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 »

PhysFest: the “Un-Meeting”

PhysFest participants measure gas exchange on an annually-burned watershed. On June 5th, 45 plant eco-physiologists traveled to Kansas from all corners of the country to take part in the inaugural PhysFest. This “un-meeting,” held at the Konza Prairie Biological Station and LTER Site and hosted by the Kansas State Plant EcoPhys Lab, aimed to break all… Read more »

NCO and MCR Team up to Host Science Council

reception

The LTER Science Council met May 16-19, 2016 in Santa Barbara, CA at NCEAS, the location ofthe LTER Network Communications Office. Sadly, the “field trip” to the Moorea Coral Reef Site had to be virtual, but attendees had the opportunity to get a taste of the site and research underway there through slide shows, imagery… Read more »

New Participants Welcome: Synthesis Ideas from Science Council Breakout Sessions

crowded auditorium

Breakout sessions from the Science Council meetings often evolve into synthesis working groups. The 2016 meeting was no exception, with a lively and challenging series of discussions resulting in six potential synthesis groups. If any of the descriptions below pique your interest, please follow up with the designated lead scientist or correspondent. How Do Abiotic Factors… Read more »