2009 LTER All Scientists Meeting - Site Description

Landscape dynamics in an interdisciplinary perspective: 25 years of research for sustainable agriculture and forestry

Marc Deconchat — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:48:55 +0000

Poster Number:

394

Presenter/Primary Author:

Marc Deconchat

Co-Authors:

Balent, G.

Co-Authors:

Gibon, A.

The study site, located in southwest of Toulouse (France) is a typical agricultural landscape (agricultural mosaic + forest remnants) with mixed production systems. This region is considered as an “intermediate zone”, without any particular conservation value, any agricultural potential, and any social challenge. The total study site area is around 15 000 hectares. Agriculture remains the predominant activity, but it is encountering difficulties in marginal areas that do not have particularly high agricultural potential.

Niwot Ridge LTER Program: Alpine Ecosystems as Early Warning Systems

Mark Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:42:43 +0000

Poster Number:

377

Presenter/Primary Author:

Mark Williams

Co-Authors:

Tim Seastedt

Co-Authors:

Diane McKnight

Co-Authors:

Alan Townsend

Co-Authors:

Bill Bowman

Co-Authors:

Steve Schmidt

Co-Authors:

Peter Blanken

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 California Current Ecosystem (CCE) LTER Site

Mark Ohman — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:58:20 +0000

Poster Number:

369

Presenter/Primary Author:

Mark Ohman

Co-Authors:

24 coauthors

The California Current System is a coastal upwelling biome, as found along the eastern margins of all major ocean basins. These are among the more productive ecosystems in the world ocean. The California Current Ecosystem (CCE) LTER site (centered on 32.9° N, 120.3° W) is investigating nonlinear transitions in the California Current coastal pelagic ecosystem, with particular attention to long-term forcing by a secular warming trend, multi-decadal oscillations (e.g., PDO and NPGO), and ENSO in altering the structure and dynamics of the pelagic ecosystem.

Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research

Marcia Nation — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:54:26 +0000

Poster Number:

357

Presenter/Primary Author:

Nancy Grimm

Co-Authors:

Charles Redman

The Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project is based in the central Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix region, embedded in the Sonoran Desert. As the fifth-largest and, until recently, the fastest-growing city in the US, Phoenix is an excellent location for urban ecological research. Phoenix was established after the Civil War, initially one of several small towns surrounded by irrigated farmland. Continued agrarian expansion predated the explosive growth of housing in the second half of the 20th century.

SEVILLETA LTER Abiotic Pulses and Constraints: Dynamics and stability in an aridland ecosystem

Scott Collins — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:57:53 +0000

Poster Number:

352

Presenter/Primary Author:

Scott Collins

Co-Authors:

Cliff Dahm

Co-Authors:

Marchy Litvak

Co-Authors:

Will Pockman

Co-Authors:

Kristin Vanderbilt

Co-Authors:

Esteban Muldavin

Co-Authors:

Bob Sinsabaugh

Co-Authors:

Blair Wolf

The Sevilleta LTER is located at the intersection of several aridland ecosystem types. Although it is axiomatic that water is the key limiting resource in aridland ecosystems, most arid land soils are also chronically low in nutrients and organic matter. Resource availability is a function of the frequency and size of precipitation events as well as the time between events. As a consequence, NPP and organic matter decomposition are often decoupled in space and time, and soil nutrient supply rates may limit NPP during periods when soil moisture is sufficient for plant growth.

Arctic LTER: Goals and Results

John Hobbie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:38:57 +0000

Poster Number:

347

Presenter/Primary Author:

John Hobbie

Co-Authors:

George Kling

Co-Authors:

Chris Luecke

Co-Authors:

Gus Shaver

Co-Authors:

Anne Giblin

Co-Authors:

Donie Bret-Harte

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.

The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Program

Wade Sheldon — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:49:53 +0000

Poster Number:

343

Presenter/Primary Author:

Merryl Alber

Co-Authors:

Steven Pennings

Co-Authors:

Adrian Burd

Co-Authors:

James T. Hollibaugh

Co-Authors:

Samantha B. Joye

Co-Authors:

Wade Sheldon

The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems (GCE) LTER site, located on the central Georgia coast, was established in 2000. The study domain encompasses three adjacent sounds (Altamaha, Doboy, Sapelo) and includes upland (mainland, barrier islands, marsh hammocks), intertidal (fresh, brackish and salt marsh) and submerged (river, estuary, continental shelf) habitats. Patterns and processes in this complex landscape vary spatially within and between sites, and temporally on multiple scales (tidal, diurnal, seasonal, and inter-annual).

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve’s LTER Program

Jeffrey Corney — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:21:19 +0000

Poster Number:

340

Presenter/Primary Author:

Jeffrey Corney

Co-Authors:

David Tilman

Co-Authors:

Sarah Hobbie

Co-Authors:

Peter Reich

Co-Authors:

Stephen Polasky

The Cedar Creek LTER (CDR) is housed at the University of Minnesota’s Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (CCESR), an internationally renowned ecological research and education facility, located 35 miles north of the Twin Cities. Established in 1942, Cedar Creek encompasses 2,200 hectares of land comprised of a unique and diverse mosaic of forests, savannas, prairies, wetlands, and open water.

The PIE-LTER

Anne Giblin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:42:05 +0000

Poster Number:

314

Presenter/Primary Author:

Anne Giblin

Co-Authors:

L. Deegan

Co-Authors:

C. Hopkonson

Co-Authors:

J. Hobbie

Co-Authors:

R. Buchsbaum

Co-Authors:

G. Pontius

Co-Authors:

J. Morris

Co-Authors:

M. Mather

Co-Authors:

B. Peterson

Co-Authors:

J. Vallino

Co-Authors:

W. Wollheim

Coastal ecosystems play a key role in the transformation, transport, burial and exchange of water and organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen between land, atmosphere and the ocean. With an overwhelming majority of the human population living in the coastal zone, coastal ecosystems are among the most heavily impacted ecosystems in the world. Like many other coastal regions, the Plum Island Ecosystem region, which lies just north of Boston, Massachusetts, is experiencing population growth in the watershed, land use change, climate change, altered hydrologic cycles, and sea level rise.

Shortgrass Steppe LTER VI: A Persisting Ecosystem in the Face of Global Change

Sallie Sprague — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:11:07 +0000

Poster Number:

303

Presenter/Primary Author:

Michael Antolin

Co-Authors:

Amy Angert, David Augustine, Cini Brown, Dana Blumenthal, Indy Burke, Rich Conant, Justin Derner,

Co-Authors:

Noah Fierer, Nancy French, Niall Hanan, Gene Kelly, Catherine Keske, Julia Klein, Alan Knapp,

Co-Authors:

Bill Lauenroth, Daniel Milchunas, John Moore, Jack Morgan, Bill Parton, Paul Stapp,

Co-Authors:

Heidi Staltzer, Joe von Fischer, Matt Wallenstein

The Shortgrass Steppe (SGS) LTER project studies an ecosystem that has persisted under a regime of semi-arid extremes, with high inter- and intra-annual variability in precipitation and temperature. The 340 mm of annual precipitation falls primarily during spring rainstorms over several days as well as during a period of summer rains from more localized thunderstorms. Further, the system is well-adapted both to grazing by large herbivores and to smaller-scale disturbances caused by animals like prairie dogs.