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| Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:55 PM |
| AMHERST, Mass. – Urban areas are the fastest-growing habitat on earth, but little is known about how plants and animals fit themselves into landscapes dominated by humans. Now, LTER researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Arizona State University (ASU) have shown that birds faced with urban development are a lot like people when choosing a place to live. Some species, including pigeons, thrive in the noise and confusion of city life, others prefer to stay firmly rooted in the country and some are comfortable in both environments. |
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| Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:25 PM |
| Andrews Forest LTER’s Sherri Johnson, Linda Ashkenas, Stan Gregory, and Dan Sobota are among coauthors of a new publication in Nature entitled “Stream denitrification across biomes and its response to anthropogenic nitrate loading.” |
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| Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:23 PM |
| Over the past year, the FCE LTER information management system (IMS) team members, Linda Powell and Mike Rugge, redesigned and enhanced the FCE website (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/) to better provide the general public and scientific community with the information and tools that are important to each audience. |
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| Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:17 PM |
| The tundra of the Arctic LTER site, Alaska, sits above hundreds of meters of frozen ground (permafrost). Because of this drainage barrier and low evapotranspiration during the cool, often cloudy summers, the scant summer rainfall keeps the tundra moist. However, in the exceptionally dry summer of 2007 a fire sparked by lightning on July 16 burned 256,000 acres, and continued until the end of September when nearby lakes had already frozen over. This was the largest fire in Alaska in 2007 and by far the largest ever recorded north of the Brooks Range. In the 33 years of research at the site, we recorded only two brief fires covering a few dozen acres. |
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| Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:14 PM |
REUs study soil and climate change effects...
In summer 2007, the Andrews Forest LTER Program hosted Research for Undergraduate (REU) students Farm Saechao and Julia Pederson. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:04 PM |
| Thirty-six teachers and environmental educators participated in this year’s Summer Institute for Teachers at Harvard Forest. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:03 PM |
| In April 2007 a flux tower was established at the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) LTER to investigate the environmental forcings that influence carbon and energy exchanges between the local salt marsh and overlying atmosphere. The new flux tower will make it possible to understand and quantify the long-term processes governing the fluxes of materials in and out of tidal estuary systems. The salt marsh ecosystem exists at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:03 PM |
| The Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) LTER made its first appearance at Colorado State University’s College of Agriculture’s Ag Day on Saturday, September 8. Ag Day is held south of the CSU Stadium each September to coincide with a home football game. All the departments and many of the student associations in the College of Agriculture bring displays to showcase their activities for alumni and guests attending that day’s game. This is accompanied by a barbecue that is based purely on Colorado products. It’s a lively event and the weather was perfect for this year’s activities. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:03 PM |
| Scientists at the North Temperate Lakes (NTL) LTER site have provided leadership in the emerging Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON—www.gleon.org/), an international, grassroots network of limnologists, ecologists, information technology experts, and engineers who have a common goal of building a scalable, persistent network of lake ecology observatories (Kratz et al. 2006, Hanson 2007). Data from these observatories will allow us to better understand key processes such as the effects of climate and land use change on lake function, the role of episodic events such as typhoons and storms in resetting lake dynamics, and carbon cycling within lakes. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:02 PM |
| Elizabeth Sulzman, a scientist and beloved colleague with the Andrews Forest Program, died unexpectedly on June 10, 2007. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 05:02 PM |
| The work of writers participating in the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program is increasingly appearing in print. A short essay, “The Owl, Spotted” (OnEarth Fall 2006) describes poet Alison Deming’s encounter with a Northern Spotted Owl during a field outing with Steve Ackers, leader of the Spotted Owl crew at the Andrews Forest. She writes: |
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| Posted on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 04:30 PM |
| In summer 2007 the Andrews Forest hosted OSU’s first Eco-Informatics Summer Institute. Eco-Informatics is defined as the interaction of mathematics, computer science, engineering, and ecology. It is an emerging field that trains young scientists for careers in this information- and technology-rich world. |
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| Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:16 PM |
| The Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) LTER held its most recent biennial meeting on January 11 to discuss research and other issues of interest to the shortgrass steppe community. This year the symposium was structured around the theme “A Town Hall Meeting: Where is the Prairie Growing?” Presentations, discussions, and posters focused on changing land use on the grasslands and the impacts of shifting urban/rural boundaries. |
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| Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:16 PM |
Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
Larry Byman, a Biology and Environmental Field Studies teacher in Longview, Washington, worked with Andrews Forest scientists during the 2006 field season to learn about long-term data collection and data management techniques. Based on what he learned at the Andrews Forest, Byman developed an environmental curriculum for use at the Longview District’s Wake Robin Outdoor Learning Center. “This ranks as one of the absolute best learning experiences I’ve had during my teaching career,” said Byman. His lessons cover topics such as litter decomposition, moth diversity, soil seed bank, stream cross sections, and tree growth rates. Byman’s lessons are available through the Wake Robin Outdoor Learning Center’s website, www.longview.k12.wa.us/wr/LTER.
Kurt Cox, a junior high science teacher from the McKenzie School District, developed a set of research activities on the McKenzie High School grounds which is based upon research being conducted at the Andrews Forest. The seventh and eighth-graders will visit the Andrews LTER site in the fall and spring to conduct vegetation surveys, examine log decomposition, and measure stream structure.
