Tales from a “Lifer” in the Long-Term Ecological Research Program

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra P. C. Peters
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Jornada Basin ◽  
Term Data

As a long-time member of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, first as a graduate student and scientist at the Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) site (1984–1997), then as a scientist at the Sevilleta (SEV) site (1996–present) and now as principal investigator at the Jornada Basin (JRN) site (2003–present), my professional career has been shaped almost entirely by my LTER experiences. My experiences in the LTER program directly contributed to my individual-based approach to ecosystem dynamics combined with the knowledge that the dominant ecological processes can change as the spatial extent increases, and that long-term data are critical to disentangle how these pattern–process relationships change across scales. The LTER program has provided me with international experience and exposure that are valuable to my career. My opportunity to travel overseas has led to bonding experiences and new insights into other ecosystems. My appreciation for the value of K–12 education and the amount of work that is involved in “doing it right” has been shaped by my experiences with the Jornada Schoolyard LTER Program. One of the key challenges that I face in working at an LTER site is the tension between continuing to collect long-term observations with the need and desire to test new ideas that often result from the long-term data but then compete for resources with the collection of those data. Another challenge is in mentoring young scientists to become principal investigators, and in cultivating new relationships with potential co–principal investigators. Currently, I am the principal investigator at the JRN LTER program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I am also a collaborating scientist at the SEV LTER program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I received my BS in biology at Iowa State University in 1981 and my MS in biology from San Diego State University (SDSU) in 1983. My LTER experiences began as a PhD student at Colorado State University (CSU) through the SGS LTER program in 1984, and these continued while I was a postdoctoral fellow (1988–1989).

The Long-Term Ecological Research Construct for Understanding Dynamics of Coral Reef Ecosystems and Its Influence on My Science

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell J. Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Disciplinary Expertise ◽  
Small Science

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program facilitated my scientific growth in terms of the questions I can address; the tools, approaches, techniques and data to which I have access; and the diversity of intellectual and disciplinary expertise that I can tap. As a consequence, I am asking questions that cut across much larger spatial and especially temporal scales, and my research projects are more interdisciplinary, complex, and integrated. My ability to mentor students at all levels has been transformed by the variety of resources and opportunities afforded by the LTER program. One consequence is that these students are better prepared to become engaged globally. My role in the LTER program has required me to communicate scientific issues and findings to a broad audience. I have become more interested in the translation of science findings to public policy and practices to help conserve key functions of threatened ecosystems. My involvement with the LTER program has enabled me to forge a much larger circle of national and international collaborators to address questions that require a network of similar sites. The LTER construct has enabled me to broaden the scope of my research by expanding the interdisciplinary nature of my collaborations and the diversity of tools at my disposal. My involvement with the LTER program began in 2000 when I joined the Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) site as an associate investigator, and it expanded in 2004 to include being the principal investigator of the newly established Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) site. I am privileged to continue to serve as principal investigator of MCR and as an associate investigator at SBC. My research interests center on ecological processes and feedbacks that drive the dynamics of populations and communities. Prior to my involvement in the LTER program, I conducted my research projects either alone or with a small group of like-minded collaborators to address such issues as regulation of (marine) animals with open populations or the effect of indirect interactions on coexistence of species (Figure 28.1). These projects taught me some of the limitations of “small science,” particularly when exacerbated by a lack of relevant long-term data.

A Forest to Prairie Transition as a Long-Term Ecological Research Scientist

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Blair
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Student ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
University Of Georgia ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Kansas State University

Being involved in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program for most of my career has greatly influenced my development as an ecologist. It has broadened my understanding and appreciation of ecological processes at scales ranging from microbial processes to ecosystem fluxes. Participating in the LTER program has heightened my awareness of the critical role of spatial and temporal variability in ecological dynamics, as well as the value of long-term data for identifying directional environmental changes or assessing responses to experimental manipulations. Working with other investigators at an LTER site over long periods of time has revealed the importance of a place-based understanding of ecological processes as a source of insight into complex ecological phenomena. Interacting and collaborating with students and scientists having diverse research interests and backgrounds has enhanced my ability to communicate more effectively with other scientists and with the public. There are some trade-offs between directing a large research program and advancing one’s personal research, but the rewards of long-term collaboration are substantial. I have been part of the LTER program for most of my career, from graduate student at one LTER site to principal investigator at another. I began my PhD training at the University of Georgia in 1983 under the direction of D.A. (Dac) Crossley, Jr., the first leader of the Coweeta (CWT) LTER program. My early research focused on forest ecology, including plant litter decomposition and effects of clear-cutting and regrowth on decomposer communities and forest floor processes (Blair and Crossley 1988). My first postdoctoral appointment was on a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that I wrote to study forest-floor nitrogen dynamics using stable isotope tracers. In 1992, I joined the faculty of the Division of Biology at Kansas State University as an ecosystem ecologist. This position had been held by Tim Seastedt, another Crossley graduate student who served as principal investigator of the Konza Prairie LTER (KNZ) program and later as principal investigator of the Niwot Ridge LTER program. I was hired with the expectation that I would become engaged in the KNZ program, where my research would focus on ecosystem processes in tallgrass prairie.

