2009 LTER All Scientists Meeting - Biogeography

Sampling spruce growth and climate sensitivity on glacial rivers of Alaska

Glenn Juday — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:07:12 +0000

Poster Number:

398

Presenter/Primary Author:

Glenn Juday

Co-Authors:

Claire Alix

Co-Authors:

Steve Winslow

We are examining the growth, growth history and climate sensitivity of white and black spruce trees on the floodplains of the major rivers fed by glacial meltwater in Interior Alaska. To date we have sampled 624 trees on 41 sites distributed across 1,783 km of the Yukon River, 375 km of the Tanana River, and 370 km of the Kuskokwim River, for a total of 2,528 km of river length.

The Malawi Environmental Observatory Network(MEON): Constitution, Strategy and Implementation Plan

James Chimphamba — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:37:05 +0000

Poster Number:

381

Presenter/Primary Author:

James Chimphamba

Malawi is a land of farmers and facing rampant environmental problems whose capability for restoration is made dimmer by the looming shadow of climate change and variability. The Malawi Environmental Observatory Network is a small candle flickering with light for identification of prioritized environmental problems and setting of the road map of how such monumental problems could efficiently be tackled with the available meager resources.

The Harvard Forest LTER

Audrey Barker Plotkin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:45:57 +0000

Poster Number:

257

Presenter/Primary Author:

Audrey Barker Plotkin

Co-Authors:

David Foster

The temperate forests of eastern North America support high biodiversity and critical ecosystem functions while providing natural resources and cultural benefits to an expanding human population. The region is shaped by a legacy of landscape change: major shifts in climate, vegetation and disturbance at millennial time scales; extensive deforestation for agriculture in the 17th – 19th centuries; and abandonment of farmlands, natural reforestation and increasing urbanization through the mid-21st century.

Biogeography of Bacterial Diversity and Function Across a Heterogeneous Alpine Landscape

Andrew King — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:53:15 +0000

Poster Number:

198

Presenter/Primary Author:

Andrew King

Co-Authors:

Kristen R. Freemen

Co-Authors:

Katherine F. McCormick

Co-Authors:

Micah Hamady

Co-Authors:

Catherine Lozupone

Co-Authors:

Rob Knight

Co-Authors:

Steve K. Schmidt

Microorganisms have confounded biogeographers because of their high dispersal capability, small size, and vast diversity and abundance. Here we use pyrosequencing, bioinformatics tools, and geospatial modeling to reveal that the genetic relatedness of soil bacteria varies in a predictable pattern across a landscape. Microbial communities showed strong spatial autocorrelation to a distance of 240 meters and this pattern was driven by changes in the genetic relatedness and abundance of specific clades across the landscape.

Student Poster:

Yes

Cross-Site Working Group on Coupled Human-Natural Systems

Craig Harris — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:38:27 +0000

Final Report (Required, .pdf format only) :

Cross-Site Working Group on Coupled Human-Natural Systems Final Report

Organizer:

William Freudenburg

Co-organizer(s):

Craig Harris

This session is intended both for social and biophysical scientists who want to help develop a proposal for the kind of “multi-site, highly collaborative and integrated research initiative” envisioned by the LTER planning group. The focus will be on what the LTER planning process calls the “centerpiece” of the group's conceptual framework, as well as one of “Grand Challenges” to be addressed at the network level – “the dynamics of coupled human-natural ecosystems.”

Preferred Dates:

Sept. 14

Working Group Duration:

Session Info

Session(s):

Working Group Session 5

Room:

Reusch Auditorium Sweet

Official Participants

Additional Participants:

"Craig Harris" <Craig.Harris@SSC.MSU.EDU>, Victor Thompson <thompson.2042@osu.edu>, John Turck <jaturck@#uga.edu>, Hannah Gosnell <gosnellh@geo.oregonstate.edu>, Sharon Hall <sharonjhall@asu.edu>, Abigail York <abigail.york@asu.edu>, Jim Gosz <jgosz@uidaho.edu>, "Wm. R. Freudenburg" <freudenburg@es.ucsb.edu>

