Welcome to the LTER Network! Whether you are a new graduate student, an information manager, an education professional, or an experienced investigator, newly associated with an LTER site, you are joining a community of researchers with a rich history of ecological discovery and collaboration.
Here, you will find the information you need to navigate your first few weeks and months in the Network and to connect with resources and colleagues who can help you get a running start.
General Information
LTERNET.EDU is the Network web site, where you can find up-to-date information on other LTER sites, personnel, synthesis efforts, network organization and history, as well as resources for navigating information management, engagement, and broadening participation. Visit the Network Office page for information contact information and staff responsibilities.
Getting Started
- Data. The Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) is the main repository for LTER data. Whether you’re looking for contextual data or starting to collect new data, visit EDI and talk with your site information manager for guidance.
- Sign up for LTER Network News. The newsletter is distributed monthly and includes information on network research and activities, funding opportunities, and jobs. It is the primary source for LTER Network updates. On the signup page, you can also subscribe to DataBits, a forum for news and insight on data management and processing and our monthly opportunities announcement.
- Sign up for mailing lists. The network maintains mailing lists on google groups. Individuals may join a network mailing list by clicking the blue “join” button at the top right of the linked “about” page for each mailing list. We recommend that all participants join “all-lter,” which is a low-traffic announcement list and also join the discussion list that best represents their role (“students” for graduate students; “im” for information managers, etc.). On signup, you’ll be asked to briefly describe your affiliation with the network in order to keep spam to a minimum.
- If you don’t see a list for a topic that interests you and you’d like to recruit others to an online community, please reach out to the network office and we may be able to set one up.
- Social Media. The network maintains active accounts on LInkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky and YouTube. Facebook and Twitter are less active at this time.
- Events. Committee meetings, webinars, community calls and other network events are found on the LTER Network Calendar.
Going Deeper
- The LTER intranet houses a repository of historical documents, including meeting minutes, policies and bylaws, decadal reviews of the program, and key articles by and about the LTER Network, as well as rotation schedules for committee membership and meeting locations.
- LTER maintains a gallery of photos and graphic resources on SmugMug. Feel free to use them for presentations and documents (under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license) and contribute to this community resource.
- Broadening Participation Resource Library. Looking for resouces on topics such as field safety, mentoring, facilitation, or conflict resolution? Visit our updated resource library. Plans are underway to expand the search interface to include key information management and education resources.
Specific Roles
A few key staff and investigators roles have special cross-network communities of practice (AKA committees). These include site lead principal investigators, site information managers, education managers, graduate student representatives, and broadening participation representatives. In each case, joining the relevant google group provides access to the shared drive and calendar invitations for monthly meetings.
- LTER information managers hold a virtual watercooler gathering every month and hold a longer 1-2 day meeting annually. A shared google drive houses notes, agendas, project information, bylaws, and other information management resources. Annual committee reports are available on the information managers’ committee page and an information managers manual maintained on GitHub contains updated processes and practices. The LTER GitHub organization also contains many relevant resources.
- Education and outreach managers hold a monthly committee meeting on Zoom, where they exchange information on new programs and opportunities and hear from outside speakers about once per quarter. Related documents are housed on a shared google drive. An education, outreach, and engagement manual, analogous to the IM manual, is under development.
- Graduate students. Each LTER site has a graduate student representative — listed on the site profile page — who helps to coordinate a network of graduate students working at the site. Network-level resources include the student listserv, a Slack workspace, and access to certain pro-deals on gear. inquire with your site grad rep for more information. A graduate student manual, analogous to the IM manual, is under development.
- Broadening participation representatives. Each site has a representative to the broadening participation committee, which holds monthly meetings where they share information, invite guest speakers, and develop network resources. A broadening participation manual, analogous to the IM manual, is under development.
- Site Lead PIs meet online quarterly and in-person once per year. Joining the relevant google group provides access to a shared drive and calendar invitations for monthly meetings. A Lead PI manual, analogous to the IM manual, is under development.
