Credit: Via @ArcticLagoons on Twitter Arctic coastal watershed systems are some of the most threatened regions on Earth and have undergone substantial climatic, physical, and biological change with the warming of our Earth. Now, researchers at the Beaufort Lagoon Ecosystems LTER site have discovered that small coastal water bodies, especially ponds, are releasing carbon to… Read more »
By Haley Dunleavy It’s a beautiful August day in the Arctic. The sun, now finally rising and setting after months of circling the sky, warms my face; neon yellows, pinks, reds, and greens of fall foliage speckle across the tundra, and most importantly, the previously incessant mosquitos have died off. I’m standing on a single-planked… Read more »
By Erin Winslow Every day, third-year Ph.D. student Dana Cook zips up her Patagonia shorty wetsuit and puts on her bucket hat for a full day out on the lagoon of Moorea’s southern tip. Boat necessities include a GPS, inner tube floaty, underwater slate and pencil, a watch, and a sleeve of Sao crackers. She… Read more »
Lightning talks from the 2020 Science Council Meeting are now available from links below and on the LTER YouTube channel. Follow us to catch the latest new material from across the Network. Arctic LTER (Ed Rastetter) – Arctic Presentation (slides only) Andrews Forest LTER (Catalina Segura) – Andrews Forest Video (6:35) Baltimore Ecosystem Study (Emma… Read more »
By Natasha Griffin The lake ice crunches beneath my boots with each tentative step I take. Realistically, I know there’s not much danger here—I’m standing atop Lake Bonney, one of the permanently frozen lakes of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The ice underfoot is at least a few meters thick, creating a sturdy barrier between me… Read more »
Molly Fisher and James Guinnip pen this entry for the SSALTER Blog, describing stream research in the Konza prairie Ecosystem.
by Jannine Chamorro, Moorea Coral Reef LTER Last September I had the opportunity to participate in a project studying coral bleaching in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. This was the first time I had ever worked in a remote field location. While initially the thought of flying to a place I could not see on a map… Read more »
LTER sites preset extraordinary opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to learn about the process of science — and to discover whether their strengths and interests fit the demands of field ecology. Russell Schmitt and Sally Holbrook discuss how the Moorea Coral Reef site mentors undergraduate students and the rewards of the experience.
We’ve appreciated the many landscape images posted by LTER sites over the past month to remind us of the beauty and diversity of our field sites waiting for us when we can return to our regular field research.
Many ecologists are now faced with a choice: continue field measurements and manipulations or halt them voluntarily and accept the cost to their science and sometimes their budgets. the LTER Network Office offers some considerations for those faced with this difficult decision.
