Grassland birds show resilience in the face of drought
Grassland birds, by changing their nest characteristics and breeding patterns, are more resilient to drought than previously thought.
At the helm of ChANGE: driving forward a new experiment
For me, it’s essential to have some childish fun in the field. It lets me reconnect with the curiosity and delight that originally sparked my love of nature, whether that’s chasing down a cute lizard, bringing hordes of candy into the field, or driving a big cool military tanker.
Across fourteen LTERs, soil carbon is a “gatekeeper” on the nitrogen cycle
An LTER cross site synthesis effort reveals that soil carbon availability determines nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates across a wide diversity of terrestrial ecosystems.
Spare a thought for the roots
Nutrient addition increases aboveground plant growth more than it increases belowground plant growth, suggesting that the two are not linked.
NEON and LTER: A Long-Term Partnership for Ecological Observation
The shared spaces between LTER and NEON add value for both networks and for the research community at large.
Ready-to-teach R Environmental Datasets: the lterdatasampler R package
We are excited to share with the broader R community a new collection of 8 data samples geared towards teaching environmental data science!
Historical irrigation leaves long lasting legacies on the prairie
New research from a long-term experiment at the Konza Prairie LTER shows that past climate conditions influence how ecosystems respond to current water availability.
In Search of Commonality: Plant communities exhibit a wide variety of responses to global change
All plants are somehow affected by global change, but their responses are inconsistent between ecosystems, a LTER Synthesis group finds.
Coordination is everything: Species richness synchrony predicts ecosystem stability across ecosystems
The LTER Synchrony Synthesis group links richness synchrony to ecosystem stability in a new study, showing synchrony is a key control on ecosystem functions.
Hung out to dry: conducting ecological research in grassland streams during a historic drought
Molly Fisher and James Guinnip pen this entry for the SSALTER Blog, describing stream research in the Konza prairie Ecosystem.
Top Stories
Unintentional Oasis – An Accidental Urban Wetland in the Sonoran Desert
Grassland birds show resilience in the face of drought
Positive effect of fiddler crabs on saltmarsh grass reverses in expanded range
Adelie penguins go hungry as climate change limits their prey
Importance and Unanticipated Use of Biological Collections in Long-Term Ecological Research
Announcing ltertools: An R Package By and For the LTER Community
Announcing Mentoring Community-of-Practice
Remaining Relevant: The Hubbard Brook Online Book
A picturesque study system—notes from the SBC LTER
New LTER initiatives broaden participation in LTER Science