A study by scientists at the Central Arizona-Phoenix (CAP) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site found that residential yards in urban areas with native vegetation support local bird species better than those with traditional grass lawns, essentially providing “mini refuges.” The study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, looked at residential landscapes in Phoenix,… Read more »
In early May, the LTER Network Office organized a training workshop on “Software tools for Sensor Networks” that was attended by 24 trainees, 10 trainers and speakers, and a diverse mix of researchers, graduate students, information managers, and other skilled professionals. The training was cost-shared among the LTER Network Office, the National Center for Ecological… Read more »
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network will once again be prominently represented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland, Oregon, August 5-10. The LTER exhibit will be spread through booths 319-320 and 419-420. The LTER Network Office will co-host the booth with the Andrews Forest, California Current Ecosystem,… Read more »
The Niwot Ridge (NWT) Long Term Ecological Research program is sponsoring a new award project in the Himalayas. The Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) is a new collaborative venture between the USAID and the National Science Foundation (NSF), administered by the National Academy of Sciences. Titled “Establishing a collaborative assessment of the impacts… Read more »
On June 8, 2012, a shovel thrust into the ground at the Harvard Forest (HFR) marked the dawn of construction for the 30-year, continental-scale National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). Harvard Forest is the core site for NEON’s Northeast domain, one of 20 core sites slated to be built across the U.S. and one of several… Read more »
A number of scientists led by Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) Long Term Ecological Research scientist, James Fourqurean, have concluded that seagrasses may play a vital role in solving climate change. In an interesting paper in the May 21 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, Fourqurean and his co-authors report that, on a unit area basis,… Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 6, 2012—As global temperatures rise, the most threatened ecosystems are those that depend on a season of snow and ice, scientists from the nation’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network say.”The vulnerability of cool, wet areas to climate change is striking,” says Julia Jones, a lead author in a special issue of the journal BioScience released today featuring results from more than 30 years of LTER, a program of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The triennial LTER All Scientists Meeting (ASM) is a mere six months away (September 10-13, 2012) and the planning committee has been working since last June to make this an event to remember. We have an inspiring theme, “The Unique Role of the LTER Network in the Anthropocene: Collaborative Science Across Scales”; a tried and tested venue both for work and free time in Estes Park, Colorado; and a solid four days of plenaries, workshops, working groups, and entertainment. All we need is you to round out the event.
The Spring 2012 issue of Databits is focused on highlighting geospatial activities at both individual and cross-site scales, as well as identifying resources to help manage the large collections of GIS and imagery data at LTER sites. The Information Management GIS working group provides updates on their recent workshops and their 2 cross-site projects: LTERMaps… Read more »
In this issue of Databits, we see results from group and individual efforts to better serve the LTER Network, both from a technological and a socio-technical perspective. Noting that “one would be hard-pressed this fall to find an idle information manager,” IMC Co-Chairs Don Henshaw and Margaret O’Brien provide a detailed synopsis of the activities… Read more »