Born and Bred in the Long-Term Ecological Research Network: Perspectives on Network Science and Global Collaborations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Multidisciplinary Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Kansas State University

I am a plant community and ecosystem ecologist who has conducted research within the context of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network from the beginning of my scientific career, now almost two decades ago. My research has benefited greatly from site-based research at the Konza Prairie (KNZ) LTER site, as well as from network-level syntheses utilizing data sets and knowledge produced by the collective of LTER sites. My involvement in the KNZ LTER site, in particular, has shown me the strength of conducting site-based research, yet my involvement in synthesis activities within the LTER network and beyond has illuminated the limitations of site-based research for addressing cross-site comparative research. To this end, I have been and continue to be a strong proponent of highly coordinated, multisite experiments, and much of my research is comparative in nature. Being involved in the LTER network from the start of my research career has made me a scientist who is well aware of the benefits and power of collaborative, multidisciplinary research. Because of the benefits and breadth of experiences that I have received from such research endeavors, I encourage my graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to also become involved in such research, and I recognize the positive impact collaborative, multidisciplinary research can have on beginning investigators. I believe that individuals outside of the LTER network (ranging from established principal investigators, to young investigators, to graduate students) are often not fully aware of the benefits of being involved in the LTER network or of the advances in ecological understanding that it has made possible. Thus, there is a need for the LTER network to be more proactive and creative in the ways that it attracts new researchers to get involved in the site-based or network-level research. Ultimately, the LTER network will only benefit from increased involvement by new investigators, who also could serve the role of leading the LTER network in the future. I have been affiliated with the LTER program since beginning as a graduate student at Kansas State University.

A Glimpse of the Tropics Through Odum’s Macroscope

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel E. Lugo
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Forest Service ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Us Forest Service ◽  
The Tropics

The philosophy of research in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program expanded what I learned in graduate school from H. T. Odum by providing an approach for a holistic understanding of ecological processes in the tropics. Participation in the LTER program enabled collaborations with many talented people from many parts of the world and enabled the mentoring and education of a new cadre of tropical natural and social sciences students. By expanding the opportunities for research and analysis at larger scales, the LTER program allowed me to address tropical ecosystem responses to such phenomena as hurricanes, floods, landslides, and past land uses and to do so at the appropriate scales of time and space. Paradigms of tropical forest resilience and adaptability in the Anthropocene emerged from research at the Luquillo (LUQ) LTER site. I first became aware of the LTER program in 1978 as I walked by the White House in Washington, DC, with Sandra Brown, then an intern on the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and Wayne Swank, a US Forest Service employee on detail with the National Science Foundation (NSF). I was a staff member at CEQ, and W. Swank explained to us a new long-term ecological research program that he was helping develop at the NSF. Although the first cadre of sites appeared to have been selected, I was immediately captured by the concept and expressed my interest in developing a proposal for a tropical site in Puerto Rico. Little did I know at the time that my whole scientific career was about to change, in part because of the LTER program, but also because I was to become a US Forest Service scientist. The first 30 years of my US Forest Service career would be heavily influenced by the LTER program and the people I worked with while developing a new way of thinking about tropical forest ecosystems. I am an ecologist trained at the Universities of Puerto Rico and North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My experience before becoming part of the LTER program involved (1) teaching at the University of Florida at Gainesville and (2) government work at the Commonwealth (Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources) and federal (President’s Council on Environmental Quality) levels.

scholarly journals Voices from the water: experience, knowledge, and emotions in long-term ecological research (LTER Italy)

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Pugnetti
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Change ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Term Data ◽  
Forms Of Knowledge

Based on the last decade of activities at the Italian Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER-Italy), I describe and highlight here some major outcomes and challenges, by picturing different voices, which we are listening to and we are talking with. Organisms, ecosystems, methodologies, data, researchers, stakeholders and citizens: their “voices” - which we receive, interpret and express - create our experience and knowledge, which we share with and convey to our contemporaries and future generations. One of the main narrator’s voices will be that of plankton: how we “listen” to them, describe and share long-term data and researches, also with the wide public. Through the “voices from the water” I will report and discuss experiences, which have been relevant also to open up the views on the role that science is challenged to play in a world of rapid change, characterized by complexity and contradictions. In particular I will consider: (i) the voices coming from various LTER aquatic sites, mainly addressing the comparison among them, (ii) how to make the voices most harmonized and audible through the open science approach, and (iii) how to put the LTER voices in an effective dialogue with society. Finally I will share some thoughts about the necessity and the possibility to open the purely scientific cognitive approach to other forms of knowledge.

