Synthesis Opportunity at the Cedar Creek LTER

Opportunity Type: Funding

Purpose

We are accepting proposals for working groups to synthesize data from the Cedar Creek Long-term Ecological Research Site (CDR LTER), Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, and other sites, to address important, novel, and interesting ecological questions. Questions can address any aspect of ecology.

Eligibility

Researchers at any stage (grad student, postdoc, faculty) are encouraged to apply. Researchers do not need to be affiliated with the Cedar Creek LTER program.

Working Groups

We envision funding 1-2 working groups of about 6 to12 people each for 2 meetings per working group (3-5 days each). We expect groups will meet once in fall 2024 and again in late winter or early spring 2025. Depending on preferences, meetings can be virtual, in person, or hybrid (e.g., the first meeting virtual, the second meeting in person). For in-person meetings, we will support travel, lodging, and food for participants on site at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. We will make every effort to enable working groups to reside on site; however, on-site housing may not be available during peak
field work times.

The final configuration of the groups (sizes, number, and timing of meetings) may vary depending on the nature of the project. Before submitting a proposal, we encourage submitters to read Hampton and Parker (2011) for working group best practices. We expect that working groups will be assembled such that members represent diversity across multiple axes (race, ethnicity, career stage, gender, geography, institution type, and others).

Working groups are expected to engage with Cedar Creek researchers ahead of and (if possible) during their visits to locate appropriate data and gain and contribute to local-knowledge insights. There may also be opportunities to engage with Cedar Creek education and outreach activities. Organizers should build in time for visits to Cedar Creek field sites during the working group to learn about ongoing experiments and natural history, as well as to one regional attraction to provide a break from synthesis
activities.

Submission Process

Working group leaders should submit a 2-page (single-spaced, 12-point font) proposal and should:

1) Articulate the research question(s) to be addressed and why it’s important.
2) Identify data sets that will be synthesized.
3) Demonstrate commitment from at least 6 of the proposed working group
members.
4) Describe a timeline for the work.
5) Identify Cedar Creek researchers with whom the working group will engage. We
request that you contact us during the proposal preparation so we can help you
identify people who are familiar with relevant datasets and projects.
6) Explain how the working group members and plan support diversity and
inclusion.
7) Identify deliverables.

Data Expectations

We expect synthesis working groups to use existing Cedar Creek data, although use of data from other sites is encouraged (e.g. from other LTER sites, as well as other research networks such as CZO, NEON, OBFS, ILTER). The LTER network, in partnership with the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI), has a strong commitment to making data broadly available, and to encourage an ethic of information-sharing. To this end, awarded working groups must agree to document and make derived data publicly available on a data repository according to the LTER Network Data Access Policy.

Budget

Please complete the budget template. Please prepare the budget assuming that virtual meetings will be cost-free and in-person meetings will occur at Cedar Creek, although we understand this may not be possible. Prepare the budget to cover costs of one in- person meeting and the budget can be doubled if both meetings are in person.