Welcome to the LongTerm Ecological Research Network

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Welcome to the Long-Term Ecological Research
Network
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In 1980 the National Science Foundation started
the LTER program to help scientists study
long-term ecology across the United States.
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There are 24 LTER sites in the United States and
Antarctica, in biomes ranging from tall-grass
prairie in Kansas to the towering coniferous
forests of Oregon, from alpine tundra in Alaska
to tropical forests in Puerto Rico, and from
coastal marshes in Virginia to dry deserts in
Arizona and New Mexico. Next you will see a map
of LTER sites and photos of several of them.
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• ANDAndrews Experimental Forest
• ARCArctic Tundra
• BESBaltimore Ecosystem Study
• BNZBonanza Creek
• CAPCentral Arizona Phoenix
• CDRCedar Creek Reserve
• CWTCoweeta Hydrologic Lab
• FCEFlorida Coastal/Everglades
• GCEGeorgia Coastal Ecosystems
• HBRHubbard Brook
• HFRHarvard Forest
• JRNJornada Basin
• KBSKellogg Biological Station
• KNZKonza Prairie Reserve
• LUQLuquillo Experimental Forest
• MCMMcMurdo Dry Valleys
• NETNetwork Office
• NTLNorth Temperate Lakes

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The H.J. Andrews LTER is located in a
temperate, coniferous forest in Oregon.
Scientists there are examining the effects of
logging on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
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Flint Hills of Kansas, the largest remaining
tract of tall-grass or "true" prairie, and
location of the Konza Prairie Research Natural
Area LTER site.
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Aerial view of salt marsh and nearby farmland at
the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site near Oyster,
VA.
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Hot desert at Jornada Experimental Range, New
Mexico.
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Palmer Station, Antarctica LTER polar marine
research site.
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The Luquillo LTER site is located in a tropical
rain forest in Puerto Rico.
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The Baltimore Ecosystem Study is one of two new
LTER sites where scientists are studying the
role of humans in urban ecosystems.
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There are also many International LTER sites.
Countries in blue have existing LTER
sites. Countries in green are developing LTER
sites. Countries in red are interested in
developing LTER sites.
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The national LTER network wants the 1100
scientists at all the sites to communicate with
each other and do similar research. So, there is
an LTER mission...
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• Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research
  Network
• To help scientists at different sites
• work together

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• Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research
  Network
• To help scientists at different sites
• work together

• To understand ecology over
• large areas and long periods of time

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• Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research
  Network
• To help scientists at different sites
• work together

• To understand ecology over
• large areas and long periods of time

• To help solve environmental problems

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• Mission of the Long Term Ecological Research
  Network
• To help scientists at different sites
• work together

• To understand ecology over
• large areas and long periods of time

• To help solve environmental problems

• To develop long-term experiments
• that can be used by scientists
• in the future

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...and there are 5 main research topics
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LTER Research Topics

• Organic matter decomposition
• What happens to the material that plants
• produce?

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LTER Research Topics

• Organic matter decomposition
• What happens to the material that plants
• produce?
• Plant and animal populations
• How do populations change over time?

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LTER Research Topics

• Organic matter decomposition
• What happens to the material that plants
• produce?
• Plant and animal populations
• How do populations change over time?
• Nutrient cycling
• How do nutrients (like nitrogen) move
• around in the soil, water, and air?

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LTER Research Topics

• Organic matter decomposition
• What happens to the material that plants
• produce?
• Plant and animal populations
• How do populations change over time?
• Nutrient cycling
• How do nutrients (like nitrogen) move
• around in the soil, water, and air?
• Plant growth and net primary production
• How fast and how much do plants grow?

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LTER Research Topics

• Organic matter decomposition
• What happens to the material that plants
• produce?
• Plant and animal populations
• How do populations change over time?
• Nutrient cycling
• How do nutrients (like nitrogen) move
• around in the soil, water, and air?
• Plant growth and net primary production
• How fast and how much do plants grow?
• Disturbance
• How do things like fire, drought, or
• logging affect ecosystems?

