Seagrass and salt marshes team up to fight coastal erosion
Researchers at the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER recently found that adjacent patches of salt marsh and seagrass increase sedimentation benefits in shallow coastal bays.
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The Many Faces of Synthesis at LTER ASM 2018
Sunshine, sand, and surf greeted participants of the 2018 LTER All Scientists’ Meeting as they arrived at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California. For four days, Asilomar was abuzz with the excitement of nearly 600 people sharing new scientific ideas and discussions. The theme of the 2018 meeting, Next Generation Synthesis: Successes and Strategies,… Read more »
A Balancing Act for Coastal Freshwater Marshes
On the boundaries of fresh and saltwater systems, coastal marshes give rise to diverse, productive ecosystems that act as carbon sinks. Their secret? Freshwater marsh plants receive just the right amount of nutrients and salt from periodic seawater tides to thrive. However, incursions of saltwater into these systems are increasing —often caused by drought and… Read more »
Grasses Show Surprising Flip-flop in Response to Long Term CO2 Increase
Observed benefits of carbon dioxide enrichment to C3 v. C4 plants appear to reverse after 12 years of treatment.
Maintaining Ecosystem Services in the Yahara Watershed and Beyond
The Yahara may sound like the name of a vast desert, but it’s actually a 359-square mile watershed in southern Wisconsin. The Yahara Watershed is a mix of urbanized land (including the state capital), productive agriculture land, and a chain of lakes called the Yahara Lakes. Because of its diverse environment, the Yahara provides many… Read more »
A Silver Lining in Arctic Permafrost Thaw
Climate change is already impacting polar habitats such as the Arctic tundra, where increasing temperatures are causing permafrost to thaw and exposing soil and organic matter that have been buried for thousands of years. Many scientists predicted that this soil, once exposed, would release a massive amount of sequestered carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to… Read more »
A Changing Climate Drives Change in Ecological Modeling
Relying on a 114 year-long data set, researchers from the Sevilleta LTER have developed a more accurate way to model climate sensitivity functions that describe the relationship between ecological variability and plant productivity, rather than focusing on linear relationships between ecosystem response and average climate trends, as is more typical. While variances in factors such as… Read more »
Hurricane Disturbances May Increase Resilience in Wet Tropical Forests
Hurricanes are typically considered destructive and disastrous, with high-speed winds exceeding 75 miles per hour and torrential downpours. These powerful storms can have major impacts on tropical forests, ripping open the forest canopy and causing organic debris to pile up on the forest floor. Despite these seemingly destructive qualities, new research suggests that ecological disturbance… Read more »
The Devil’s in the Details for Kelp Forest Biodiversity
Kelp forests have long been known to harbor a high number and diversity of marine species, from tiny crustaceans to large fish and marine mammals. This biodiversity tends to be attributed to the complex structure and productivity of giant kelp, earning it the title ‘foundational species’. Surprisingly, however, little quantitative data has been assessed to… Read more »
Timing is Everything: Long-Term Monitoring Key to Understanding Ecosystem Resilience
In ecology, timing is key to understanding how daily, seasonal, or yearly cycles impact environmental processes. But it’s not just about how often impacts occur, but also over what length of time. Decades worth of data synthesized by researchers at Coweeta LTER provide some of the clearest evidence to date that long-term observations of ecosystem… Read more »
LTER In The News Stories
Dead coral skeletons left by bleaching events hinder reef recovery
Nothing to 'shrub' about: How plant coverage is affecting the Arctic carbon cycle
Research suggests natural selection can slow evolution, maintain similarities across generations
Research suggests natural selection can slow evolution, maintain similarities across generations
Mapping methane emissions from rivers around globe reveals surprising sources
Mapping methane emissions from rivers around globe reveals surprising sources
What is a 5-sigma event? Why the sea ice in Antarctica is alarming scientists
Ocean warming intensifies viral outbreaks within corals
Earlier algae blooms, lingering toxins
Discriminatory housing policies created an unequal park system in Minneapolis