Identifying environmental drivers of plant reproduction across LTER sites

Reproduction is a key component of plant life cycles and is crucial for dispersal, however it has a surprisingly poorly understood relationship to environmental drivers. This is particularly true for plant species with highly variable reproduction over time, known as ‘mast seeding’. While mast-seeding patterns have been linked to weather (temperature, precipitation), describing past patterns… Read more »

Responses of soft sediment coastal ecosystems to sea level rise and coastal squeeze in the LTER Network

Goals: Coastal ecosystems are highly valued as key economic and cultural assets for society. They provide a wealth of ecosystem functions including storm protection, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, water filtration, detrital processing, fisheries, food web support, biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Rapidly growing populations and expanding development are intensifying pressures on these valuable ecosystems. Sea-level rise… Read more »

Regulation of Organic Matter Preservation in Soils and Sediments

The workshop, “Scoop on Dirt” was held to compare soil organic matter (SOM) data and elicit a dialogue among estuarine wetland scientists from the eastern U.S., Gulf and Pacific coasts. The workshop, organized by Chris Craft, was held in conjunction with the Estuarine Research Federation meeting. Approximately 50 participants attended, including a core group of… Read more »

LTER Extreme Events Working Group

Most global climate change scenarios predict an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events. Ecologists and other scientists engaged in ecosystem research recognize that these extreme events will impact their systems, often with effects disproportionate to the extent and duration of the event itself. Despite the importance of extreme events,… Read more »

Synthetic Effort to Characterize the Controls on Nitrogen Transportation through Streams & Rivers

Proposal to for a workshop to assess needs for a large-scale cross-site synthetic effort to characterize the controls on nitrogen transport through streams and rivers Background Human sources now rival natural sources of fixed N to the biosphere, changing the biogeochemistry of both terrestrial and aquatic environments by adding biologically available N, primarily from fossil… Read more »