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April LTER Science Update Newsletter

Posted in Stories

In April, the Science Update Newsletter covers: a perspective piece in Ecology Letters, by NTL and other researchers, on the history and opportunities for the field of macrosystems ecology; a comparison of the impacts of grazing and fire history on plant water use and niche structure—from researchers at the KNZ LTER; in Ecosystem Health and Sustainability,… Read more »

Smithsonian MarineGEO: Data & Information Technology Coordinator

Posted in Opportunities

The Smithsonian Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO) seeks a talented, motivated, and collaborative person to help implement and expand a network-wide data/information system to support its scientific mission of conducting coordinated, global research on marine biodiversity and ecosystems. This position serves as the data and information technology coordinator, a key role for the MarineGEO network… Read more »

Macrosystems ecology: A key subfield matures

Posted in Stories

Ecosystems ecology, landscape ecology, macrosystems ecology. It’s easy to think of these subdisciplines as big, bigger, biggest—but there’s a good deal more to the distinction than the scale of interaction they address. A recent “Idea and Perspective” article in Ecology Letters traces the origins and foundations of the field of macrosystems ecology, and advances a new hypothesis to describe how anthropogenic influences change the scales of ecological processes.

The grazing effect: How bison impact plant water use

Posted in Stories

When one envisions a grassland community, imagery of tall grasses and bison often come to mind. Bison are an iconic species on the landscape, and they also impact the structure and function of the grassland ecosystem in important ways.  Using natural variations in the abundance of oxygen isotopes, researchers at the Konza Prairie LTER found that  grazing influenced plant water use through changes in diversity.

Putting the “urban” in disturbance: Applying ecological frameworks to cities

Posted in Stories

The concept of “disturbance” is a core theme of the LTER Network and central to ecological science. How does the idea of disturbance need to change when applied to the interactions of an urban metropolitan region rather than a “natural” system? Ecologists often consider the process of urbanization itself to be a form of disturbance, but that is a habit that has to change, say the authors of a recent paper in Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. People, technology, and infrastructure have to be defined as part of the system when studying cities, they say.

Searching for synergies: The future of long-term, large scale ecological research

Posted in Stories

An LTER-NEON Synergies workshop, held March 29-31, explored the potential for strengthening and deepening the relationship between these two major research organizations and expanding ties to other networks such as the Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), Long Term Agricultural Research (LTAR) and Global Lake Ecological Observatory (GLEON) networks. The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network and National… Read more »

2017.02.28 Executive Board Meeting Notes

Posted in Documents

Approved meeting notes from executive board meeting of February 28, 2017. Agenda topics incuded:

  • Science Council
  • Discussion about the nature of the network
  • LTER-NEON meeting
  • Committee Structure