Databits: ezEML — A Do-It-Yourself Form-Based Editor for Creating Metadata Documents in EML, the Ecological Metadata Language

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By Jon Ide and Mark Servilla, Environmental Data Initiative ezEML is a form-based online tool to streamline the creation of metadata in the Ecological Metadata Language (EML). It was created by the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) and employs EDI’s Metapype library, which is a general-purpose framework for creating and validating metadata, along with Metapype’s implementation… Read more »

The IMCR: A Catalog of Information Management Software

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  By Kristin Vanderbilt (EDI) & Colin Smith (EDI) Scientists, students, and information management professionals often find themselves in need of code or software to help clean, process, document, and manage data. The Information Management Code Registry (IMCR) aims to make it easier to find existing tools by guiding users to discover software that performs… Read more »

2020 LTER Research Roundup

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Now that 2021 is here, most of us are ready to put last year behind us for good. However, 2020 wasn’t all bad from an LTER standpoint. Dozens of impressive research articles from across the network were published in top journals. We featured many of these in our monthly newsletters, but we couldn’t get to… Read more »

LTER Grad Student Spotlight: Emilia Grzesik

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Emilia and her field tech, Elliot, in the field sampling black spruce forest fuel loads at Bonanza Creek LTER in Alaska.

This spotlight is part of an ongoing series featuring many of our wonderful LTER Network graduate student representatives who contribute valuable research and leadership across the network. To learn more about graduate research in the LTER network, visit this page. Emilia Grzesik is a second year Master’s student at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska (near completion)… Read more »

Fire Brings New Perspectives on Disturbance at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest

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View of the Holiday Fire burning through H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest

By Natasha Griffin, PhD candidate at Oregon State University The staff of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER site had almost no time to prepare when a massive wildfire swept through the region in early September. Stoked by dry late-summer conditions and extreme high winds, Oregon’s Holiday Farm fire began spreading rapidly as soon as… Read more »

The Edge of Agriculture: Pests and Crop Configuration

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A prairie strip growing in wheat at the KBS LTER Main Cropping Systems Experiment.

In agricultural landscapes, predatory insects provide an essential ecosystem service — valued at billions of dollars annually — by suppressing pests that damage crops. A new study that includes data from Kellogg Biological Station LTER (KBS LTER) found that natural pest suppression gains a big boost when agricultural landscapes are patchy and include a high… Read more »

Seeing the forest for the shrubs in Southern Appalachia

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Rhododendron shrubs leave no space left unfilled as its branches stretch over the forest floor and streams. Photo credit: Maura Dudley.

As ecosystems respond to human activity, what organisms will emerge as new trailblazers, shaping the diversity and resilience of these changing environments? And how can land managers identify these species early on to better prepare for the future? Forests of southern Appalachia have a history fraught with human activity. Hardy and towering, American chestnut and… Read more »