NSF News

The ecology of cities across the U.S., spread of infectious diseases such as Ebola, worldwide forests under siege, and how life thrives in Earth's critical zone are among the topics featured at the

This summer has been a busy one at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and our management team in charge of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program activities at the National Science Foundation (NSF) cycle between mid-term site reviews and consideration of LTER proposals, against a steady background of activities to strengthen the LTER network. In 2013, we focused on mid-term reviews of 10 sites.  We have worked to strengthen the review process, and this year’s reviews have been organized and run a bit differently.  After the final site review is completed, NSF program officers from all the Directorates involved will mull over the new approach and the input we have received from the review teams and participants in 2013 reviews. We’ll use this information to begin a discussion with the LTER community to determine if additional fine-tuning is needed. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has just published an online report called Discoveries in the Critical Zone (CZO): Where Life Meets Rock, which details the important role Cri

Greetings to the LTER community from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Headquarters in Arlington, VA. 

Deserts and forests, grasslands, lakes and rivers.

At the recent All Scientists Meeting (ASM) in Estes Park, the National Science Foundation (NSF) raised two issues for open discussion. This article is an opportunity to continue the dialogue. We described the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network as dynamic and evolving. Research networks have become common, and vary in scope from developing new research agendas (e.g., research coordination networks) to cross-site data synthesis (e.g., LTER) to thoroughly standardized and uniform data collection across diverse habitats (e.g., NEON, NPN). It is this proliferation of networks, and changing ideas of what research networks are, that prompt our request for an open discussion of LTER as a network.

It is a pleasure and an honor to have this opportunity to greet the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) community. The coming year promises new opportunities and challenges for LTER researchers. The program is uniquely positioned to lead the broad environmental research community in initiatives that require integration across broad spatial and temporal scales. Interest in research at these broader scales is growing, as evidenced by new programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and by the success of efforts like Nut Net. LTER has the potential to be at the forefront of these initiatives. . This opportunity is matched by the urgent challenge of prioritizing activities and the use of resources, including time, in response to certain budget constraints.

Scientists from the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network will hold their 10^th annual NSF-LTER mini-s

This year saw a number of changes in the LTER management team in the Division of Environmental Biology (BIO/DEB) at the National Science Foundation (NSF).