More than any other single skill, the ability to read and read well allows children to succeed in school, learn about the world, and function in society (National Children's LIteracy). The Schoolyard Children's Book Series is a creative outreach approach for connecting and understanding LTER ecology and environmental science at any site. This informational workshop will brainstorm on the major objectives for the Schoolyard Children's Book Series and share handouts on program specifics for those interested in writing a children's book.

Join us for an update on the progress of the EcoTrends project, an introduction to the functionality of the new EcoTrends website (http://www.ecotrends.info), lessons learned during the project, and a description of plans for the future. We will also use this time to solicit and discuss ideas on how to better incorporate and display data via database design, web services and tools (e.g., mapping, analysis tools, modeling tools, and customizable features) that will further engage and support the research and information management community.
 

Understanding biodiversity and the factors that govern it are important components of an environmental literacy framework. Yet, students rarely graduate from K-12 institutions with a robust understanding of biodiversity, particularly of their local ecosystems. Given the wealth of expertise in biodiversity science within the LTER network and education activities at LTER sites, we have the opportunity to build unique collaborations that continue to enhance ecological literacy.

Dissolved organic material (DOM) is a major pool of organic carbon in all aquatic ecosystems and has high concentrations in soil interstitial water. DOM represents both a substrate for microbial growth and an important characteristic of aquatic and soil environments, regulating light penetration in lakes and streams and the bioavailability of trace metals and organic contaminants, for example. Diverse studies have shown that the concentration and chemical properties of DOM reflects the predominant DOM sources.

The purpose of this workshop is to exchange information about ongoing LTER research projects about the effects of sea level rise on coastal wetlands. The intent is to identify common observational and experimental datasets at coastal wetland LTER sites that can be used to generate cross-site comparative analyses of how coastal wetlands respond to sea level rise. Examples of common approaches to measuring long-term change in coastal wetlands might include eddy covariance towers, sediment elevation tables, organic matter flux and metabolism measurements and marsh organ experiments.

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. 

After many years of discussions, there are now serious efforts to initiate ILTER-like activities in adjacent regions of western Argentina and central Chile. Collectively, this area is often called “northern Patagonia”. For the most part, ILTER organizers in Argentina and Chile, as well as their U.S. collaborators, have been operating independently. However, all of these scientists recognize that there is significant value in coordinating plans for long-term ecological research in northern Patagonia. 

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.

Land fragmentation caused by urban sprawl and “leap frog” development patterns has important consequences on ecological structure and function. A group of researchers from several LTER sites--Central Arizona-Phoenix, Konza Prairie, Jornada Basin, Sevilleta, and Shortgrass Steppe—is collaborating in a cross-site comparison study to analyze the land fragmentation patterns and processes in some of the fast growing cities in the Southwest and Midwest regions.

The goal of the ITEST-funded CoastLines project is to facilitate efficient deployment of geographic information systems (GIS) in schools. It is accomplishing this goal by laying the foundation for sustained implementation of project strategies, materials, and technologies at three sites in the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program.