October 2019
LTER Network News is a forum for sharing news and activities from across the LTER Network. This is our water cooler. If you have personnel changes, new grants, or cross-Network activities that might interest your LTER colleagues, please send them along to weiss@nceas.lternet.edu.
Announcements
LTER Network Self Study is now available on the LTER Network website. NSF is convening the review committee, which will complete its work (likely including site visits) over the next several months. Many thanks to all the hard working members of the self study committee!
Dave Garrison, long-time NSF Program Officer and Chair of the NSF LTER working group is beginning his well-earned retirement. If you have photos, quotes, and/or funny or poignant stories about Dave, please add them to this google document or pass them along to Marty Downs (downs@nceas.ucsb.edu) and we’ll put a package together, or send them direct to NSF program Officer Dan Thornhill (dthornhi@nsf.gov).
The Powell Center Webinar series kicks off October 21 with a talk by Dr. Melissa Kenney on “Predicting Nature to improve environmental management: How close are we and how do we get there?” On October 30, Center staff will present on “how to submit a proposal to the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis.” Preregistration is required.
The Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union is December 9-13 in San Francisco. Many LTER investigators will be presenting and the Network Office will compile a listing of presentations. Please help us spread the word about your talk, poster, or session, by sharing the link with us, including LTER in your title or affiliation, and using the Network logo on your title or acknowledgement slide.
Save the Dates
LTER Committee Meetings and LTER-related events are available for your reference at any time on the LTER Network Calendar.
- A consortium of critical zone research organizations is planning a workshop at the 2019 American Geophysical Union Meeting: “Toward an International Critical Zone Network-of-Networks for the Next Generation through Shared Science, Tools, Data and Philosophy.” They are convening several webinar discussions in advance. The first two, “An Overview of the Network of CZOs and their Watershed Equivalents” and “Instrumentation and User-Facilities – Applicability, Advantages and Limitations” have passed. the third, Model-data integration” will be held in November and requires preregistration.
- The AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting is scheduled for 16-21 February, 2020 in San Diego, CA. Abstract submissions are open until 11 September, 2019. Heidi Sosik, who leads the Northeast Shelf LTER site will be keynoting.
- The 2020 LTER Science Council Meeting is scheduled for May 5-7, 2020 in Tempe Arizona.
- The 8th global nitrogen conference (INI 2020) will be held in Berlin, next May 2020. The original deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the end of this October. This is a great opportunity to share research findings with the ILTER network and broader communities.
- The deadline for proposals for Workshops, Short Courses, Special Sessions, and Field Trips for the Ecological Society of America’s 2020 Annual Meeting is November 21, 2019 at 5 PM EST.
Recent Press
From the National Science Foundation
Other media
- Lake Mendota’s Muck | The Beachwood Reporter
- Baby sharks know when to run away from hurricanes | FIU News
- USV Completes First Autonomous Circumnavigation of Antarctica | Hydro International
- Coastal Futures Conservatory Merges Science, Arts, Humanities for Environment | UVA Today
- Preparing for the Future | The Current
- Shark Talks: Shark Ecologist Bradley Strickland | Sharkophile
- Here’s What The New U.N. Report On Oceans And Ice Means For New England | WBUR Radio
Papers of Interest
The most recent LTER-related papers are available on the LTER Network web site and the full Network bibliography is available at the LTER Network Zotero Group Library. Listed here is just a small sampling of the 30-40 LTER related papers that are published each month.
