Blogging your Science

Posted

August 5, 2026 @ 12:00 pm-1:30 pm –

Do you want to share your research with a wider audience, but just aren’t sure where to begin? Would you like to sharpen your science communication skills? Are you just enthusiastic about writing and want to learn more?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, come to the SSALTER (Short Stories About Long-Term Ecological Research) Blog Webinar Series! Through a pair of interactive, online webinars, presenters from across the LTER Network will share their expertise and strategies for crafting engaging, accessible stories about important long-term research designed to delight and engage both colleagues and non-scientists.

Part 1 will be Wednesday, August 5th from 3:00 – 4:30 pm EDT (12:00 – 1:30 pm PDT) and will explore story development through discussions of different narrative frameworks, incorporating human stories and personal reflections into writing about fieldwork. We’ll also take some time to talk through writing ideas with other participants.

Part 2 (date TBD) will explore the mechanics of executing story ideas, putting words on the page, and transporting your readers through text and images.

While the SSALTER Blog has historically focused on graduate student stories, we value the experiences and perspectives of everybody engaged in long-term research; this webinar is open to anybody interested in scientific communication, regardless of their role! Please reach out to Thomas Zambiasi (tzambias@iu.edu) with any questions.

LTER Community Call: Towards Natural Language-based AI Agents for Environmental Data Exploration and Analysis Workflows

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September 9, 2026 @ 9:00 am-10:00 am –

Towards Natural Language-based AI Agents for Environmental Data Exploration and Analysis Workflows

headshot of Dr. FugueiredoDr. Renato J. Figueiredo, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University

This presentation will overview techniques that leverage AI multi-agent systems for data exploration and analysis that use environmental data deposited in repositories such as EDI and NEON. Such systems leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate steps in data exploration and analysis workflows – such as the generation and execution of API queries, metadata processing and data harmonization, and generation of analysis code – while exposing user-friendly conversational interfaces.

LTER Community Call: Resilience, Resistance, Climate, and Production

Posted

graphic image of hills covered by light greee/dark green squares and stripes, with a sun peeking over them and the words "grassland rocks" across the top

October 14, 2026 @ 9:00 am-10:00 am –

We’ll hear from 2 synthesis groups focusing on resilience in (primarily) grassland systems. One group, “Resilience of Productivity”, was funded through the LTER Network Office. The other “Grassland Rocks” is a grad-and postdoc-led group capitalizing on the proximity of three grassland sites. Please join us to hear what they’ve each learned and where they are headed next.

  • Assessing the resilience of productivity to climate variability across management and climate gradients
  • Grassland Rocks: Ecology Letters paper: Multiple Community Properties Drive Ecosystem Resistance and Resilience to Extreme Climate Events Across Mesic Grasslands
    • “Grassland Rocks” is a working group of early-career researchers across LTER sites investigating ecosystem resistance and resilience to extreme climate events. We used nearly 40 years of data from naturally-assembled grassland plant communities at Cedar Creek, Kellogg Biological Station, and Konza Prairie LTER sites to test the relative importance of species richness, evenness, and dominance on ecosystem resistance and resilience to extreme wet and dry events. We found that species richness was important for resistance to extreme dry events, dominance was important for resistance to extreme wet events, and without fertilization, evenness was important for resilience to extreme dry events. We also found that nutrient addition altered resistance and resilience indirectly by decreasing species richness and increasing dominance. Additionally, species richness and dominance were directly reduced by extreme climate events, potentially eroding resistance and resilience to future events. Our results show that species richness, evenness, and dominance are all important for ecosystem resistance and resilience—there is no one silver bullet to maintain stability for all global change scenarios.
      Reference
      Ajowele, J.A., Darst, A.L., Baker, N.R., Brenneman, R.R., Broderick, C., Cappelli, S.L., Liang, M., Linabury, M., Nieland, M.A. Parker-Smith, M., Pehim Limbu, S., Terry, R.S., Young, M.L., Zaret, M., Zaricor, M. (2026). Multiple Community Properties Drive Ecosystem Resistance and Resilience to Extreme Climate Events Across Mesic Grasslands. Ecology Letters 29(4), e70380. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70380.