Lessons Learned from the Origin and Design of Long-Term Social-Ecological Research

Abstract Detecting and understanding disturbance is a challenge in ecology that has grown more critical with global environmental change and the emergence of research on social–ecological systems. We identify three areas of research need: developing a flexible framework that incorporates feedback loops between social and ecological systems, anticipating whether a disturbance will change vulnerability to other environmental drivers, and incorporating changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. In the present article, we review how discoveries from the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have influenced theoretical paradigms in disturbance ecology, and we refine a framework for describing social–ecological disturbance that addresses these three challenges. By operationalizing this framework for seven LTER sites spanning distinct biomes, we show how disturbance can maintain or alter ecosystem state, drive spatial patterns at landscape scales, influence social–ecological interactions, and cause divergent outcomes depending on other environmental changes.

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Lepsämänjoki LTSER: pitkäaikaisen sosioekologisen maatalousekosysteemitutkimuksen verkosto

Suomen Maataloustieteellisen Seuran Tiedote ◽

10.33354/smst.76949 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 1-3

Author(s):

Juha Helenius ◽

Irina Herzon ◽

Reija Hietala ◽

Maohua Ma ◽

Sanna Tarmi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecological Research ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Research Platform

Lepsämänjoki LTSER (long term social ecological research platform) kuuluu kahdeksan muun erilaisiaekosysteemityyppejä edustavan verkoston kanssa vuonna 2007 perustettuun Suomen LTSER- konsortioon(FinLTSER:http://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?contentid=257172&lan=FI). FinLTSERpuolestaan onsamana vuonna hyväksytty kv. ILTER -verkostoonjäseneksi (http://www.ilternet.edu/). LTSER toiminnanperusajatus on luoda ja ylläpitää ekosysteemitutkimuksen infrastruktuureja, joissa pitkäaikainen ja seuranta-aineistoihinperustuva tutkimus kohdistuu ns. ydinalueelle. Tällainen ydinalue on maantieteellisesti määriteltyekosysteemialue, jossa verkoston tutkimusryhmät tuottavat pitkäaikaista, julkista ja hyvin dokumentoituaseurantajatutkimustietoa sosioekologisistaekosysteemin tilaan ja muutokseen sekä muutosta ohjaaviinvoimiin liittyvistä muuttujista. LTSER- verkoston tulisi mahdollistaa monitieteinen ja tieteidenvälinen sosioekologinentutkimus, ja sen tulisi tuottaa laadukasta tutkimusdataa kv. tutkimusyhteisön käyttöön.Lepsämänjoki LTSER on keskeisten maatalousekosysteemien tilasta ja muutoksesta kiinnostuneidentutkimuslaitosten ja –ryhmien verkosto. Se on avoin yhteenliittymä, joka pyrkii kehittämään julkista jayleishyödyllistä yhteistyötä ja infrastruktuuria maatalousympäristön monitieteiseen tutkimukseen. Verkostonydinalue on Lepsämänjoen maataloudellinen valuma-alue,joka suurimmaksi osaksi kuuluu UusimaalaisenNurmijärven kunnan alueeseen noin 30 km Helsingistä luoteeseen (60° 23' 60°28' N, 24° 31' 24°43' E).Se on topografialtaan laakea 213 km² suuruinen alue, jossa harjoitetaan Etelä-Suomensavikoille ominaistapeltoviljelyvaltaista maataloutta. Alueen pohjoisosassa on useita vihannesviljelyyn keskittyneitä tiloja. Alueon kaupungin läheistä maaseutua, jolle muualla työskentelevien haja-asutusleviää, ja jonka eteläosassasijaitseva Klaukkalan taajama on kasvussa.Lepsämänjoen valuma-alueeltaon parhaimmillaan jo vuosikymmenten ajalta biofysikaalisiinympäristömuuttujiin liittyviä tutkimusaineistoja: jokiveden laatu, maatalouden ravinne- jakiintoaineskuormitus, maataloudellinen maankäyttö, maatalouden ravinnetaseet, maalajit ja topografia, alue-ekologinenmonimuotoisuus, putkilokasvien, perhosten ja peltolintujen lajimonimuotoisuus. Verkoston eritutkimusryhmät ovat toisistaan riippumatta koonneet em. aineistoja eri seurannoissa ja tutkimus- jakehityshankkeissa.Lepsämänjoki LTSER-verkostontavoite on LTSER-konseptinmukaisesti verkostoitumisen avullakehittää tutkimuksen infrastruktuuria, parantaa seuranta-aineistojensaatavuutta ja laatua sekä edistääekologisen, ympäristöjayhteiskunnallisen tutkimuksen integraatiota. Tiedustelut voi osoittaa verkostonkoordinaattorille ([email protected]).