- Stand dynamics and topographic setting influence changes in live tree biomass over a 34-year permanent plot record in a subalpine forest in the Colorado Front Range | Canadian Journal of Forest Research
- Soil fungal community changes in response to long-term fire cessation and N fertilization in tallgrass prairie | Fungal Ecology
- Intensified inundation shifts a freshwater wetland from a CO2 sink to a source | Global Change Biology
- A combined grazing and fire management may reverse woody shrub encroachment in desert grasslands | Landscape Ecology
- The landscape of soil carbon data: emerging questions, synergies and databases | Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment
- Global change effects on plant communities are magnified by time and the number of global change factors imposed | PNAS
- Nutrient retention and loss during ecosystem succession: revisiting a classic model | Ecology
- ILTER – The International Long-Term Ecological Research Network as a Platform for Global Coastal and Ocean Observation | Frontiers in Marine Science
Around the Network
Virginia Coast Reserve: Long-time VCR/LTER Investigator Iris Anderson has received the 2019 Odum Lifetime Achievement Award from the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation (CERF).
Luquillo LTER welcomes a new information manager, Miguel Leon, who joins the LTER from the Luquillo CZO.
Harvard Forest LTER launches the New England Landscape Futures Explorer, an interactive tool for exploring different possible outcomes based on global trends and local decisions.
Cedar Creek LTER. Cheri Stockinger, an artist in residence at Cedar Creek, is holding quilting classes at the Reserve and attracted more than 30 participants — ages 6 to 89 — to the October class.
Bonanza Creek LTER. Ecologist Terry Chapin will receive the Volvo Environment Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious environmental prizes. The prize consists of a diploma, a glass sculpture and a cash sum of SEK 1.5 million and will be presented at a ceremony in Stockholm on 7 November 2019. The committee lauded Chapin’s work: “Throughout his decades-long career in ecosystems research and global change, Professor Terry Chapin has worked tirelessly with people and for the planet. His work will have a long-lasting impact on the ways we seek to build a sustainable future, with the concept of Earth Stewardship supporting the deep institutional and structural change required to meet the challenges ahead.”
Funding Opportunities
LTER Synthesis Working Groups
The 2019 LTER synthesis working groups application deadline is fast approaching! Find the RFP and new resources for developing collaborative proposals on the LTER Network website under “synthesis.” Proposals due October 23.
LTER Site Renewals & New Urban Site Opportunity: NSF’s LTER Site Renewal RFP is now live. Due date: March 5, 2020. NSF has also released a new Urban Site solicitation. Preliminary Proposal due date: December 4, 2019: Full proposal: June 15, 2020.
NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB): Full proposal due November 19, 2019
NSF Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID): Full proposal due November 20, 2019
NSF Oceanographic Facilities and Equipment Support: Full proposal due December 16, 2019
NSF ADVANCE – Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions (ADVANCE): Full proposal due January 15, 2019
Jobs and Fellowships
- Environmental Data Initiative Summer Fellowships. Informational webinar: October 29; Apply by: December 13. This 2-month data management fellowship is intended for undergraduate, graduate and recent postgraduate students. Fellows will receive training from EDI staff and participate in data preparation and publishing with scientists and information managers at host research sites.
- Interdisciplinary Cluster Hire in Freshwater Sustainability, UW Madision/NTL LTER
- Two Positions: Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University
- Research Manager Positions – Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program
- Three NSF-funded Ph.D. positions in grassland ecology, multiple LTERs
- Harvard Forest Postdoc – Understanding the New England Land System
- MS and PhD Research opportunities in the Malone Disturbance Ecology Lab, FCE LTER
- Graduate positions (MS/PhD) in community ecology, resilience, and global change biology, Konza Prairie LTER
- Graduate Student Opportunities in ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, and ecohydrology; University of Alaska Fairbanks, Jones Ecosystem Lab, Bonanza Creek LTER
Committees and Interest Groups
The following committees are actively seeking new members. Please reach out to the designated contact people if you have interest. The listing of active LTER committees and their membership is always available on the LTER Network website.
Diversity Committee: Interested in helping develop a set of resources and best practices to apply across the Network? Alan Berkowitz (berkowitza@caryinstitute.org) co-chairs this committee.
Communications Committee: Clarisse Hart (hart3@fas.harvard.edu) and Lina DiGregorio (lina.digregorio@oregonstate.edu) chair this committee that is building a community of practice among LTER communicators and investigators.
