Network News Newsletter of the Long Term Ecological Research Network Vol. 22 No. 2 Fall 2009 Another successful All Scientists Meeting owever, the most important as- pects of the meeting were the discussionsH of research and planning for future activities. These took place in over 75 working group meetings in seven work- ing group sessions, producing a variety of products and 29 requests for follow-on activities. Adding to the working group sessions were over 400 poster presentations held during four evening mixers in a large new meeting hall at the YMCA. J. Megan Waltz (KBS) won first prize in the student poster contest, with honorable mention going to Rebecca Hewitt (BNZ), Julia La Roche (ARC), Ashley Keiser (CWT), Robert Stew- art (PIE), and Marko Spasojevic (NWT). Wade Sheldon (GCE), won the photo con- test for both the “Elk” and “non-Elk” cat- egories while Mike Stukel (CCE), John Bain (VCR), Brian Voigt (BES), won the respec- A section of the audience in the plenary hall during the 2009 All Scientists Meeting at tive “LTER Scientists”, “Scenery”, “Silly” Estes Park, CO. Photo: McOwiti O. Thomas photo categories. Don Henshaw (AND) he 2009 LTER All Scientists Logistics for the meeting were handled See “ASM”, p. 3 Meeting held at the YMCA by the LNO in collaboration with The Tof the Rockies in Estes Schneider Group, a company specializ- ing in meeting organization. There were In This Issue Park, Colorado from September pre-ASM meetings for information man- 13-17, 2009 was, by all accounts, a agers, graduate students, education repre- Network News................ Page 1 very successful meeting following sentatives, international attendees, and the previous meetings held there in LTER Executive Board. Editorial. ............................Page 2 1990, 1993 and 2006. The Program Six plenary presentations on LTER sci- NSF News..........................Page 7 Committee, working with ence and research were given by Phil Rob- the LTER Network Office ertson, Jim Collins, Dave Schimel, Bill Site News...........................Page 8 Clark, Laura Ogden, and Carol Brewer, as (LNO), created a program that well as evening presentations on the pre- Education News................ Page 14 clearly resulted in an exciting and history and future of LTER (Dave Cole- Informatics Bits & Bytes .... Page 17 productive meeting. man and Henry Gholz). LTER site acronyms: AND=H.J. Andrews ; ARC=Arctic; BES=Baltimore Ecosystem Study; BNZ=Bonanza ASM Reports ..................... Page 18 Creek; CAP=Central Arizona–Phoenix; CCE=California Current Ecosystem; CDR=Cedar Creek; CWT=Coweeta; FCE=Florida Coastal Everglades; GCE=Georgia Coastal Ecosystem; HFR=Harvard For- International News..............Page 22 est; HBR=Hubbard Brook; JRN=Jornada Basin; KBS=Kellogg Biological Station; KNZ=Konza Prairie; LNO=LTER Network Office; LUQ=Luquillo; MCM=McMurdo Dry Valleys; MCR=Moorea Coral Reef; Calendar ........................... Page 24 NWT=Niwot Ridge; NTL=North Temperate Lakes; PAL=Palmer Station; PIE=Plum Island Ecosystem; SBC=Santa Barbara Coastal; SEV=Sevilleta; SGS=Shortgrass Steppe; VCR=Virginia Coast Reserve. Editorial The etwork View from the Chair ews Thanks to all who made the 2009 N Vol 22 No 2 Fall 2009 All Scientist Meeting such a rous- ing success – once again we had a chance to see collectively The Network News what makes the Network shine: is produced each outstanding ecological science spring and fall at the that transcends the boundaries LTER Network Office of individual sites. Much of the through a cooperative agreement historical strength we display as between the a network comes from a founda- National Science Foundation tion of solid site-based science – Stock clipart questions asked and addressed and the at individual sites that require a long-term context to be answered well. University of New Mexico But more and more our visibility arises from cross-site work that places local patterns and processes in a wider geographic context. Connecting the dots at these larger scales requires exactly the sort of network we’ve become; in fact it’s fair to say that we’ve been one of the strongest forces in continental-scale connectivity science (see, for example, the June 2008 issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment). he Network’s synthesis initiatives, structure sufficient to the task. This is first described in our Decadal Plan, why one of our highest network priorities Tembody this perspective and the is to complete the design and implemen- further recognition that socioecological tation of the LTER Network Information questions are among the most important System (NIS), including the revision and and recalcitrant issues that face us today. documentation of site data. The NIS A meaningful approach to understanding is designed to facilitate the automated climate change impacts, mitigation, and discovery and retrieval of site-based data adaptation, for example, cannot divorce in such a way that it becomes