More information on educational activities of the Andrews Forest program is available at www.fsl.orst.edu/lter/edu/schoolyard/ret.cfm?topnav=156.
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| Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:16 PM |
Developing ties between the Moorea Coral Reef LTER and the Kenting Coral Reef ILTER in Taiwan
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| Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:15 PM |
| The McMurdo Dry Valleys site hosted National Science Foundation director, Dr. Arden Bement, who was in Antarctica in January 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Scott Base, the New Zealand station in Antarctica. McMurdo Station, the main US logistical hub in Antarctica, and Scott Base are within a few miles of each other and the two programs have collaborated on logistics since the 1950s. |
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| Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 - 02:15 PM |
| August 26, 2006 marked a major step forward for the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research (VCR LTER) project, with the opening of a new laboratory and housing facility. The Anheuser-Busch Coastal Research Center (ABCRC) of the University of Virginia was dedicated at a ceremony attended by 250 guests, with speeches by University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III and Anheuser-Busch representative John L. Nau III, as well VCR LTER researchers Karen J. McGlathery, Jay C. Zieman and David E. Smith. |
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| Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 02:54 PM |
| Study finds soil N key to plant response and rising CO2 |
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| Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 02:00 PM |
The Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (HBRF), a nonprofit organization that supports the research work at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, site of the Hubbard Brook LTER site, is expanding its offerings to secondary school teachers and developing ongoing relationships with area schools to bring ecosystem science to New Hampshire students. As a result, more teachers came to the forest this year as participants in several professional development courses that highlight the value of this LTER site for education.
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| Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 01:48 PM |
| A day after the LTER All Scientists Meeting in Estes Park, CO, 25 Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecosystem scientists met at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University (Fort Collins) to share site overviews and discuss issues of mutual interest. The two participating LTER sites, McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM) and Palmer Station (PAL), are supported by the NSF Office of Polar Programs in coordination with the Division of Environmental Biology and funding for the workshop was provided by NSF-OPP (ANT-0535545). The meeting was organized by lead investigators Berry Lyons and Hugh Ducklow, coordinated by new MCM Principal Investigator (PI) Andrew Fountain and hosted by Sanjay Advani of CSU and Diana Wall, an MCM PI. |
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| Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 11:12 AM |
| The Sevilleta LTER recently started a multi-factor global change experiment in its desert grassland. The experiment simulates an environment 50-100 years in New Mexico’s future, with increased nighttime temperatures, winter precipitation, and nitrogen (N) deposition. The experiment will address (1) whether plant traits can predict shifts in community composition, (2) whether these global changes will increase the establishment of creosote into these grassland communities, and (3) whether global changes will interact in their effects on ecosystems and plant communities. |
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| Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 04:03 PM |
| Service at Salado is an exemplary LTER education program in which scientists and schoolchildren have joined forces to help re-establish an urban riparian area. School children participating in after-school clubs in the CAP LTER study area are gaining experience in ecology and civic involvement and coming to see themselves as agents of change in conserving and improving their local landscape. |
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| Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 03:49 PM |
| The first California Current Ecosystem (CCE) annual site meeting was held on December 5, 2005 at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), preceding the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Annual Symposium held the same week. The CCE LTER studies the coastal upwelling biome of the California Current and related waters in the first 500 km of the coastal ocean off southern California. The CCE site was funded in September 2004 by the NSF and now provides augmented measurements in coordination with the CalCOFI program, satellite remote sensing observations, three different types of modeling activities, and experimental cruises. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 12:58 PM |
| AND LTER marks 20th anniversary of 200-year study. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 12:37 PM |
| McMurdo study focuses on ecosystem disturbances. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:41 PM |
| It was a busy summer for several Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER scientists who, in addition to their regular research duties, added teaching responsibilities to their schedules. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:23 PM |
| The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), with Palmer (PAL) LTER attending, held a Data Services Workshop April 18–20, 2005 to develop an online curriculum for grade 6–12 education. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 04:01 PM |
| Urban Design was the hot topic during the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) quarterly research meeting on June 15, 2005. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 03:50 PM |
| Major field study initiated at Luquillo LTER. |
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - 03:25 PM |
| The Georgia Coastal Ecosystem LTER program is studying the biogeochemical processes that change constituent concentrations in water as it flows over the marsh during flood tide and as it returns to the creek during ebb. This exchange of water occurs in a complex marine environment consisting of three coastal plain estuaries and numerous tidal channels, surrounded by some of the largest intertidal areas—i.e., alternately flooded and dried twice a day by tides—in the US. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 04:17 PM |
| NTL hosts science party |
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 03:36 PM |
| Jornada scientists use goats to control salt cedar in New Mexico. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 03:14 PM |
| By merging economic valuation techniques used by social scientists and limnological data obtained via satellite, NTL-LTER has recently demonstrated important economic and ecological links among property valuation, shoreline zoning regulations, and water quality. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 02:50 PM |
| The 7th Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) LTER Symposium was held January 14, 2005, with contributions from the USDA Forest Service (USFS), Pawnee National Grassland, and Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 12:10 PM |
| New project complements Long Term Ecological Research at Andrews LTER. |
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