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Learning from the past is key to long-term ecological research and to how
we conduct and organize our science. My thoughts here focus on our beginnings
and how far we have come. I will mention some of the challenges we face, many
of which are similar to those we faced in the past.
The LTER network of sites
first met in Washington, D.C. in 1980. Six just-funded sites attended (Andrews,
Coweeta, Konza, Niwot, North Inlet, and North Temperate Lakes); many of us
had never met before. We learned from John Brooks, then Director of the Division
of Environmental Biology and James (Tom) Callahan, the first NSF Program Director
for LTER, that we were a network for intersite science (Magnuson et al., 2006).
Tom’s hopes
and aspirations for the network (Callahan, 1984) are delineated in his charge
at this first meeting: “The LTER network of research projects...and the Foundation
are entering into an experiment. The results of this experiment can promote an
advance in ecosystem science which will cause the field to change from a largely
descriptive discipline to a predictive science.” At a network coordinating committee
meeting in 1986, John Brooks observed that the opportunities for really new science
lay in LTER network science, not just in individual site science (Magnuson et
al., 2006). His comments, using the “carrot and the stick” approach, were a
challenge to us to do network science. These aspirations and challenges continued
and were recognized by the 10- and 20-year reviews of the program. Challenges,
both administrative and scientific, were not easily addressed. But we began
the process and NSF provided funds to stimulate the effort even in the 1980s.
At that first network meeting in 1980 we exchanged addresses and phone numbers
(email did not exist). We set up a few network study groups, such as information
management and analytical chemistry. The computing centers at our campuses
had less capacity and speed than the laptops we carry around today. Some sites
had no long-term data. We wrote a proposal to organize and run the network,
and our first attempt at network science was to compare leaf area indices among
the sites. A working group examined the issue at a coordinating committee meeting
and concluded that it made no sense, so we dropped the idea. We have certainly
come a long way since those humble beginnings.
Further efforts in the 1980s
were more successful at intersite comparisons, for example, the inter-annual
and spatial variability among 12 LTER sites (Riera et al., 2006). For sites
as disparate as deserts, lakes, and forests, spatial variability always exceeded
inter-annual variability and biological properties were most variable, while
chemical and physical properties were progressively less variable. These were
system characteristics that extended across the entire LTER network of sites.
By the 1990s we were conducting comparative studies such as tree decomposition
and other long-term experiments. Currently, a synthetic analysis of trends
and dynamics across the sites is in progress.
We are in a decade of synthesis;
through the planning grant process, we are developing the blueprint and structure
to carry out interdisciplinary, network level science. Challenges for the network
and for the sites are, perhaps, the same: how to embrace the new while maintaining
the old, balance program growth with manageability, maintain the continuity
and integrity of long-term research, and synthesize even as we make system
specific advances to science (see Magnuson et al., 2006).
The challenges that
were identified early in the LTER program may well be addressed in the decades
ahead with long-term data, sophisticated data information systems, conditioned
human resources, and the potential for significant funding of intersite science.
We are in an exciting time to look back and to look ahead.
John J. Magnuson, Interim Chair, LTER Coordinating Committee
References
Callahan,
J. T. 1984. Long-term ecological research. BioScience 34:363-367.
Magnuson,
J. J., B. J. Benson, T. K. Kratz, D. E. Armstrong, C. J. Bowser, A. C. C. Colby,
T. W. Meinke, P. K. Montz, and K. E. Webster. 2006. Origin, operation, evolution
and challenges. Pages 280-322 in Magnuson, J. J., T. K. Kratz, and B. J. Benson,
eds. Long-Term Dynamics of Lakes in the Landscape: Long-Term Ecological Research
on North Temperate Lakes. Oxford University Press.
Riera, J. L., T. K. Kratz,
and J. J. Magnuson. 2006. Generalization from intersite research. Pages 107-120
in Magnuson, J. J., T. K. Kratz, and B. J. Benson, eds. Long-Term Dynamics
of Lakes in the Landscape: Long-Term Ecological Research on North Temperate
Lakes. Oxford University Press. |
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