easily ac- The University of New Mexico the biophysical from the social, and our cessible by a variety of users, especially emphasis on interdisciplinary science those attempting to address fundamental Please contact the positions the network well to address ex- large-scale synthetic questions. Early LTER Network Office actly these sorts of challenges. All of our efforts such as ClimDB, and more re- with your questions, comments, new initiatives take this approach and will cent efforts like EcoTrends, illustrate the ideas, and requests for copies: be well positioned for pushing frontiers in potential power of such systems. Funding LTER Network Office their respective areas: Cryosphere Disap- for the centralized piece of this is now in University of New Mexico pearance, Coastal Zone Vulnerabilities, place, with the National Science Founda- 505.277.2534 Inland Climate Change, and Future Sce- tion’s generous support through stimulus narios of Land Use and Climate Change dollars. We are now working on secur- (for full descriptions see www.lternet.edu/ ing funding for the site-based piece, and This issue of the decadalplan/. looking forward to having a truly func- LTER Network Newsletter Recognition of the Network’s tional NIS in place in the coming years. was edited, designed, and produced by achievements comes in many forms, and The Network is currently in a great McOwiti O. Thomas one of the more unique and memorable place. We are well-positioned to address ([email protected]) will be the American Institute of Bio- some of the nation’s most important and logical Sciences Distinguished Scientist basic socioecological and environmental Proofreading by James Brunt Award, to be bestowed on the Network in science questions. And we are the char- ([email protected]) May 2010 in honor of our 30th anniver- ter member of an emerging constella- sary. This is a tremendous honor and tion of environmental observatories that Printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks at Starline Printing. reflects splendidly on all of us and our jointly will address the critical environ- collective accomplishments as a network. mental challenges of the future. What a In some cases articles are abridged to fit It’s great to be so recognized. great place to be! in the printed version of the Newsletter. A One of our biggest challenges as we By Phil Robertson, LTER Chair, KBS complete, color version is available on the tackle large-scale questions of national LTER World Wide Web site: import is to have in place a data infra- www.LTERnet.edu The LTER Network News Vol. 22 No. 2 Fall 2009 2 Network News ASM (continued from p. 1) was the winner of the ASM trivia contest. In addition to the many posi- The plenary speakers L to R: William Clark (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard), David Coleman (University of Georgia), Jenna Jadin (AIBS Public Policy tive comments by Office), John Magnuson (NTL), Jim Collins (NSF), and Carol Brewer (University of meeting attendees, Montana) . (Photo: McOwiti O. Thomas). very useful infor- mation came from Although a number of people didn’t like ad hoc discussions, or time to enjoy local the post-ASM sur- the YMCA food, they did like the beer attractions in the area and perhaps get into Megan (KBS) vey. Eighty-four selected by the LNO for the mixers! town for a good meal. “waltzed” away with percent of the any factors were rated in impor- The mixer and poster sessions could the Best Student attendees thought tance with respect to participants’ go later in the evening even if the refresh- Poster prize. (Photo: the meeting was M McOwiti O. Thomas). decision to attend the meeting. Workshop ments and snacks have to be cleaned up either excellent or content (51%), networking opportunities earlier since participants did not seem to very good while (82%), availability of LNO support to at- like the earlier closing time of the poster nobody thought it was “poor”. Nobody tend ASM (42%), and meeting with peers session in the 2009 meeting. indicated they were dissatisfied with LNO of similar expertise (75%) were rated ex- The YMCA seems to know how to make responses to requests. tremely important factors in the decision good pizza, as noted by people at the open- Network- to attend, while the poster sessions (58%), ing mixer, so perhaps some improvements ing oppor- social activities (52%), and ASM location in the food can be made. tunities are a (53%) rated important. critical com- Not important in the de- ponent to cision to attend the ASM the success were the local attractions of the ASM. (48%). Finally, 51% of To that end, the respondents said they respondents would like to see the ASM were asked return to the YMCA of to respond to the Rockies (in 2012, various activ- while 60% would prefer ities designed the month of September to enhance for the meeting. the network- Looking forward to the Michell Thomey (SEV) in ing experi- next ASM, some modifi- Education Committee meeting.