October 2020
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.ucsb.edu.
Announcements
LTER Committee Meetings and LTER-related events are available for your reference at any time on the LTER Network Calendar.
We are happy to announce a special virtual training for the LTER Community, Improving workplace climate: empowering individuals to become active bystanders. Have you ever witnessed harassment or hostile behavior but felt at a loss about how to interrupt or intervene? Field research — especially in remote locations — can create unique vulnerabilities. Register to join your LTER colleagues for an interactive training on safe and effective approaches to intervention on November 13, Noon-3 pm Pacific Time.
The Ecological Forecasting Initiative’s Research Coordination Network (EFI-RCN) is pleased to announce the launch of the inaugural NEON Ecological Forecast Challenge! The challenge is open to any individual or team. Participants make predictions for ecological data being collected by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), using any modeling approach (statistical, process-based, machine learning, etc). A few universities are participating in the challenge as part of class projects — if you’re interested in participating as a class let us know at eco4cast.initiative@gmail.com.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Resource of the Month
Need a little inspiration this month? Check out the winners of NSF’s STEM Diversity and Inclusion Video Exhibition Challenge, which highlights innovative programs intended to broaden participation in STEM.
Also take some time to read this new publication in Eos, Raising Our Voices for Diversity in the Geosciences, which highlights what makes for successful DEI initiatives and why they are important.
LTER Graduate Student Spotlight
Read about Charles’ experience as a researcher and graduate student committee member in the LTER Network.
Around the Network
Researchers Jennifer Lau and Katy Heath from Kellogg Biological Station LTER are part of a new $12.5M National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project that will synthesize biological data across several disciplines to study the role of symbioses in evolution and ecology as part of a Genomics and Eco-evolution of Multi-scale Symbioses Biology Integration Institute (GEMS BII).
Kellogg Biological Station LTER researchers are featured in a new video discussing their work with prairie strips–sections of native prairie plants that lie between agricultural crop plantings.
Virginia Coast Reserve LTER will feature a Virtual Art Exhibit called ‘Ghosts from the Coast’ beginning Nov 1, 2020. The Exhibit features work from 10 artists focused on coastal ghost forests and the stories they tell about a changing climate and coastline.
Virginia Coast Reserve LTER is also featured in a new short film, Turning the Tide, produced by Maryland Seagrant. The film describes research undertaken by the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative (CBSSC), a group of ecosystem-based study sites across the Chesapeake Bay that work together to measure the impacts of sea level rise in the Bay.
The USDA featured a Data Nugget on Experimental Forests and Rangelands created by H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER on their website.
The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER Youtube channel released a video featuring a walk along part of the north-facing slope in Watershed 1, shortly after the Holiday Farm Fire burned the forest, to show the effect on the landscape.
Santa Barbara Coastal LTER just joined Twitter! You can follow them at @LTERSBC to keep up with SBC LTER research, publications, job opportunities, and more.
Save the Dates
The Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union is scheduled for December 1-17 2020, as a virtual meeting with the theme “Shaping the Future of Science.”
LTER All Scientists’ Meeting: September 20-24 at Asilomar in Monterey, California (assuming reduced COVID restrictions)
Science Council Meeting: May 17-19, 2021 hosted by Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER
Recent Press
From the National Science Foundation
- Scientists shed new light on role of viruses in coral bleaching
- Seagrasses restored to Virginia bays are flourishing
- Wildfires are changing forest communities in interior Alaska
- New study reveals that soil is a significant carbon sequestration driver
Other media
- Marine to Myrmecologist: One Entomologist’s Journey to Understand and Conserve Native Biodiversity | Entomology Today
- How planting 70 million eelgrass seeds led to an ecosystem’s rapid recovery | ScienceNews
- Some good news: Seagrass restored to Eastern Shore bays is flourishing | UVA Today
- Q&A: Researchers Probe How Health of California’s Kelp Forests Affects Other Systems | UVA Today
- URI scientists investigate effects of marine heat wave on ocean life off southern New England | URI Today
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.
- Experimental approach and initial forest response to a simulated ice storm experiment in a northern hardwood forest | PLOS One
- We cannot shrug off the shoulder seasons: addressing knowledge and data gaps in an Arctic headwater | Environmental Research Letters
- Ranking the ecological effects of coastal armoring on mobile macroinvertebrates across intertidal zones on sandy beaches | Science of the Total Environment
- Restoration of seagrass habitat leads to rapid recovery of coastal ecosystem services | Science Advances
- Increasing effects of chronic nutrient enrichment on plant diversity loss and ecosystem productivity over time | Ecology
- Micro‐scale geography of synchrony in a serpentine plant community | Journal of Ecology
- GIS tool to predict photosynthetically active radiation in a Dry Valley | Antarctic Science
- Growing-season warming and winter soil freeze/thaw cycles increase transpiration in a northern hardwood forest | Ecology
- Global impacts of fertilization and herbivore removal on soil net nitrogen mineralization are modulated by local climate and soil properties | Global Change Biology
Funding & Training Opportunities
- NSF Sustainable Regional Systems Research Networks (SRS RNs): The goal of this solicitation is to fund convergent research and education that will advance sustainable regional systems science, engineering, and education to facilitate the transformation of current regional systems to enhance sustainability. NSF will hold an informational webinar on October 27, 2020, from 2:30-3:30 pm EST to discuss the SRS RNs solicitation and answer questions. A Q&A page is also available. Full proposals due January 11, 2021.
- Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is seeking proposal submissions to fund working groups that will synthesize data from Cedar Creek and other LTER sites to address important, novel, & interesting ecological questions. Proposals due December 1 2020.
- The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and DataOne are hosting a 5-day virtual short course, Reproducible Research Techniques for Synthesis, on November 12-13, 16-18, 2020. The workshop will help researchers acquire good data science skills to maximize their productivity, share their data with the scientific community effectively and efficiently, and benefit from the re-use of their data by others.
- The Ecologic Institute, Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network (MiH-RCN), and The Arctic Institute are seeking application for the 2021 Arctic Winter College. The Arctic Winter College creates a network of emerging leaders and experts that will be brought together for 10 weeks in a series of web-based seminars (webinars) from January through March, 2021.
- A new online Graduate Seminar, Research Data Management for Ecologists, will be held in Spring 2021. The course is oriented toward students interested in open science, and will cover topics such as data management plans, identifying data repositories, and effective data cleaning and formatting. Please contact Kristin Vanderbilt (krvander@fiu.edu) or Andrea Nocentini (j.a.nocentini@gmail.com) with questions about the course or registration.
Jobs and Fellowships
- Southern California Regional Ecosystem Services Observation Network (RESON) Project Coordinator (Assistant-Associate Specialist) | UCSB Marine Science Institute & Santa Barbara Coastal LTER
- Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Spatial Synchrony of Kelp Forest Ecosystems | University of Virginia/Santa Barbara Coastal LTER
- USFS Soil Science Postdoctoral Fellowship | Affiliated with Coweeta and Hubbard Brook LTERs
- Postdoctoral Research Associate in Ecology and Evolution | Michigan State University/Kellogg Biological Station
- Data Systems Analyst for California Coastal Ecosystem LTER and CalCOFI | UC San Diego
- AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowships
- Dear Colleague Letter: Division of Ocean Sciences’ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Opportunities for 2021 | National Science Foundation
Committees and Interest Groups
Feeling a little isolated under COVID19? It is only by drawing on the energy and expertise of LTER participants that the Network can be relevant to your needs. Visit the LTER committees page to learn what’s happening and how to get involved.