LTER Science Update provides short, accessible articles describing recent news and publications from across the Network. We hope you will be informed and inspired. Subscribers can sign up online and manage their own subscription settings, so feel free to share with interested colleagues. Have a recent paper or project that may be of interest? Please send us a few basic details using our news submission form and we’ll follow up.

LNO and other organizational updates will continue to appear in Network News on a quarterly basis or as needed.

How Will Climate Change Affect Peak Firefly Activity?

A typical warm summer night is complemented with the familiar glow of fireflies and the light spectacle they create darting around and lighting up the night sky. However, the timing of these light shows might be affected by environmental changes. In order to better understand the life history of the firefly, researchers from the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTER investigated the phenological patterns of fireflies from 2004-2015 to determine what explains the variability observed in their mating season.

Invasive Earthworms and Their Effects on Midwestern Soils

As ecosystem dynamics change with warming global temperatures, researchers have begun investigating the potential of further northward invasions from nonnative species like the Asian earthworm. Past studies have shown that nonnative earthworms can significantly alter ecosystem functioning, and this experiment confirms that Asian earthworms can do as much—if not more—damage as their better-researched European counterparts…. Read more »

Decomposition in Streams: A Global Synthesis

leaf in streamwater

A major multi-site analysis of leaf litter decomposition in streams and rivers found that rising temperatures are unlikely to speed decomposition as much as predicted under metabolic theory. Although fresh water bodies cover only three percent of the Earth’s land surface, they are a key component of the global carbon and nutrient cycles and the rate of decomposition in streams affects both carbon dioxide emissions and supply of organic matter to downstream food webs.

LTER Science Update Newsletter | January 2017

In January, the Science Update Newsletter covers: an MCR-LTER paper in Marine Biology on genetic variation in responses to ocean acidity and warming; a CWT-LTER paper in Global Change Biology on subsidies to net ecosystem carbon uptake through cold air drainage; a BNZ-LTER study, published in Climate Change, on the role of access to in determining availability… Read more »

LTER Science Update Newsletter | December 2016

In December, the Science Update Newsletter covers: an Ecosphere paper on demystifying governance for ecologists with links to several LTER sites and scientists, a Wetlands paper on the sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to intermittent low temperature events in the Florida Everglades, a study on the relationship of total N, total P and leaf area index… Read more »

November Science Update Newsletter

In November, the Science Update Newsletter covers: a survey of arts and humanities programs at 21 LTER sites, published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences; a paper in Fungal Ecology looking at the ways Harvard Forest LTER’s chronic nitrogen addition plots have restructured soil fungal communities; a multi-site experiment exploring the mechanisms relating nutrient enrichment… Read more »

LTER Science Update Launches

LTER Science Update provides short, accessible articles describing recent news and publications from across the Network. We hope you will be informed and inspired. Subscribers can sign up online and manage their own subscription settings, so feel free to share with interested colleagues. Have a recent paper or project that may be of interest? Just drop… Read more »