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Forty Arctic Summers

Long-Term Ecological Research ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199380213.003.0016 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Gaius R. Shaver

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

The Arctic ◽

Ecological Research ◽

Ecosystem Research ◽

The Public ◽

Long Term Ecological Research ◽

Umbrella Organization ◽

Set Up

I was committed to long-term, site-based, research long before the Arctic (ARC) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site was established in 1987. Working with the LTER program since then has allowed me to reach my goals more easily than would have been possible otherwise. Because of my deep involvement in research in the LTER program, most of the examples I use in teaching now come from LTER sites. For the same reason, most of my communications with the public are about research in the LTER program. I learned the value of collaboration as a graduate student, from my earliest mentors and collaborators. Being a part of the LTER program has helped me to develop a wide array of enjoyable, comfortable, and productive collaborations. A message to students: be generous in all aspects of your research and professional life, because there is much more to be gained from generosity than there is to be lost. I helped set up the ARC site of the LTER program in 1987 and have made it the focus of my scientific career for the past 27 years. My experience with integrated, site-based, multidisciplinary ecosystem research actually began in 1972, however, when as a graduate student I worked with the US Tundra Biome Study at Barrow, Alaska (Brown et al. 1980; Hobbie 1980). The Tundra Biome Study and its umbrella organization, the International Biological Program (IBP), ended officially in 1974, but the ideas developed and lessons learned from these programs were central to the later development of the LTER program (Coleman 2010). These lessons were central to the formation of my own professional worldview; key among them was the idea that long-term approaches, including long-term, whole-ecosystem experiments, were essential to understanding distribution, regulation, and change in populations, communities, and ecosystems everywhere. My dissertation research, on root growth at the Barrow site, benefited greatly from the interactions I had with the diverse group who worked there. I finished my PhD in 1976, during a period when the need for a federally supported program of long-term, multidisciplinary, site-based ecological research was becoming increasingly clear.

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Action-orientated research and framework: insights from the French long-term social-ecological research network

Ecology and Society ◽

10.5751/es-10989-240310 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Vincent Bretagnolle ◽

Marc Benoit ◽

Mathieu Bonnefond ◽

Vincent Breton ◽

Jon M. Church ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Research Network ◽

Ecological Research ◽

Social Ecological

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Graduate students navigating social-ecological research: insights from the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

Ecology and Society ◽

10.5751/es-08111-210107 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sydne Record ◽

Paige F. B. Ferguson ◽

Elise Benveniste ◽

Rose A. Graves ◽

Vera W. Pfeiffer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Research Network ◽

Ecological Research ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Long Term Ecological Research

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An integrated conceptual framework for long‐term social–ecological research

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment ◽

10.1890/100068 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 351-357 ◽

Cited By ~ 304

Author(s):

Scott L Collins ◽

Stephen R Carpenter ◽

Scott M Swinton ◽

Daniel E Orenstein ◽

Daniel L Childers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Ecological Research ◽

Social Ecological

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Maximizing Outcomes in Group Treatment of Aphasia: Lessons Learned From a Community-Based Center

Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders ◽

10.1044/nnsld24.3.100 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 100-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Darlene Williamson

Keyword(s):

Group Treatment ◽

Treatment Protocol ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Group Program ◽

Community Based ◽

Multiple Treatment ◽

Use Of Technology ◽

Communication Impairments ◽

Treatment Settings

Given the potential of long term intervention to positively influence speech/language and psychosocial domains, a treatment protocol was developed at the Stroke Comeback Center which addresses communication impairments arising from chronic aphasia. This article presents the details of this program including the group purposes and principles, the use of technology in groups, and the applicability of a group program across multiple treatment settings.

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Periodic monitoring of vampire bats and rabies: a new framework for animal restoration projects in the Neotropics

10.32942/osf.io/53hda ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Fernando Gonçalves ◽

Daniel G. Streicker ◽

Mauro Galetti

Keyword(s):

Disease Transmission ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Multidisciplinary Teams ◽

Risk Area ◽

Food Web Structure ◽

Land Bridge ◽

High Risk Area ◽

Restoration Project ◽

Vampire Bats

Nowadays, restoration project might lead to increased public engagement and enthusiasm for biodiversity and is receiving increased media attention in major newspapers, TED talks and the scientific literature. However, empirical research on restoration project is rare, fragmented, and geographically biased and long-term studies that monitor indirect and unexpected effects are needed to support future management decisions especially in the Neotropical area. Changes in animal population dynamics and community composition following species (re)introduction may have unanticipated consequences for a variety of downstream ecosystem processes, including food web structure, predator-prey systems and infectious disease transmission. Recently, an unprecedented study in Brazil showed changes in vampire bat feeding following a rewilding project and further transformed the land-bridge island into a high-risk area for rabies transmission. Due the lessons learned from ongoing project, we present a novel approach on how to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate the vampire bats and rabies in rewilding projects. We pinpoint a series of precautions and the need for long-term monitoring of vampire bats and rabies responses to rewilding projects and highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary teams of scientist and managers focusing on prevention educational program of rabies risk transmitted by bats. In addition, monitoring the relative abundance of vampire bats, considering reproductive control by sterilization and oral vaccines that autonomously transfer among bats would reduce the probability, size and duration of rabies outbreaks. The rewilding assessment framework presented here responds to calls to better integrate the science and practice of rewilding and also could be used for long-term studying of bat-transmitted pathogen in the Neotropical area as the region is considered a geographic hotspots of “missing bat zoonoses”.

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