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LTER looking backwards and forwards (big issues facing LTER; big ideas for the future)

LTER looking backwards and forwards (big issues facing LTER; big ideas for the future). Emily Stanley University of Wisconsin- North Temperate Lakes ehstanley@wisc.edu. Disclaimer. ICU, not IM Standing/leaning on the shoulders of giants

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LTER looking backwards and forwards (big issues facing LTER; big ideas for the future)

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  1. LTER looking backwards and forwards (big issues facing LTER; big ideas for the future) Emily Stanley University of Wisconsin- North Temperate Lakes ehstanley@wisc.edu

  2. Disclaimer • ICU, not IM • Standing/leaning on the shoulders of giants • Culture and tradition of NTL set by John Magnuson, Steve Carpenter • Site and network IM excellence of Barbara Benson and Corinna Gries • Great LTER colleagues

  3. The future is hard to predict… • Learn from the past • Identifying big issues as a critical first step • Use scenarios to think about possible futures

  4. Magnuson, Kratz, Benson (2006): 4 conflicts (challenges) of LT research • Maintain the old while embracing the new • Analyses/methods/technologies; processes; scientists/ideas • Project manageability vs. project growth • Same for data • Retaining continuity, integrity of LT research • Practical and intellectual challenge • Site-specific research vs. need to synthesize

  5. 2 more challenges • Steve Carpenter: • Paul Hanson: • Network information systems must service the science, education, and outreach goals of the network. • Bob Kates: Disciplines disappear and universities will organize around questions vs. LTER • Transition may be turbulent… “IM is the easy part. Intellectual leadership is the hard part”

  6. Maintaining intellectual investment by top scientists: The Big Tent • No single intellectual viewpoint; a ‘flat table’ • Core data and understanding as a critical attractant • The framework that holds up the building • Modest resources • Low cost/higher benefits (collaborations, leveraging) • Those involved want to be involved • Bottom up organization  robust to vagaries of individuals

  7. The Big Tent for the LTER network • ASM as proof • But… • Sustaining, enhancing network-scale science? • Are LTER working groups as successful as NCEAS working groups?

  8. The Big Tent for the LTER network • Invest more in LNO to contribute to intellectual leadership? • We’ve asked LNO to play more of a functionary, management role…

  9. The Big Tent for the LTER network • No single intellectual viewpoint; a ‘flat table’ • Disciplines disappear and universities will organize around questions vs. LTER Jim Collins 2006- “The Future Ecologist”

  10. The Big Tent for the LTER network • No single intellectual viewpoint; a ‘flat table’ • Disciplines disappear and universities will organize around questions vs. LTER • Fred Swanson: ‘LTER as an interdisciplinary ship of exploration journeying through time’ • Be a leader in this turbulent transition? • By doing the good science, but perhaps we also need to think about pushing other institutions?

  11. Looking backwards to bring challenges into focus • Looking forward to be ready to handle them– scenarios for the future? • ASM 2006: The next 25 years Plenary • ASM 2012: LTER 2100 Workshop • Again; more in depth? Follow-up?

  12. Scenarios for the future • The future now: making room to ask more100-year questions http://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu http://lter.limnology.wisc.edu

  13. END

  14. Rationale for LTER program • Need to investigate ecological phenomena at scales of decades to centuries • Eco experiments conducted with little recognition of high inter-annual variability • LT trends not being monitored- can’t distinguish trends from cycles • Absence of a coordinated network of ecological research sites inhibits comparative research and its benefits • Natural ecosystems where research is done are being lost to other uses • Multi-level, integrated data were not available at intensive research sites

  15. To be sustainable Long-term Research requires Magnuson- To be sustainable, Long-term Research requires: • Funding and funding opportunities increased over time • High productivity of important scientific contributions • Key players and leaders attracted from successive generations of scientists • Breadth of the subject areas and measurements maintained • Personalities appropriate for management of interdisciplinary scientists

  16. The ecologist of the future J. Collins ASM 2006 Increase CI capacity for data acquisition, management, and curation Sevilleta LTER

  17. The ecologist of the future Increase CI capacity for data acquisition, management, and curation Sevilleta LTER

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