Preference and performance in plant-herbivore interactions across latitude – a study in the U.S. Atlantic Coast salt marshes

Chuan-Kai Ho — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:02:55 +0000

Poster Number:

Presenter/Primary Author:

Chuan-Kai Ho

Co-Authors:

Steven C. Pennings

Studies suggest that high-latitude plants should be more palatable to herbivores than low-latitude conspecifics. Few studies, however, have examined whether this increased plant palatability indicates better plant quality for herbivores. We worked with three plant species and six associated herbivores along the U.S. Atlantic Coast to examine whether plant quality for herbivores increases with latitudes, and whether herbivores show local adaptation to plants from their own geographic regions.

Coral reef bacterioplankton in Moorea, French Polynesia: Spatial structuring of communities and metabolism of dissolved organic matter

Craig Nelson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:57:09 +0000

Poster Number:

Presenter/Primary Author:

Craig Nelson

Co-Authors:

Craig A. Carlson

Co-Authors:

Andrew J. Brooks

Tropical reef ecosystems lie at the interface of productive, populated terrestrial coastlines and unproductive, oligotrophic oceanic waters. Corals and other dominant reef organisms maintain complex symbiotic interactions with both surficial and planktonic aquatic microbial communities, but the processes defining the composition and life history of these communities are poorly understood.

Virtual Field Trips for LTER Sites

Bob Woodmansee — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:02:38 +0000

Final Report (Required, .pdf format only) :

Virtual Field Trips for LTER Sites

Organizer:

Bob Woodmansee

Co-organizer(s):

John Moore

Co-organizer(s):

John Vande Castle

This workshop will introduce Virtual Field Trips version 2. We will explore developing an open access library of on-line, interactive virtual field trips for sites within the LTER Network. Individual field trips include site descriptions with links to data sources and on-line explorer tools, panoramic movies with hotspots linking to visual and audio descriptions of points of interest (teaching points), photo galleries that further describe key site features, and more.

Preferred Dates:

Sept. 14

Working Group Duration:

Session Info

Session(s):

Working Group Session 4

Room:

Wind River B

Working Group Materials

Official Participants

LTER Participants:

Arthur Schwarzschild

Julie Doll

Jackie Wilson

Rita Caceres

Liz Duff

Mike Rugge

Marcia Nation

Bess Caplan

Alan Berkowitz

John Vande Castle

Clark Alexander

Additional Participants:

Ron Saleit - saleit@ramathanadiv.org.il

Sheila Soler - sheisoler@gmail.com

Antonio Lara - antoniolara@vacli.cl ??

Microbial Inventory Research Across Diverse Aquatic LTERs: The MIRADA Cross-site LTER Project

Linda Amaral-Zettler — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:24:59 +0000

Final Report (Required, .pdf format only) :

MIRADA LTERS workshop Report

Organizer:

Linda Amaral-Zettler

Co-organizer(s):

Hugh Ducklow

Co-organizer(s):

John Hobbie

Co-organizer(s):

Inigo San Gil

Video:

First part: Mirada Presentation

Vamps Intro

Using Vamps

Vamps - Cont'd

The MIRADA LTERs project (see working group materials) is an NSF-funded Microbial Biodiversity Survey and Inventory across all 13 of the major aquatic (marine and freshwater) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. The long-term objective of our study is to document and describe baseline diversity and relative abundance data for both common and rare members of microbial communities located in aquatic LTER sites and to relate this diversity to the underlying physical and chemical environment.

Preferred Dates:

Sept. 14

Working Group Duration:

Session Info

Session(s):

Working Group Session 3

Session(s):

Working Group Session 4

Room:

Wind River A

Working Group Materials

Official Participants

LTER Participants:

Byron Crump

James Hollibaugh

John Priscu

Craig Carlson

Anne Giblin

Katherine McMahon

Hugh Ducklow

John Hobbie

Additional Participants:

Elizabeth McCliment - lmccliment@mbl.edu