A Holistic View of an an Arid Ecosystem: A Synthesis of Research and Its Applications

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon T. Bestelmeyer ◽  
Joel R. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Arid Ecosystem ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Jornada Basin

A primary objective of the Jornada Basin research program has been to provide a broad view of arid land ecology. Architects of the program, more recently scientists with the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, felt that existing ecological data sets were usually of too short a duration and represented too few ecosystem components to provide a foundation for predicting dynamics in response to disturbances (NSF 1979). This recognition gave rise to the approach of using long-term and multidisciplinary research at particular places to advance a holistic and broad-scale but also mechanistic view of ecological dynamics. Such a view is essential to applying ecological research to natural resources management (Golley 1993; Li 2000). In this synthesis chapter we ask: What has this approach taught us about the structure and function of an arid ecosystem? How should this knowledge change the way we manage arid ecosystems? What gaps in our knowledge still exist and why? The Jornada Basin LTER was established in 1981 with the primary aim of using ecological science to understand the progressive loss of semiarid grasslands and their replacement with shrublands. This motivation echoed that which initiated the Jornada Experimental Range (JER) 69 years earlier. The combined, century-long body of research offers a unique perspective on several core ideas in ecology, including the existence of equilibria in ecosystems, the role of scale, landscape heterogeneity and historic events in ecosystem processes and trajectories, and the linkage between ecosystem processes and biodiversity. From this perspective, we examine key assumptions of this research tradition, including the value of the ecosystem concept and the ability to extrapolate site-based conclusions across a biome. The Jornada Basin research program is also uncommon in its close ties to long-term, management-oriented research. The research questions first asked by the U.S. Forest Service and later by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), such as how to manage livestock operations, frame much of the Jornada Basin research. This allows us to consider the contributions of this research and synthesis toward answering management questions.

Patterns of Net Primary Production in Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystems

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura F. Huenneke ◽  
William H. Schlesinger
Keyword(s):  
Chihuahuan Desert ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Desert Ecosystems ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Jornada Basin ◽  
Biological Programme ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Term Data

The Jornada Basin of southern New Mexico has long been an important location for the study of productivity in desert ecosystems. Researchers have studied the magnitude and sustainability of plant production since the founding of the USDA Jornada Experimental Range (JER) in 1912. The consistent administration and research focus of the JER and of the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) have facilitated a number of long-term studies of vegetation dynamics and productivity. These long-term data sets are especially critical for understanding arid ecosystems, where interannual and decadal scale variation in climate is great and plant performance is strongly constrained by the physical environment. Long-term data, including the net primary productivity (NPP) data that are the focus of this chapter, are also essential for understanding the progression or rather, degradation of ecosystem structure that has been called desertification. Through the years a variety of approaches have been used to evaluate plant production in the Jornada Basin. These approaches span the range from applied or management-oriented techniques, focused primarily on assessing patterns of palatable forage production, to more basic empirical studies based on dimension analysis or similar measurements of plant growth, to estimates based on photosynthetic measurements, to remote sensing and modeling approaches. NPP was a particular focus of the work performed during the International Biological Programme or IBP (1970s) and is still a major emphasis in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) era. Thus, the Jornada provides a unique opportunity to compare the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches applied to a complex system. Ecosystem science has provided a set of general hypotheses about the factors regulating NPP in arid and semiarid ecosystems (reviewed by Noy-Meir 1973; Hadley and Szarek 1981; Ludwig 1986, 1987). These premises include the following: 1. Plant productivity is low relative to that of other ecosystems (Lieth 1975). 2. NPP is regulated primarily by localized water availability and hence should be correlated closely with precipitation (Le Houerou 1984; Le Houerou et al. 1988). This premise is related to Noy-Meir’s (1973) definition of deserts as “water-controlled ecosystems with infrequent, discrete, and largely unpredictable water inputs.”

