| Summary: | The U.S. Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1800 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. The Network promotes synthesis and comparative research across sites and ecosystems and among other related national and international research programs. The National Science Foundation established the LTER program in 1980 to support research on long-term ecological phenomena in the United States. The LTER program has organized its research around five core areas: Pattern and control of primary production; Spatial and temporal distribution of populations selected to represent trophic structures; Pattern and control of organic matter accumulation and decomposition in surface layers and sediments; Patterns of inorganic inputs and movements of nutrients through soils, groundwater and surface waters; and Patterns and frequency of disturbances. The 26 LTER Sites represent diverse ecosystems and research emphases. These sites include: Andrews Experimental Forest, Blue River, Oregon Upper Kuparuk River/Toolik Lake Watershed, Alaska Baltimore Ecosystems Study (BES), Baltimore, Maryland Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest and Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed, Alaska Central Arizona - Phoenix Urban (CAP), Arizona California Current Ecosystem (CCE), California Cedar Creek Natural History Area (CDR), Minnesota Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory, Appalachian Mountains, Georgia Florida Coastal Everglades, Florida Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, Georgia Harvard Forest, Massachusetts Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire Jornada Basin, Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan Konza Prairie, Konza Prairie Biological Station, Kansas Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica Moorea Coral Reef, Moorea Island, Tahiti, French Polynesia Niwot Ridge, Colorado North Temperate Lakes, Wisconsin Palmer Station, Antarctica Plum Island Ecosystem, New England Santa Barbara Coastal Zone, California Sevilleta, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico Shortgrass Steppe, Western Great Plains, Colorado Virginia Coast Reserve, Eastern Shore, Virginia The LTER Network Office coordinates communication, network publications, and research-planning activities.
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