disproportional number of end users depending on other’s data. Overall, this disparity results in lost opportunities, limited advancements in knowledge, and poor information transfer among countries (Ru ¨ bbelke, 2011). This is critical because environmental problems and ecological understandings are not delineated within specific sociopolitical or economic boundaries. Thus, solutions must be sought and fostered through international programmatic/scientific collaborations and will. e n v i r o n m e n t a l s c i e n c e & p o l i c y 2 1 ( 2 0 1 2 ) 8 4 – 9 3 a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Carbon fluxes Climate change Ecological networks Land Monitoring North America Ocean Policy NACP a b s t r a c t Solutions to current global environmental problems throughout fundamental ecological understandings are only reached through international programmatic and scientific colla- borations. Both scientists and policymakers recognize the importance of the role of carbon cycle science (CCS) in North America, however regional ecological studies in North America often do not include the role of Mexico. Given the sharp ecological, climatic and socioeco- nomic differences among the three countries conforming North America it is fundamental to incorporate Mexico’s unique contributions toward regional CCS. We provide a synthesis of opportunities and challenges for advancing land and ocean research in Mexico in order to move toward a complete North American continental scale CCS. First, we provide the socio- ecological context of Mexico relevant to CCS. Second, we compare the existing relationships among scientific/governmental entities and funding agencies that contribute to CCS in the United States and Mexico. Third, we discuss Mexico’s state-of-the-art CCS, and synthesize its recent advances with emphasis on land– and ocean–atmosphere interactions. We highlight continental-scale opportunities toward a tri-national carbon research, infrastruc- ture, and education network. # 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: rvargas@cicese.mx (R. Vargas). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsci 1462-9011/$ – see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.04.003