Awards

Humans are altering ecosystems at unprecedented rates, especially in the coastal zone. The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) LTER aims to develop predictive understanding of how long-term environmental change and short-term disturbances control the dynamic nature of coastal barrier landscapes. The landscape is heterogeneous, comprised of mainland watersheds, tidal marshes, lagoons and barrier islands. The central… Read more »

The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program examines the response of coastal barrier ecosystems to climate change, sea-level rise and intensified human use. Studies of watersheds, marshes, tidal flats, bays, and barrier islands show that there are surprising and dramatic changes in ecological dynamics, so-called ‘tipping points’ or thresholds, where one… Read more »

The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) Long Term Ecological Research project is dedicated to developing a predictive understanding of the dynamic landscapes of coastal barrier systems. Healthy coastal ecosystems are the first line of defense against sea-level rise and storms. Key components of those systems, i.e., barrier islands, intertidal marshes, and lagoons with seagrass, reduce erosion… Read more »

Intellectual Merit: The Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (SBC) is an interdisciplinary research and education program established in April, 2000 to investigate the role of land and ocean processes in structuring ecosystems at the land-sea margin. The main study area is the Santa Barbara Channel and the steep coastal watersheds, small estuaries and sandy beaches that… Read more »

The goods and services provided by coastal marine ecosystems greatly benefit society, but their sustainability is uncertain due to increasing threats from coastal development, pollution, fishing, and changing climate. Long-term ecological studies of these important ecosystems are necessary for understanding the consequences of such threats and how to mitigate them. Focusing on key “foundation species”… Read more »

The goods and services provided by coastal oceanic ecosystems greatly benefit society, but their sustainability is increasingly threatened by coastal development, pollution, fishing, and changing climate. Long-term ecological studies of these important ecosystems are necessary for understanding the consequences of such threats and how to mitigate them. Focusing on key “foundation species” that create habitat… Read more »

The Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico is a 100,000 ha transitional area including Great Basin, Great Plains, Chihuahuan Desert and Mogollon conifer woodland biomes. Steep climatological, elevational, and edaphic gradients within the site regulate biotic responses which, in turn, are mediated by threshold effects of resource availability. Consequently, the Sevilleta is ideal for… Read more »

DEB9411976 MILNE The Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) is designed to address a suite of ecological hypotheses concerning climate dynamics and the responses of organisms in a biome transition zone in central New Mexico. The Sevilleta straddles several major biomes of the Southwest, including the Great Basin, Great Plains, and Chihuahuan Desert, and is… Read more »

The Sevilleta Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, established in 1988, conducts research on ecological processes and responses to climate dynamics in a biome transition zone in central New Mexico. The major research site is the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The multi-disciplinary research group comprises 34 scientists… Read more »

The Sevilleta LTER (SEV) research site is located on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico, where a junction of four biomes (Great Plains Grassland, Great Basin Shrub-steppe, Chihuahuan Desert and Montane Coniferous Forest) provides a rich assortment of Biome Transition Zones (BTZs). Interacting with a highly variable climate, elevational range, complex topography,… Read more »