The LTER workshop to provide the network with a set of recommended methods for soil analysis was held March 26-29, 1996 at Sevilleta. The aim of the workshop was to reach consensus on a single recommended method for a variety of soil physical, chemical, and biological properties.
The activity was undertaken to foster -- in some cases enable -- cross-site synthesis with respect to soil properties and processes. Without a common set of measurement techniques, it is extremely difficult to make comparisons across sites and discern cross-site patterns and to then infer ecosystem-level causes and consequences.
Thirty-two people participated in the workshop. Almost all of the participants were associated with one or more LTER sites, and every site (except PAL) was represented by one or more participants. Participants met in small workgroups of 5-6 individuals to produce each of 20 different methods chapters. Lead authors (P. Robertson, C. Bledsoe, D. Soleman, W. Schlesinger, and P. Sollins) had been identified by the organizers in advance, and first drafts of chapters were circulated to participants a few days prior to the workshop. Thus workgroup sessions were devoted to discussing and critiquing the methods proposed by lead authors and to rewriting the chapters. Each workgroup member is now a coauthor of the three chapters to which he/she was assigned. A final full-day plenary session allowed the entire group to comment upon and realign the methods proposed.
By all accounts, the workshop was a substantive success, owing largely to the commitment of participants to producing a single set of recommended methods (along with alternative methods where required. In addition, a large measure of thanks is due to our Sevilleta hosts and the workshop logistical support group.
As discussed at the Cedar Creek LTER/CC meeting in October 1995, the organizers expect the ensuing book to be published as part of a new LTER series by Oxford University Press. This presumes that the Oxford contract is approved by the CC, and that the book receives approval from the LTER Publications Committee for inclusion in the series.
G. Philip Robertson, Chair, Workshop Committee 616/671-2267; grobertson@lternet.edu