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An additional set of U.S. activities is carried out under the President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology as well as the Federal Coordinating Committee on Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET). The Smithsonian is an active participant in the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES), which is a component of FCCSET.

Drawing a distinction between global climate change and global change, Dr. Lovejoy noted that, irrespective of what may or may not be changing in global climate, serious changes are taking place in the global environment, and most particularly in the loss of plant and animal species -- principally, but not exclusively, in the tropics. In his view, the national and international efforts are generally satisfactory in geological and physical studies but are decidedly less sufficient in biological studies, which is where the Smithsonian has a critical role to play.

Dr. Hoffmann pointed out that the Smithsonian has had a long tradition of basic research in the biological sciences, especially in systematics, evolution and ecology -- precisely the areas in which most government agencies lack a mandate as well as the scientific expertise which the Smithsonian has developed over the years. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory also fills important gaps with the studies of solar activity and the chemistry of the high atmosphere of the earth (including the effects of man-made chemicals on the ozone layer), as does the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies of the National Air and Space Museum, where satellite imagery is used to study changes in the surface of semi-arid and arid regions of Africa and North America.

Were it not for their effects on organisms, environmental changes might be trivial, suggested Dr. Hoffman. But the cumulative effect of human activities, particularly since the Industrial Revolution, has been to reduce most varieties of vegetation and cause an extremely rapid though nearly