In Search of Commonality: Plant communities exhibit a wide variety of responses to global change
All plants are somehow affected by global change, but their responses are inconsistent between ecosystems, a LTER Synthesis group finds.
It’s not the plants: nitrogen directly affects alpine soil microbes
Can plants dictate how soil microbes respond to nitrogen deposition? New research says no, and sheds light on plant-microbe dynamics.
Pika enthusiasts unite under a common theme
At the Niwot Ridge LTER, community scientists expand the reach of pika research initiatives to understand how pikas might respond to climate change.
Space & Time: Data that cover both push the boundaries of ecology
A new paper by Dr. Andrew Rypel uses long-term datasets to reveal spatial and temporal variation for fish in Wisconsin lakes.
2021 LTER Synthesis Awards: Reproduction and Resilience
Two new synthesis working groups, awarded in 2021, capitalize on the intensive and extended record of observation at LTER sites to shed light on thorny ecological questions.
Identifying environmental drivers of plant reproduction across LTER sites
Reproduction is a key component of plant life cycles and is crucial for dispersal, however it has a surprisingly poorly understood relationship to environmental drivers. This is particularly true for plant species with highly variable reproduction over time, known as ‘mast seeding’. While mast-seeding patterns have been linked to weather (temperature, precipitation), describing past patterns… Read more »
From Breeding to Feeding – blue whales are spending more time in Southern California
Every year, the Eastern North Pacific population of blue whales migrates between their winter calving grounds off the coast of Mexico and their summer feeding grounds in the California coastal region. Scientists know that they time their migration to coincide with peak prey abundances, but the cues they use for this have been unknown—until now…. Read more »
Started from the Benthos, Now We’re Here—a Holistic Approach to Lake Ecology
In 2018, M. Jake Vander Zanden and Yvonne Vadeboncoeur were invited to give a plenary lecture at the International Society for Limnology (SIL) meeting in Nanjing, China. They spoke about their efforts to synthesize a more holistic understanding of the role of benthic productivity and food web pathways in lakes. The two began their journey… Read more »
LTER at Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020
In 2017, the LTER Network saw the addition of three new marine and coastal sites. The new sites—Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES), Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) and Beaufort Lagoon Ecosystems (BLE)—are all well-represented among the 41 talks and posters presented by LTER researchers at the 2020 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting. Presentations from these and other… Read more »
Sixteen years of Syn: new insight into longterm ocean microbe dynamics
A 16-year time series of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus at Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory at the Northeast U.S. Shelf LTER illustrates a regular seasonal pattern of Syn as well as daily dynamics.
Gallery
Top Stories
Winter is Not Coming
Ecosystems are resistant or resilient to hurricanes, but not both
Using the LTERHub Directory API to Perform Site Tasks
Ready-to-teach R Environmental Datasets: the lterdatasampler R package
2021-22 LTER Webinar Series: See past webinars here!
LTER Grad Students: Apply Now for Science Writing Opportunity
Expanding the “bio” in biogeochemical modeling: including voles in arctic climate models
Stream Dissolved Nitrogen Cycling Responds to Human Activity across the Landscape
Upcoming Panel Discussion on Community Engagement
Historical irrigation leaves long lasting legacies on the prairie