J.T. Callahan and C. Bledsoe
Network (according to Webster’s): any integrated, highly organized system or activity spread over a large area. The LTER Network certainly qualifies on an area basis, because the sites reach from northern Alaska through the continental U.S. to the Atlantic coast. As for “integrated, highly organized” -- we’re working on it!
With over 400 scientists, support staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students, the LTER network is developing into a major scientific entity. In the past 6 months, we have established a new LTER Coordinator position at NSF, developed plans for acquiring and implementing new technologies, published a directory for the network, and begun development of a program to attract more non-LTER scientists to LTER collaborations.
LTER Coordinator. In the past, Tom Callahan has been the primary coordinator for the LTER projects. Now, LTER activities are coordinated/facilitated at NSF by a Senior Staff Associate for Long Term Ecological Research -- a full-time rotator position, currently filled by Dr. Caroline Bledsoe from the University of Washington, Seattle. Caroline is working with the LTER Coordinating Committee on network activities, and is also looking at below-ground activities in the network. Please contact Caroline, who will be at NSF until fall 1988, if you have ideas she can help coordinate within the network.
Candidates interested in the position currently filled by Caroline should contact Tom Callahan (Ecosystem Studies Program, National Science Foundation, 1800 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20550) for a copy of the job description.
New Technologies. An NSF advisory committee, Scientific and Technological Planning for LTER Projects, has been formed. The committee members are H.H. Shugart (Chair; Virginia Coast Reserve), G. Shaver (Arctic Tundra), S. Stafford (H.J. Andrews), and W. Parton (Central Plains). The report the committee submitted to NSF was distributed at the April 1988 LTER Coordinating Committee meeting. Their basic recommendations are:
- Acquire GIS capability with some uniformity across the LTER network
- Develop network-wide remote sensing analysis capability
- Augment LTEFI use of wide-area (WAN) and local-area (LAN) computer networks
- Maintain data bases, providing convenient, on-line access to users inside and outside the project
- Continue evaluation and planning efforts pertinent to the four recommendations above
Further information on these recommendations will be sent to all sites.
Network Directory. Have you wondered just who else in the network is studying nematodes? Or measuring phytoplankton? Or working with GIS? The new LTER Directory (available from Judy Brenneman, Newsletter Editor) has answers as well as phone numbers and electronic mail addresses for LTER scientists, postdocs, graduate students, and staff. The Directory will be updated yearly, in the spring.
Inclusion of Non-LTER Scientists. As the network grows, we want to include non-LTER groups in research activities at the sites. NSF and the LTER Coordinating Committee are exploring ways to increase support and interest. Although most sites are used by non-LTER persons, broader use of the sites is desirable. The next issue of the newsletter should have a progress report on this activity.
Summary. As interactions become more complex, we grapple with such problems as
- Rates of progress and evenness of progress among the sites
- Increasing interest in LTER by individuals and organizations, national and international
- The continuing goal of realizing the full potential of LTER for comparisons among major ecosystems
The LTER program is moving forward, becoming more integrated, beginning collaborative projects, and making significant contributions to ecosystem science. The LTER program is an exciting experiment in biology, and its fun to speculate -- “Where will we be in the future?”