The goal of Arctic LTER project is to predict the future ecological characteristics of the site based upon our knowledge of the controls of ecosystem structure and function as exerted by physical setting and geologic factors, climatic factors, biotic factors, and the changes in fluxes of water and materials from land to water.
Links for Long Term Ecological Research:
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http://arc-lter.ecosystems.mbl.edu/
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Aiming to understand metropolitan Baltimore as an ecological system. The program brings together researchers from the biological, physical, and social sciences to collect new data and synthesize existing information on how both the ecological and engineered systems of Baltimore work.
http://www.beslter.org/ -
Focusing on improving our understanding of the long-term consequences of changing climate and disturbance regimes in the Alaskan boreal forest.
http://www.lter.uaf.edu/ -
Using long-term observation and experimentation to examine the controls of successional dynamics and biodiversity in ecosystems at the prairie-forest boundary.
http://www.lter.umn.edu/ -
The CAP LTER site provides a unique addition to the LTER research by focusing on an arid-land ecosystem profoundly influenced, even defined, by the presence and activities of humans and is one of only two sites that specifically studies the ecology of urban systems.
https://sustainability.asu.edu/caplter/ -
Coweeta researchers have used natural disturbances (insect outbreak and regional drought), anthropogenic disturbance (chestnut blight), and experimental disturbance (clear-cutting) as tools for studying ecosystem response to and recovery from disturbance.
http://coweeta.uga.edu/ -
Investigating how variability in regional climate, freshwater inputs, disturbance, and perturbations affect the coastal Everglades ecosystem.
http://fcelter.fiu.edu/ -
This LTER focuses in following areas: Tracking long-term changes in climate and human actions in the watershed and adjacent uplands, and evaluate the effects of these drivers on domain boundary conditions (riverine input, runoff and infiltration from adjacent uplands, sea surface height). Describing temporal and spatial variability in physical (e.g. stratification, estuarine salt intrusion, residence time), chemical (e.g. salinity, nutrients, organic matter lability), geological (e.g. accretion) and biological (e.g. organism abundance and productivity) properties in the domain, and to evaluate how they are affected by variations in river inflow and other boundary conditions. Characterizing the responses of three dominant habitats in the domain (Spartina marsh, fresh/brackish marsh, high marsh) to pulses and presses in salinity and inundation. We will accomplish this through monitoring, large-scale field manipulations, and modeling designed to evaluate system responses to changes in inundation in the Spartina marsh, increased salinity in the fresh/brackish marsh, and changes in hydrologic connectivity in the high marsh. Describe patterns of habitat provisioning and C sequestration and export in the GCE domain, and to evaluate how these might be affected by changes in salinity and inundation.
http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/ -
Initiated to address this and related questions through an analysis and comparison of important natural disturbances, environmental change and historical and projected human impacts in terms of their effect on ecosystem structure, composition and function. Among the suite of disturbance and stress processes investigated emphasis has been placed on (1)hurricane and other wind impacts, (2) climate change, (3) changing land-use and land cover, (4) altered atmospheric chemistry and increased nitrogen deposition, and (5) projected increases in global temperature.
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/ -
Long-term field experiments and measurement programs have focused on climate dynamics, streamflow, water quality, and vegetation succession. Currently researchers are working to develop concepts and tools needed to predict effects of natural disturbance, land use, and climate change on ecosystem structure, function, and species composition.
http://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/ -
Studying linkages between hydrologic and nutrient flux and cycling in response to natural and human disturbances, such as air pollution, forest cutting, land-use changes, increases in insect populations and climatic factors.
http://www.hubbardbrook.org/ -
Focusing on changes in the distribution of soil resources as an index of the impact of vegetation change--desertification--on semiarid lands.
http://jornada-www.nmsu.edu/ -
Research at the KBS LTER site is directed towards understanding ecological interactions underlying the productivity of both annual and perennial field crops.
http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/ -
A comprehensive ecological research, education and outreach program, centered on one of the most productive grasslands in North America – the tallgrass prairie. Focusing on fire, grazing and climatic variability as three critical and interactive drivers that affect ecological pattern and process in grasslands worldwide.
http://www.konza.ksu.edu/knz/pages/home/home.aspx -
The main goal of LUQ studies is to understand the long-term dynamics of tropical forest ecosystems characterized by large-scale, infrequent disturbance, rapid processing of organic material, and high habitat and species diversity.
http://luq.lternet.edu/ -
An interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in an ice-free region of Antarctica.
http://www.mcmlter.org/ -
Interactions between climate and ecosystems with complex topographic gradients generate unique source and sink habitats for water and nutrients as a result of precipitation, energy, and chemical redistribution. At this site, current changes in climate and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen to these systems are causing rapid changes in some portions of this system but not in others. A conceptual model is presented that links terrestrial ecosystems to each other and to aquatic ecosystems. This location reports how atmospheric inputs as well as endogenous resources can be amplified or attenuated by transport processes.
http://niwot.colorado.edu/ -
To gain a predictive understanding of the ecology of lakes at longer and broader scales than has been traditional in limnology.
https://lter.limnology.wisc.edu/ -
Focusing on the pelagic marine ecosystem in the Antarctic, and the ecological processes which link the extent of annual pack ice to the biological dynamics of different trophic levels.
http://pal.lternet.edu/ -
An integrated research, education and outreach program with the goal of developing a predictive understanding of the long-term response of watershed and estuarine ecosystems to changes in climate, land use and sea level and to apply this knowledge to the wise management and development of policy to protect the natural resources of the coastal zone.
http://pie-lter.ecosystems.mbl.edu/ -
Investigating the relative importance of land vs. ocean processes in structuring giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forest ecosystems for different conditions of land use and climate.
http://sbc.lternet.edu/ -
A long-term, integrated, interdisciplinary research program addressing key hypotheses on pattern and process in aridland ecosystems. Research includes studies in desert grassland and shrubland communities, and riparian and mountain forests emphasizing pulse driven processes in space and time.
http://sev.lternet.edu/ -
A global network of research sites located in a wide array of ecosystems that can help understand environmental change across the globe. ILTER's focus is on long-term, site-based research and monitoring.
http://www.ilternet.edu/ -
A collaborative effort involving more than 1100 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Research on ecological issues that can last decades and span huge geographical areas.
http://www.lternet.edu/ -
Research activities of the VCR/LTER focus on the mosaic of transitions and steady-state systems that comprise the barrier-island/lagoon/mainland landscape of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Primary study sites are located on Hog Island, Parramore Island and mainland marshes near Nassawadox VA.
http://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/ -
Established to facilitate the understanding of ecological processes and the biodiversity functions of Tasmania's wet forests.
https://warra.com/
