DATA-MODEL ASSIMILATION CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE LTER PROGRAM

Debra PetersDebra Peters

Lead Research Scientist, USDA ARS, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM 88003-0003. debpeter@nmsu.edu

Lead Principal Investigator, Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research program

Landscape Linkages

Long Term Ecological Research Network:

- national-level network funded continuously since 1980

- 26 sites and a network office

- funded in 6 year increments by the National Science Foundation

http://www.lternet.edu

LTER network contains diverse ecosystems with common environmental problems – How can we understand and predict dynamics?Are there general principles and

properties across sites?

LTER from 1980 to 2004+: focus on site-based science and long-term data

1998

grasslands 8%

shrublands 92%

1858

Grasslands

1915

grasslands 37%

shrublands 63%

0

300

600

900

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

year

are

a (

ha)

shrubs

ecotone

grasses

Human systems Natural systems

Ecosystemfunction

Biotic structureHuman behavior

Ecosystem services

Long-term “press”

Short-term “pulse”Human

outcomes

Events

Drivers

2000 – future: added focus on network-level science

Common conceptual framework for all sites

LTER provides solid foundation for regional, continental, and global networks

http://www.p2erls.net/riogrande.html

Rio Grande Network

NM Energy Flux Tower Network(http://bosque.unm.edu/~cleverly/ ).

50 sites (LTER, USFS, USDA ARS, DOE, USGS, UA)50 sites (LTER, USFS, USDA ARS, DOE, USGS, UA)

EcoTrends Project(www.ecotrends.info)

Led by Jornada LTER-ARS, NMSU

National-level networks build on LTER sites

Objectives of EcoTrends Project

(1) to create a platform for synthesis by producing a

compendium of easily accessible long-term graphs and

data (> 10 years) from ecological research sites

- biogeochemistry

- biotic structure

- human economic and demographic

- climate

(2) to illustrate the utility of this platform in addressing

important within-site and network-level scientific

questions

To date, > 50 sites and > 400 datasets are

accessible through the EcoTrends project.

(> 300 existing sites in the US to-date)Led by Jornada ARS-LTER, NMSU

Global Network: Pole-to-Pole Ecological Lattice of Sites (P2ERLS); global “network of networks” (

http://www.p2erls.net)

Web portal to information about research sites

Opportunities

- Data and site information are available for

use in models in derived, easy-to-use format

(EcoTrends, P2ERLS)

- Long-term datasets and sites can be added

(EcoTrends)

- Sites can be added to continental to global

networks accessed via web portals (P2ERLS)

Cedar Creek Kellogg Shortgrass steppe Jornada

Harvard Forest Hubbard Brook Coweeta Andrews

Palmer Drought severity index (1895-2003)

Compare same data from many different sites

Jornada ARS- LTER (New Mexico)State changes through time

(Laliberte et al. 2004)

Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (California)Change in fish species composition with time

Compare similar dynamics in different sites

Desert in NM Kelp forest off CA coast

Products

1. Folio-sized book to be submitted in Jan 2008 to Oxford Univ. Press

2. Website (data, metadata) for synthesis and analysis of static data (http://www.ecotrends.info)

Opportunities

Accessibility of many long-term data sets for modeling and synthesis activities