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To answer these research questions scientists
look at biotic (living) and abiotic
(non-living) parts of ecosystems.
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Some biotic factors include small organisms such
as insects, and larger organisms such as cacti.
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Some abiotic factors are precipitation, wind, and
temperature.
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Scientists also study how abiotic and biotic
factors interact in different types of ecosystems.
Plant nutrient research at the Shortgrass Steppe
LTER site in Colorado.
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Sampling in a freshwater marsh at the Florida
Coastal Ecosystems site.
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Seed collection at the Arctic Tundra site in
Alaska.
A Central Arizona Phoenix graduate student
examining data recording equipment.
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This helicopter was used to add calcium to a
watershed at the Hubbard Brook Experimental
Forest LTER in New Hampshire.
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Lake experiments at the North Temperate Lake
LTER site in Wisconsin.
Melting an ice hole to study the ecosystem
underneath at the McMurdo Dry Valley LTER site
in Antarctica.
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Rhododendron that have not been removed.
Ladders help scientists to move around in the
plots without destroying them.
Scientists who want to know how rhododendron
plants affect forests have removed all of these
plants at a site here in the Coweeta Hydrologic
Laboratory LTER site in North Carolina.
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This weir at the Jornada Basin site in southern
New Mexico measures water runoff during big
rainstorms.
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Snow enhancement research site at the Niwot
Ridge LTER in Colorado.
This fence increases snowpack depth in an
experiment looking at changes caused by global
warming (scientists hypothesize that global
warming may cause deeper snow at this site).
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To completely understand ecosystems scientists
must study them for a very long time. The LTER
program is designed for long-term research.
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Why do we need long-term research?
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Why do we need long-term research?

• To learn about
• Slow processes
• Infrequent events
• Ecological trends

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• Slow processes

Scientists do long-term research so they can
learn about things that take a long time to
happen. For example, it takes a tree decades, or
even centuries, to fully decompose into soil.
Tree decomposition study
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• Infrequent events

• Scientists do long-term research so they can
  learn
• about events that only happen once in a while.
• For example, prairies burn, but not always every
  year.
• Hurricanes have big effects, but are infrequent.
• El Nino and La Nina do not happen every year.

Grassland fires
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• Ecological Trends

• Scientists do long-term research in order
• to understand ecological trends.
• For example, global warming is a trend that
  scientists
• discovered after studying the Earths climate for
  a long time.

Global Warming
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There are many LTER examples that show
why long-term research is useful. For example,
as you may have seen in Activity 1, scientists in
Wisconsin have examined 150 years of data...
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Lake Mendota, Wisconsin Ice Breakup Research
1 Year (1998)
Ice Cover (Days)
Year
Lake Mendota, WI, located in the North Temperate
Lakes LTER site, is a great example of why
scientists do long-term research. The graph
above shows how long the lake was covered with
ice in 1998. A study conducted for one year
(short-term) does not reveal much.
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Lake Mendota, Wisconsin Ice Breakup Research
10 Years (1989-1998)
Ice Cover (Days)
Year
Ten years of research reveals that the duration
of ice cover was unusually short in 1998.
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Lake Mendota, Wisconsin Ice Breakup Research
Ice Cover (Days)
Year
Research over half a century reveals patterns in
the lakes ice cover that coincide with global
weather patterns like El Nino.
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Lake Mendota, Wisconsin Ice Breakup Research
Ice Cover (Days)
Year
Data for the past 142 years suggest a trend that
short-term research might have overlooked.
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Lake Mendota, Wisconsin Ice Breakup Research
Ice Cover (Days)
Year
Analysis of all of the data together suggests a
long term trend. Now an investigation into the
reason for the trend can begin.
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There are hundreds of examples like the Lake
Mendota research that show what we have learned
about ecosystems at different LTER sites. In the
next part of this activity, you will learn about
research conducted at an LTER site of your
choice. You will use Table 1 in the manual and
the map that you saw earlier in this
presentation, located at http//www.lternet.edu,
to choose a site.
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Photo Credits
Slide 2 William K. Michener Slide 3 Not
known Slide 5 Frederick J. Swanson Slide 6
Alan Knapp Slide 7 J. M. Hall Slide 8 Jerry
Franklin Slide 9 Langdon B. Quentin Slide 10
Robert Waide Slide 13 B. Molle Slides 14-17 Don
McFann Slides 18-23 David Smith, NSF Photo,
Jerry Franklin, and Brian Kloeppel Slide 25
Andrew R. Moldenke and Brenda Shears Slide 26
Patricia Sprott and LTER Slide 27 Daniel G.
Milchunas
Slide 28 Dan Childers Slide 29 Patricia Sprott
and LTER Slide 30 Jennifer Kitchel Slide 31
Russ Kine and Jerry Franklin Slide 32 Brian
Kloeppel Slide 34 T. Seastedt Slide 38 Jerry F.
Franklin Slide 39 Alan Knapp Slides 42-46 John
J. Magnuson Slide 47 Marshall White and
Stephanie Bestlemeyer
The LTER network provided Photos in slides 4,
11, 12, 26, 29, 33