Research that is long-term, large-scale, systemwide, across trophic levels, interdisciplinary, experimental, and synthetic is common to all LTER sites. LTER scientists engage in both prescribed research common to all sites and evolving, creative research unique to each site. Now that the LTER way of doing research is some 15 years mature, the LTER Coordinating Committee has taken a look at the numbers (see table below), and the numbers show that the LTER Program has met its promise.
Building a Research Community
The research scope at LTER sites necessitates a team-approach with diverse scientific expertise. Cn average, the sites require 15 investigators from five to six different institutions to accomplish their research programs. Including annual supplements, the National Science Foundation awards LTER sites just under $600,000 per year. Of the 15 investigators funded, those who have earmarked portions of the site’s annual budget (a fraction at each site) receive, on average, only $27,000 per year. These resources are used to cover summer stipend support for Pls, direct support of graduate students, or to meet specific field expenses not common to the site’s research community.
Efficient Use of Resources
The institutional cost of doing research at LTER sites is modest. The effective overhead rate (the institutional rate adjusted for a university’s matching contribution) averages, across all LTER sites, less than 25% ofthe NSF award. The sites spend 21% of their NSF awards to build research infrastructure to support current and future research. Each year, LTER sites become better equipped and better able to support the LTER research mission. Because they all run field stations, much of the research dollar-56% on average-is spent in the local community surrounding the field station.
Leveraging Science
LTER sites leverage resources to greatly expand their research enterprise. Across the Network, NSF awards, the large pool of scientific expertise, and the research infrastructure provide a powerful base from which to compete for additional research resources, leveraging an average 2.1 dollars from each NSF grant dollar. The scientific expertise is also leveraged in that an LTER site attracts, on average, 25 other research scientists to work at the site and collaborate with LTER scientists-in effect, each LTER scientist attracts two other scientists to the site. This leveraging of dollars, scientific expertise, and field station infrastructure directly supports and enhances education by attracting an average of 17 graduate and 15 undergraduate students each year, meaning that an LTER site supports on average a total of 73 research scientists. As a whole, the LTER community has grown to include nearly 1,400 scientists.
| AND | ARC | BNZ | CDR | CPR | CWT | HBR | HFR | JRN | KBS | KNZ | LUQ | MCM | NTL | NWT | PAL | SEV | VCR | AVG | per 100K | |
| # of PIs at site |
20
|
16
|
12
|
7
|
13
|
27
|
11
|
10
|
11
|
22
|
8
|
27
|
8
|
15
|
15
|
10
|
14
|
24
|
15
|
2.6
|
|
Avg $/PI (x1000) |
38
|
16.6
|
27
|
48
|
10
|
22
|
40
|
56
|
22
|
10
|
40
|
10
|
60
|
19
|
12
|
38
|
10
|
12
|
27
|
4.9
|
| #Institutions |
4
|
9
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
7
|
3
|
9
|
15
|
8
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
8
|
6.1
|
|
| Effec. overhead (%) |
31
|
46
|
37
|
0
|
15
|
26
|
28
|
8.5
|
24
|
0
|
27
|
10
|
20
|
11
|
26
|
26
|
8
|
21
|
20
|
20
|
| % $ Infrastructure |
30
|
40
|
12
|
30
|
51
|
23
|
10
|
11
|
10
|
20
|
10
|
33
|
8
|
15
|
30
|
23
|
28
|
25
|
21
|
21.2
|
| % $ Local economy |
100
|
16
|
80
|
88
|
100
|
25
|
35
|
70
|
70
|
70
|
100
|
8
|
0
|
25
|
100
|
0
|
100
|
30
|
56
|
56.3
|
| # Grad students |
45
|
20
|
19
|
23
|
13
|
19
|
9
|
12
|
10
|
21
|
11
|
19
|
12
|
20
|
12
|
12
|
15
|
40
|
17
|
3
|
| # Undergrads |
18
|
8
|
4
|
24
|
15
|
21
|
15
|
25
|
4
|
19
|
13
|
20
|
5
|
15
|
10
|
8
|
27
|
19
|
15
|
2.7
|
| Other $/LTER $ |
4
|
2
|
2
|
0.7
|
1.8
|
2
|
2.5
|
3.8
|
1.1
|
2
|
3.2
|
2.3
|
0.5
|
2
|
2
|
0.3
|
3.9
|
2.1
|
2.1
|
212.6
|
| Non-PI scientists |
40
|
8
|
10
|
16
|
34
|
20
|
15
|
57
|
15
|
15
|
30
|
18
|
25
|
15
|
20
|
14
|
88
|
22
|
25
|
4.5
|
Notes:
- The table provides averages across all 18 LTER sites as a measure of the attributes of an average site.
- The table provides a normalized measure of site attributes. This normalization is on a per- $100,000 basis, so that comparisons between LTER and other kinds of science support can be made.
- McMurdo Dry Valleys and Palmer Station in Antarctica and the Alaskan Tundra site have field stations with finite capacities and limits on the degree to which leveraging of award funds is possible.
Site abbreviations: AND=H.J.Andrews, ARC=Arctic Tundra, BNZ=Bonanza Creek, CDR=Cedar Creek, CPR=Central Plains, CWT=Coweeta, HBR=Hubbard Brook, HFR=Harvard Forest, JRN=Jornada Basin, KBS=Kellogg Biological Station, KNZ=Konza Prairie, LUQ=Luquillo, MCM=McMurdo, NTL=Northern Temperate Lakes, NWT=Niwot Ridge, PAL=Palmer Station, SEV=Sevilleta, VCR, Virginia Coast
Bruce P. Hayden, LTER Executive Committee