Distributed Graduate Seminar on Ecological Theory and Long Term Research

Following on the Ecological Theory working group at the 2015 All Scientists Meeting, please find attached an updated syllabus for a Fall 2016 distributed graduate seminar. The seminar series will engage scientists from key theoretical fields of ecology to speak about how long term research informs the evolution of that theory. Each week we will… Read more »

Call for Synthesis Proposals 2016

Long Term Ecological Research Network Communications Office (NCO) Call for Working Group Proposals In this packet, you will find all the information needed to submit a proposal to the NCO. Overview and Deadlines | Guidelines for Proposals | Synthesis Working Group | Download as pdf Informational Webinar February 12 at 8:30 a.m. PST (11:30 a.m. EST)  Missed the webinar? See the webinar… Read more »

“Why STEM?” Teachers find answers in summer field work

Ask any teacher to identify their students’ favorite question. The answer is universal: “Why do I need to learn this?” The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program, funded through NSF and LTER, seeks to give teachers the tools to answer this question in ways that excite and engage their students.

ESA By Topic: Presentations on Carbon Cycling

Of the approximately 400 Gigatonnes of carbon released into the atmosphere over the past 200 years, only half has remained in the atmosphere. The other half has been absorbed by the earth’s natural carbon sinks— global oceans, soils, and plants— slowing the amount of climate change we might otherwise observe. While the earth currently acts as… Read more »

ESA BY Topic: Presentations on Soil Ecology

The United Nations estimates that 33% of global soils are moderately to severely degraded, and that given average rates of erosion, topsoil could be gone in 60 years. In response, the UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. Their goal: to take a decidedly prosaic topic — soil health — and make… Read more »

ESA By Topic: Presentations on Urban Ecology

Global population continues to grow: the United Nations expects an additional 2.5 billion people by 2050, all of whom will be absorbed into urban areas. When demographers add rural to urban migrants to that number, they project an additional 3.1 billion city dwellers by mid-century. As the concentration of humans in cities surges, a better… Read more »

Simulating Climate Change: Take a Walk in a Forest of the Future

What will the future feel like in our forests? In six plots at the Hubbard Brook Long Term Ecological Research Site in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the trees already know. Dr. Pamela Templer has created a robust simulation of the climate—warmer summer temperatures and later snowfall—that these forests will experience within the century…. Read more »

ESA By Topic: Presentations on the Ecological Impacts of Saltwater Inundation

The IPCC projects that, even if humans succeed in keeping temperatures below the 2°C target set in Paris, sea level will rise 0.28 to 0.61 m this century. With this amount of sea level rise, salt water pulses from high tide floods and storm surges will become ever-more common in coastal ecosystems. Multiple LTER sites are running experiments… Read more »

Life in the Clean Van

Take a cruise out to sea with Maitreyi Nagarkar to sample isotopes at the California Current Ecosystems LTER Site.

LTER Presentations at 2016 ESA Annual Meeting

From August 7 to August 12, the Ecological Society of America will hold its annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This year’s theme, “Novel Ecosystems in the Anthropocene,” will build on discussions initiated during last year’s centennial meeting, “Ecological Science at the Frontier.” Human influence now represents the dominant influence on ecosystems worldwide– and a… Read more »