While considerable work in population ecology is being conducted at many of the sites that constitute the LTER Network, it has recently been criticized for its apparent lack of population studies (Science 262:334, October 15, 1993). At the September 1993 All Scientist’s Meeting, Taber Allison and Richard Lent chaired a roundtable discussion of graduate students interested in population ecology. Out of those discussions came the suggestion that a survey of LTER population biologists and a subsequent report be completed to increase the level of awareness—both within and outside the Network—of the population ecology work being conducted at LTER sites.
Lent and Allison propose to conduct such a survey. The effort promises to improve communication among LTER researchers engaged in population studies, identify common interests and gaps, and create more opportunities for intersite comparisons and comparisons with other research programs.
And the time is ripe, the two researchers argue, given the increased need for population-level studies expressed in the Ecological Society of America Sustainable Biosphere Initiative and last year’s 10-year evaluation of the LTER Program, which called for increased LTER involvement in conservation biology, biodiversity issues, and applied ecology.
Interested participants may send suggestions to Richard Lent, Harvard University, Harvard Forest, P.O. Box 68, Petersham, MA 01366 USA, 508-724-0228, rlent@LTERnet.edu.