A Dryland Ecologist’s Mid-Career Retrospective on Long-Term Ecological Research and the Science–Management Interface

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Bestelmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Science Management ◽  
Jornada Basin ◽  
Land Degradation And Desertification ◽  
Cross Site

My association with the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has encouraged a multidisciplinary scientific approach emphasizing broad spatial scales and site-based knowledge. It also provides a solid basis from which to link science and management. In my position as a federal research scientist, I do not teach university classes. When I teach in other venues and advise graduate students, my LTER experiences facilitate my ability to draw connections among disciplines that bear on particular ecological problems. Multidisciplinary breadth alongside site-specific depth afforded by the LTER program is especially useful for communicating to the public. It is important to know a lot about one area (place-based knowledge), in addition to something broader. Collaboration is especially important for scientists working together at an LTER site and is also important for cross- site LTER efforts addressing regional to global problems. Within- group collaboration comes rather easily when there are healthy interpersonal relationships. Cross- site collaboration requires greater effort and network-level leadership. I have been a co–principal investigator of the Jornada Basin site (JRN) of the LTER program since 2006 and a research ecologist with the US Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range (JER), since 2003. In both capacities, my research addresses land change in drylands (arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid deserts, grasslands, shrublands, woodlands). Specifically, I work on ecosystem state changes or regime shifts, including subjects such as land degradation and desertification; these may include how land managers perceive and react to state change via mental models, information, and restoration approaches (e.g., Bestelmeyer et al. 2009). My work has been centered at the JRN in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of southern New Mexico and also in grasslands and woodlands of Mongolia and Argentina. My activities include those generally associated with academia (research, publishing, grants, and supervising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) in addition to work that is applied, such as outreach through workshops, trainings, field reviews, and writing to support management or government policy. The trade-off is not teaching university courses, although leading agency workshops and trainings partially fills this niche in my scientific career.

The Socializing of an Ecosystem Ecologist: Interdisciplinarity from a Career Spent in the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Childers
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Florida Everglades ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
State University ◽  
New School ◽  
Louisiana State University ◽  
The North ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research

The broad interdisciplinarity of my science and my worldview are direct products of my career spent in the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. I attribute the holistic systems approaches that I use in my teaching and mentoring to my career spent in the LTER program. I am able to converse with a broad array of collaborators and practitioners because of my career spent in the LTER program. My career is rich with interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships thanks to the LTER program. My life is rich with friends that I have met throughout my career spent in the LTER program. There are probably few mid-career scientists who have spent virtually all of their careers associated with the LTER network. As one of these few, I view this as a tremendous asset. My experiences in the LTER program began in 1983 with the North Inlet Program (NIN), where my master’s research, advised by the late Hank McKellar, involved modeling salt marsh ecosystem dynamics. After completing my PhD at Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1989, I returned to the NIN for a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship with Fred Sklar at the Baruch Marine Laboratory. I worked with Fred on another of his National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, but there was considerable overlap between that research and the work being done at NIN. When the NSF released a solicitation for new coastal LTER sites in 1998, I was an assistant professor at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. We gathered a core group of Everglades colleagues and answered this solicitation with a proposal to study coastal ecosystem dynamics in the Florida Everglades. Our proposal was successful, and by early 2000 the new Florida Coastal Everglades LTER program (FCE) was off and running. I directed FCE from its inception until I left FIU in 2008 for Arizona State University (ASU). On arriving at ASU in 2008, I immediately became involved with the Central Arizona–Phoenix (CAP) LTER program. I was excited about my move to ASU and the new School of Sustainability because I felt as if it were a rare mid-career opportunity to change the trajectory of, and perhaps even the impact of, my career.

Long-Term Ecological Research and Lessons from Networked Lives

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Michigan State University ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
State University ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
The Public ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
The University

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has affected how I conduct and evaluate ecological research. Working with the LTER program has given me a greater appreciation for the complexity of the natural world and has provided a framework to study it. The LTER program has provided the best possible venue to connect ecological research with classroom instruction, mentoring, and professional development. Translating our science to the public is a challenge. My experiences in the LTER program have provided multiple opportunities to work with the public, K–12 and college or university students, and professionals in different fields. This process has honed my communication skills. The ideas that emerge from true collaborative science cannot be understated. The work at an LTER site and within the LTER network works best when we collaborate. I received my undergraduate training in ecology at the University of California (UC) Santa Barbara. At UC Santa Barbara in the 1970s, the ecology program focused largely on populations and communities. Field observations, laboratory studies, manipulative field studies, and equation-based modeling were the norm. I recall the first set of litter and soil samples of arthropods that I sorted were extracted using Tullgren funnels and thought at the time that a person would have to be insane to pursue this type of work as a career. Two years later, I was in the graduate program at Michigan State University working with Dr. Richard Snider where I studied the impacts of herbicides on soil arthropods in no- till corn. At Michigan State, I learned the importance of species life histories, behaviors, and tolerances to environmental variation. My first exposure with the LTER program started in 1979, during my first year of graduate school at Michigan State University. A National Science Foundation (NSF) program officer was visiting the university to promote the concept of the LTER program and the first round of competition. Being 22 years old at the time, it was difficult for me to appreciate discussions about a program that would potentially operate over several decades. As a graduate student, it was a lesson in the planning, extended time frame, and other programmatic logistics of collaborative science.

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