Burned forest, bleached reef: LTER sites adapt to learn from disturbance
How the Andrews Forest and Moorea Coral Reef LTER sites respond to disturbance highlights the struggle and opportunity that come with an irreparably altered ecosystem.
The Lessons Wildfire Can Teach: Destruction and Resiliency after Disaster
Cole Doolittle studies how fires alter plant communities in the Pacific Northwest, and he talks about the impact of fires in this SSALTER blog.
Trees know their neighbors – and respond differently when they die
A new study leveraging a 40-year data set from old-growth forests demonstrates that trees can experience growth suppression or release depending on the identity and size of their downed neighbor.
Across fourteen LTERs, soil carbon is a “gatekeeper” on the nitrogen cycle
An LTER cross site synthesis effort reveals that soil carbon availability determines nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates across a wide diversity of terrestrial ecosystems.
Andrews LTER: Forest understory biodiversity and climate change
Pacific Northwest forests contain some of the largest reserves of forests on the planet, but many questions remain unanswered about how drought and heat stress from climate change will change forest dynamics and biodiversity. RETs on this project will track understory plant populations and quantify interactions among the many important and diverse plant species in these understory ecosystems.
Andrews LTER: Biodiversity and riverscapes
Many species that rely upon mountain streams may experience stress from reduced summer habitat, increased water temperature, and increased vulnerability to predators. Which species respond and how they respond to climate change and stream drying is an important question. RETs conducting research on biodiversity and riverscapes will work alongside Dr. Ivan Arismendi from Oregon State… Read more »
NEON and LTER: A Long-Term Partnership for Ecological Observation
The shared spaces between LTER and NEON add value for both networks and for the research community at large.
Ready-to-teach R Environmental Datasets: the lterdatasampler R package
We are excited to share with the broader R community a new collection of 8 data samples geared towards teaching environmental data science!
Stream Dissolved Nitrogen Cycling Responds to Human Activity across the Landscape
A new global data synthesis of stream chemistry indicates human activities reduce streams ability to retain and transform nutrients.
In “The Conversation”: Climate change is already disrupting US forests and coasts
Scientists have been consistently documenting environmental changes at research sites like this one in the Cascade Mountains for decades. US Forest Service Michael Paul Nelson, Oregon State University and Peter Mark Groffman, CUNY Graduate Center Record-breaking heat waves and drought have left West Coast rivers lethally hot for salmon, literally cooked millions of mussels… Read more »
Top Stories
Boxes and boxes of bees—a Sevilleta LTER dataset highlight
Site Exchange Fellows Announced
LTER Graduate Students and Postdocs Summer Mentoring Community of Practice
Collaboration with Shellfishers: an APEAL Seed Project
Letting art do the work that science cannot: Bonanza Creek’s In a Time of Change program
Request for Synthesis Proposals 2025
Site Exchange Opportunity
How to find soil-dwelling life in “the valley of the dead”
Strengthen Mentoring Skills
Ten years later: an LTER synthesis working group leads to discovery and accelerates four careers