Judy Meyer organized a workshop attended by approximately 40 scientists to discuss “burning questions in stream ecology and whether the LTER Network offered a series of sites to use in
answering these questions.
Four action items arose from these discussions and from smaller working groups formed during the workshop:
- Develop a catalog listing basic attributes of streams at each site. This would serve the needs of individual researchers, stimulate and facilitate intersite research, and encourage outside researchers to use LTER sites. A small working group met and developed a short questionnaire that will be sent to sites with streams. Judy Meyer and Stuart Findlay will compile these data and make copies available to interested researchers.
- Judy Meyer (with help from Cliff Dahm, program chairman) will organize a session at the May 1991 National Association of Biological Science (NABS) meeting that will allow each site 20 minutes to describe its stream program. This session will serve to inform not only the sites, but also the larger scientific community about opportunities for research at LTER sites. A half-day workshop for LThR scientists at the meeting will also be planned to discuss intersite projects and comparisons.
- A group organized by Cliff Dahm discussed new methodologies for investigating the role of interfaces in controlling stream processes. This topic will be pursued further at the proposed workshop
- A subset of the group met to plan an intersite experiment to determine if there are latitudinal gradients in macroirivertebrate control of leaf decomposition in streams. Most aspects of the experiment were planned and, when an appropriate method for excluding macroinvertebrates is developed, a proposal to address the question will be prepared.