Scientific Accomplishments of the Long Term Ecological Research Program: An Introduction

H and why is the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network’s approach to ecological studies different from that of other networks? One difference is that each LTER project has the opportunity to choose its own research focus. The result is a wide variety of topics and projects that take advantage of the diverse habitats around the research sites and the diverse scientific skills of the research teams and participating institutions. Strong scientists remain on the projects, attracted by opportunities for multidisciplinary research, synthesis, and experimental manipulations that may last 20 years or more.Yet these opportunities for diversity are balanced by commonalities across sites that result from their belonging to the LTER Network. One requirement for inclusion in the network is that all data must be available on the Internet. Another is that every site should include research on some of the five LTER core research areas, which include primary production, decomposition, and disturbance (see table 1 in Hobbie et al. 2003). This ensures that all sites carry out a broad range of research and that comparisons among sites are possible. Moreover, comparisons and syntheses across sites are actively encouraged through the availability of small grants to measure a process at a number of locations that might include both LTER and non-LTER sites. In addition, cooperative and comparative research is a requirement for renewal of each LTER project; proposal reviews take into account the amount of cooperative and comparative research to be produced. Another major difference between the LTER Network and other networks is the structure of the LTER program. Once NSF holds a competition and a panel selects a site for funding, continuation for an LTER project is judged every 6 years by a panel whose criteria include scientific progress; quality of publications, management, and education; and degree of cooperative work with other sites. After the initial competition, sites no longer compete against one another for continuation. Equality of resources and a fundamentally cooperative attitude among sites are now basic characteristics of the LTER program. The LTER statistics are impressive. More than 1200 scientists take part in the network. There are educational programs for grades kindergarten through 12, for undergraduates, for graduate students, and for postdoctoral fellows. Twelve thousand LTER-related journal articles were published from the start of the program in 1980 through 1995. Seven books, each of which synthesizes research at separate sites, have been published, and 13 more are in preparation. There is a cooperative program with international LTER programs in more than 20 countries; most of these programs were modeled after the US LTER Network. Thousands of data sets are available on the Internet. On average, each LTER site leverages its NSF funding threefold.