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Credit: Eriks ZambelloThe northern spotted owl, an iconic species in federal lands policy, continues to decline. Over 4,000 invertebrate species have been recorded at AND LTER since 1991. Native climate-sensitive bird species appear to be persisting, despite multi-decade warming, likely because old forests buffer micro-climate.  

Credit: BES LTERResearchers at BES LTER developed new theory and methods for characterizing the multidimensional, multidisciplinary nature of urban ecosystems. This work sparked the development of a new “urban systems science” which has become a key component of sustainability science across the globe.  

  Baltimore LTER research showed that nutrient cycling and retention in urban watersheds are driven by complex dynamics, with surprisingly high nitrogen retention, climate sensitivity, and surface water-groundwater interactions. These studies have been a foundation for novel analyses of how ecosystems are affected by contaminants of emerging concern.  

Credit: BES LTERThe BES LTER Household Telephone Survey provided information on environmental knowledge, perceptions, values, and behaviors of residents, their influence on ecosystem structure and function, and the ways that ecosystem structure and function may affect residents’ physical activity, social cohesion, perception of neighborhood desirability, and willingness to relocate.  

  Baltimore LTER research has helped challenge the assumption that urban biodiversity is low by showing that biological communities in urban environments are diverse and dynamic. This diversity ultimately affects human well-being, and fluxes of water, energy, carbon, and nutrients.  

Credit: Mike RawlinsOver half of the fresh water and water-borne nutrients flowing from land to the Alaska Beaufort Sea each year are delivered during a two-week period in the spring — earlier than most seasonal Arctic research begins. These inputs are dominated by three large rivers that flow into the central Alaska Beaufort Sea. The… Read more »

Credit: BLE LTERMost consumers in Beaufort Sea lagoons exhibit omnivorous (generalist) feeding strategies. Food web structure shifts with the seasons as food sources change from ice cover to open water. Multiple food sources provide sustenance to consumers including allochthonous (marine and terrestrial/ riverine organic matter) and autochthonous (microphytobenthic and phytoplankton) organic matter.  

Consistent with reports from other regions of the Arctic and the Beaufort Sea Coast, coastal erosion rates appear to have increased along the shores of Elson Lagoon near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) over the last half century. Areas with historically low erosion rates are changing faster, but rates do not exceed those of areas with historically… Read more »

Beaufort Sea lagoons experience large seasonal variations in temperature and salinity related to the Arctic freeze-thaw cycle. In the most extreme cases, lagoons swing from completely freshwater conditions during the spring to hypersaline conditions during the winter. Variations in salinity regimes among lagoons are modulated by ocean exchange characteristics and proximity to river mouths. Water… Read more »

Warming will increase nutrient cycling in soils, increasing its fertility and nutrient supplies to streams and lakes. Data from long term fertilization studies at ARC LTER are used to model tundra responses to climate change and disturbance. Long term phosphate fertilization has altered the Kuparuk River’s structure and function, but lake response to fertilization is… Read more »