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Researchers at JRN LTER are incorporating machine learning into complex dataset exploration. The data exploration interface is capable of suggesting potential analytical approaches to new users based on interactions with previous users.  

Credit: MCM LTERDuring a decadal cooling period, productivity and hydrological connectivity synchronously decreased among terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. As summer air temperatures and solar radiation stabilized in the following decade, the ecosystem moved back toward pre-cooling period conditions but in an asynchronous manner. This was due in part to the fact that the end of… Read more »

Credit: Amy Chiuchiolo / MCM LTERSoil invertebrate communities in long term monitoring plots are responding to long term and seasonal changes in temperature and water availability, with key taxa exhibiting distinct responses. These changes are favoring rarer hydrophilic taxa, while the dominant species, an endemic free-living nematode which prefers cold dry soils, is declining in… Read more »

Credit: MCM LTERPhotosynthetic and mixotrophic eukaryotes are the dominant primary producers in the stratified water columns of the dry valleys lakes. Nutrient amendment experiments have shown that growth of chlorophytes, an obligate photosynthetic phytoplankton group, are stimulated by the addition of nitrogen or phosphorus in Lake Fryxell and nitrogen in Lake Bonney. Conversely, when communities… Read more »

Credit: Aslan Wright-Stow Hilke Giles, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K081C 08/09Record melt and thaw events over the past decade have increased the physical connectivity of the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem. Researchers at MCM LTER have tested hypotheses that focus on responses, such as increased biogeochemical cycling and changes in biodiversity. These studies suggest that landscape… Read more »

Credit: Tracey Jones, Antarctica NZ Pictorial Collection: K024C 07/08In the austral summer, the shallow margins of ice-covered lakes melt, forming moats around the permanent ice covers of the lakes. Waters here interact with streams, soils, and the atmosphere (unlike those under the permanent ice). Recent study of these moats has uncovered these as the locations… Read more »

Credit: MCR LTERResearchers at MCR LTER have been at the forefront of evaluating how OA will affect the structure and function of future reefs. The ecosystem engineers that structure coral reefs – stony corals and calcified algae – are uniquely threatened by low seawater pH. Using time series data to determine experimental conditions, researchers have… Read more »

Credit: MCR LTERThe diverse coral community on Moorea’s outer reefs has repeatedly shown a remarkable ability to recover rapidly following massive disturbances. In the last decade, a predator outbreak and cyclone devastated coral across the seascape, yet recovery was more rapid than has been observed anywhere in the world. Moorea Coral Reef LTER researchers have… Read more »

Credit: MCR LTERReefs worldwide have abruptly and increasingly shifted from coral to seaweed dominated communities. Experiments at MCR LTER revealed that a large disturbance can cause a coral reef to flip to seaweeds indefinitely. Experiments and models showed that multiple stable states (e.g. corals or seaweeds) can continue to thrive under the same levels of… Read more »

Credit: Russell SchmittThe powerhouse mutualism between the coral animal and its symbiotic dinoflagellate algae is the backbone of coral reef ecosystems. Moorea Coral Reef LTER research has produced counter-intuitive results, specifically that flexibility with respect to symbionts does not automatically make corals resilient – a finding that has had profound implications for understanding the susceptibility… Read more »