LTER Network presentations and posters at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting 2018
LTER at AGU 2018: Exploring the depths beneath our feet
A framework for managing Alaskan Boreal forests in a warming climate
Researchers from Bonanza Creek LTER developed a framework for boreal forest management that considers climate uncertainty, public safety related to fire regimes, and harvest and biodiversity goals.
Seagrass and salt marshes team up to fight coastal erosion
Researchers at the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER recently found that adjacent patches of salt marsh and seagrass increase sedimentation benefits in shallow coastal bays.
2018 ESA Annual Meeting Presentations
2018 ESA Annual Meeting Presentations In the past year alone, extreme events including hurricanes, droughts, and extensive fires have impacted significant regions of the United States—affecting the health of both natural habitats and human communities. Fittingly, the theme of this year’s Ecological Society of America (ESA) annual meeting is ‘Extreme events, resilience and human well-being.’… Read more »
Hurricane Disturbances May Increase Resilience in Wet Tropical Forests
Hurricanes are typically considered destructive and disastrous, with high-speed winds exceeding 75 miles per hour and torrential downpours. These powerful storms can have major impacts on tropical forests, ripping open the forest canopy and causing organic debris to pile up on the forest floor. Despite these seemingly destructive qualities, new research suggests that ecological disturbance… Read more »
Timing is Everything: Long-Term Monitoring Key to Understanding Ecosystem Resilience
In ecology, timing is key to understanding how daily, seasonal, or yearly cycles impact environmental processes. But it’s not just about how often impacts occur, but also over what length of time. Decades worth of data synthesized by researchers at Coweeta LTER provide some of the clearest evidence to date that long-term observations of ecosystem… Read more »
LTER Road Trip: A Steep Transect at Coweeta Hydrologic Lab
I paused at the top of Coweeta Hydrologic Lab’s transect #327, peering down, down, down at the slope beneath me. Katie Bower, a research technician at Coweeta, and two summer interns had already started down the narrow pathway, accustomed to its slippery leaf layer and sharp contours. Taking a deep breath, I followed slowly behind.
LTER Road Trip: A Hot Time in the Forest
To evaluate the effects of soil warming, scientists have measured soil gases including methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide as well as nitrogen fluxes every month since 1991, comparing the heated plots to control plots nearby. One of the most interesting results they have documented comes from the forest’s tiniest organisms – the microbes that digest downed leaves and branches (also known as the ecosystem’s detritus). At first, the microbes worked overtime in the heated plots, releasing more carbon dioxide through their respiration.
LTER Road Trip: Hemlock Hospice
The hemlock is a native tree species that was once common from northern Alabama to Nova Scotia. Stretching tall with thick needles, the hemlock creates an entire ecosystem beneath its large branches. In the Smoky Mountains, its shade used to cool streams just enough to allow the eastern brook trout to thrive. Unfortunately, these hemlocks are in dramatic decline.
Resilience on the Prairie: Disturbance Effects on Grassland Plant-Pollinator Communities
The majority of grasslands around the world have been destroyed or converted for human use, either for agricultural or urban development. In North America, for example, only four percent of the once vast tallgrass prairies are left. Understanding grassland community dynamics could be a critical part of conserving those that remain. Plant-pollinator relationships are… Read more »
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LTER Network News: 2018 December
LTER at AGU 2018: Exploring the depths beneath our feet
Q&A with Lauren Alteio: First isolation of giant virus genomes in soil from a forest ecosystem
New Video: NSF LTER All Scientists' Meeting Reflections
A framework for managing Alaskan Boreal forests in a warming climate