The Niwot Ridge (NWT) LTER site was one of the five original LTER sites established in 1980. The LTER program is based at the University of Colorado-Boulder and is administered through the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and in cooperation with the Mountain Research Station, with special use permits from the US Forest Service.

The goal of the Arctic LTER is to predict the future ecological characteristics of Arctic Alaska based upon our knowledge of the controls of ecosystem structure and function as exerted by physical setting and geologic factors, climatic factors, biotic factors, and the changes in fluxes of water and materials from land to water.

As an attempt to assess and monitor long term ecological processes among several biological areas of the country The Venezuelan Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network (EcoRed Venezuela) was established in September 1997 with government support, through the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICIT), the encouragement of the US LTER Network, and the cooperation of scientific institutions throughout the country.

Urban ecology is evolving as the scientific base grows and new concerns of urban partners emerge. In the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), both of these drivers are at work.

An aspect of climate change in California has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of winter storms. Disturbance from storms is a major source of variation in the standing biomass of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera, a competitive dominant on shallow reefs that forms a dense overstory canopy at the sea surface. Climate induced changes in the standing biomass of Macrocystis are expected to have a profound effect on the assemblage of subordinate understory macroalgae.

A major goal of the Florida Coastal Everglades LTER research program is to investigate how changes in freshwater flow related to Everglades ecosystem restoration will impact ecosystem processes, specifically in the Shark River Slough/Gulf of Mexico and the Taylor Slough/Florida Bay ecotones of Everglades National Park. This research is as much a question about natural processes as it is social processes.

The LTER Network uses Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System technologies extensively in its research activities. The focus for remote sensing and GIS activities at LNO is for data acquisition and the cross-site, large-scale collaborations which are afforded by these data.

Details of LNO activities in service to the LTER community