Plans, Preparations, Products!
Bob Waide is the Executive Director, LTER Network Office
In anticipation of the upcoming All Scientists Meeting, this issue of the Network Newsletter focuses on the history and future of cross-site and synthetic research conducted by LTER scientists. From the beginning of the LTER program, cooperation among scientists has been one of the most important attributes of the network. The LTER concept itself encourages interdisciplinary cooperation within sites and fosters the development of research teams with common scientific goals. The stability of these research teams over time provides us with a unique opportunity to build understanding of our study ecosystems through a combination of long-term monitoring and experiments and short-term mechanistic studies.
The growth in size of the LTER Network has been accompanied by increasing expectations. The image of the LTER program as groups of scientists focused on narrowly defined ecological systems has gradually given way to a different perception. This emerging view describes the LTER Network as a community of scientists connected in many different ways. Within the LTER community, groups coalesce around disciplines, system attributes, organisms, approaches, and concepts. Familiarity, trust, and common goals encourage the formation of new connections and partnerships. The power of this organizational model has led to several notable successes in cross-site synthesis, some of which are described in this Newsletter. Each of these successes, however, has raised the bar for subsequent efforts. More than ever before, the LTER Network is expected to generate integrative studies across disciplines and ecosystems. More than ever before, we need to marshal our resources to achieve this goal.
The excellent article by Jack Webster provides an example of what can be accomplished with the LTER model. The long-standing cooperation among stream ecologists within the LTER Network has produced an impressive series of projects, publications, funded proposals, and partnerships with colleagues outside of the Network. The key points for successful intersite collaboration enumerated by Webster provide a time-tested vision for the development of new collaboratories. Emergent collaborations based on common technologies (imaging spectroscopy efforts at Jornada and Sevilleta, BigFoot project, GTOS/NPP Demonstration Project) and disciplines (social sciences) provide other examples of promising cross-site efforts.
It is significant that Webster’s article was prompted by a meeting of LTER aquatic scientists held in Salt Lake City, occasioned by the addition of three new coastal sites to the network. The importance of intersite workshops in developing collaborations is emphasized by Webster, and the history of stream studies in the LTER Network is prominently tied to a series of such workshops organized and held from 1983 to the present. These independent workshops were complemented by regularly scheduled get togethers at the annual NABS meeting. In addition, important advances were made at the All Scientists Meetings held in 1990 and 1993. The Climate and Information Management groups are other collaborations that have made excellent use of regular meetings to facilitate progress on key issues.
The upcoming All Scientists Meeting provides an opportunity for the development of other collaborations within the LTER Network. Over sixty workshops have already been proposed, and many of these workshops will undoubtedly lead to the development of continuing interactions. Biological legacies, disturbance, spatial and temporal variability, hydrology, chemical weathering, primary productivity, biodiversity, canopy studies, education, and social science are thematic areas that have already demonstrated broad appeal. I hope that further workshops will yet be proposed on other topics.
The Y2K All Scientists Meeting presents an important opportunity to include non-LTER scientists in cross-site investigations. By holding the ASM before the annual meeting of ESA, we hope to attract colleagues who are not presently associated with LTER sites. Furthermore, we have made a concentrated effort to insure that International LTER networks will be represented at the meeting. At present, we anticipate that between 50-100 of our colleagues from international sites and networks will join us in Snowbird. We further anticipate the presence of researchers from long-term sites managed by government agencies. A special invitation has gone out to agency representatives to attend the ASM in order to improve interactions and cooperation between LTER and other long-term research programs.
The Network Office has set aside funds to encourage the development of cross-site activities arising from the All Scientists Meeting. These funds will support three kinds of activities. We will facilitate small planning meetings by workshop organizers. We will support post-ASM meetings to follow up on promising collaborations. Finally, we will provide short-term support for researchers who wish to dedicate 1-3 months to a specific cross-site research project. In addition, we will use the resources of the Network Office to facilitate the development of proposals from ideas arising from the ASM.
As you prepare for the All Scientists Meeting, I urge you to set as a priority for your participation the development of cross-site and cross-discipline research activities. The ASM is our opportunity to take full advantage of the benefits of a research network. I further encourage you to consider the characteristics of successful intersite collaboration and effective leadership described by Jack Webster, and to apply his suggestions to the development of new research collaborations.