The International Long-Term Ecosystem Research network (ILTER) includes national networks of scientists and their stakeholders engaged in long-term, site-based ecological, social and economic research. The LTER-Italy network, established in 2006, joined ILTER in 2007. The “Apennines (high elevation)” site joined LTER-Italy in 2007. It consists of “orographic islands” of alpine tundra along the Apennines chain, where many endemic and rare taxa occur that are critically endangered by climate warming.

Barrier islands may represent an underestimated sink for atmospheric carbon because they combine potential for high above-ground primary productivity (ANPP) with young, infertile soils capable of sequestering significant amounts of carbon. Ecosystem ANPP on many barrier islands of the Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) has been further enhanced by the rapid expansion of woody shrubs. Compared to adjacent grasslands, shrubs in coastal systems combine high leaf area index with high photosynthetic rates.

The prospect for long term, interdisciplinary research continues to grow since the "regionalizing" of the Coweeta and North Temperate Lakes LTER sites and the initiation of the two urban LTER sites: Baltimore and Central-Arizona-Phoenix. Additional sites have recruited social scientists and expanded both the questions asked and the geographic extent of their interests. Thus, there is growing opportunities for collaboration among sites that might not identify themselves as "urban," in conjunction with the existing regional and urban sites.