Grant history of an LTER site
The Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research program (SEV LTER) studies the ecology of environmental variability, from individual organisms to ecosystems. Predicting the consequences of environmental change is one of the greatest challenges at the interface of science and society. Climate change and resource use alter long-term trends in the environment, with results such as hotter… Read more »
The semiarid Great Plains of North America is an extensive area, and has particular importance for natural resource production. The Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) has an excellent location in the central Great Plains to represent the important long-term ecological issues of consequence for much of the region. The organizing concept for this long-term study… Read more »
9632852 Burke The shortgrass steppe (SGS) occupies the middle of the productivity gradient along which the LTER grassland sites lie. It is unique among North American grasslands for its long evolutionary history of intense selection by both drought and herbivory, leading to an ecosystem that is very well adapted to withstand grazing by domestic livestock…. Read more »
Abstract (SGS LTER Renewal Proposal) The shortgrass steppe (SGS) LTER has been in operation since 1982. Three questions guide its work: (1) What factors regulate ecological structure and function over space and time? (2) How do factors that regulate structure and function and coupling of biotic and abiotic components vary spatially and temporally? (3) What… Read more »
Twenty-five years of intensive study has revealed a Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) ecosystem for which, despite chronic water stress, periods of severe drought, and intensive grazing by large herbivores, the essential ecological structure and functioning remain intact. With global change, however, a range of conditions is anticipated to develop far outside those experienced during the last… Read more »
The Short-Grass Steppe (SGS) was initiated as an LTER project in 1982 and has investigated the influences of climate, physiography, grazing, fire, and land-use on the structure, function, and dynamics of short-grass ecosystems. This research facilitates prediction of vulnerability of grassland ecosystems to on-going environmental change, through integration of experimental and observational studies to provide… Read more »
The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) is an extremely dynamic, frequently disturbed landscape which is comprised of elements (e.g. grasslands, marshes) that differ in degrees normally associated with biome-level differences. Because the frequency of disturbance at the VCR is so great the types of ecosystem changes that would normally occur across large distances (continents, biomes) and… Read more »
9411974 Hayden The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) is a dynamic, frequently disturbed landscape. The types of ecosystem changes that normally occur across large distances (continents, biomes) and over long periods of time (e.g. glacial and interglacial periods) happen on decadal time-scales. As a result, ecosystem state changes are frequent. The central research theme of the… Read more »
The Virginia coast is an extremely dynamic landscape. The Virginia Coastal Reserve (VCR) LTER focuses on understanding the relationships between natural and anthropogenic forces on the ecology of a coastal barrier island, lagoon and mainland system. Frequent storms, tides, and winds cause sea level variations that affect over 70% of VCR’s land area. Over the… Read more »
The Niwot (NWT) LTER project was initiated in 1980 and since then has provided experimental and observational research designed to understand the dynamics of high-elevation alpine ecosystems in North America. The project has a history of research that has illuminated the responses of organisms and ecosystems to climate and various atmospheric inputs over the range… Read more »
