News
5 January 2022
The Academy of Finland will continue funding the Finnish research infrastructures. The INAR RI consortia "Integrated Atmospheric and Earth System Research Infrastructure: Integrated observations for effective climate solutions in terrestrial ecosystems" has received funding of 3.7 M€ for the 2022–2025 period.The funding will support research in several fields: meteorology and atmospheric sciences, climate research, environmental science, forest sciences and ecology, evolutionary biology and ecop...
4 January 2022
A joint Citizen Science (CS) initiative is being developed within the well-known iNaturalist network to create an umbrella project that will promote long-term biodiversity data registration. This initiative aims to have an impact on the eLTER network, both at a local scale, by strengthening the relationship between citizens living in LTSER areas and the researchers and managers who operate them, and at a European scale, by strengthening the interaction between platforms.Individual projects will...
3 January 2022
The background, current status and future perspectives of eLTER RI and the European environmental research infrastructures were presented to a wide audience of young scientists in Earth system research by professor Jaana Bäck (eLTER PLUS coordinator) from University of Helsinki on November 18, 2021.The Young Scientist School (YSS) on “Multi–Scales and–Processes Integrated Modelling, Observations and Assessment for Environmental Applications” was organized in memory of distinguished professor Ser...
3 January 2022
Thomas Dirnböck (Umweltbundesamt, Austria, and LTER site Zöbelboden) talked at the COP26 side event „Atmospheric Deposition, the invisible threat – impacts on agriculture, ecosystem and oceans”, organized by the WMO. He presented the latest scientific results regarding Nitrogen deposition effects in ecosystems including water pollution with nitrate, biodiversity loss but also changes in the potential of ecosystems to absorb or release greenhouse gases.In order to better assess the impacts posed...
2 January 2022
On Thursday, October 28, 2021, an unusual audience gathered at the Mitzpe Ramon Community Center - scientists from various fields of knowledge, along with stakeholders from the Negev Highland and the Makhteshim country.The Scientific consortium of the LTSER Platform, led by Dr. Noa Avriel-Avni, organized the conference around three socio-ecological issues:1. Restoration of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) population, extinct from the region a few hundred years ago - the session dealt with i...
31 December 2021
In 2019, as a response to alarming insect decline in Germany (e.g. Hallmann et al. 2017), the German network for Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER-D) launched the first nationwide Malaise trap project.The aim of the project, run in cooperation with Nationale Naturlandschaften (German umbrella organization of large protected areas), is to collect data on insect species diversity and population development in typical habitats in Germany, and to help to identify the processes underlying insect de...
30 December 2021
The first Periodic review meetings of both eLTER PPP and eLTER PLUS took place at the end of October 2021. From the projects’ side, the coordination and Work Package leads were present, and from the Commission’s side the project officer, Pierre Quertenmont. Richard Bradshaw (University Leeds, UK) was an external evaluator.The Review meetings consisted of a general introduction by the coordination, Work Package (WP) specific presentations by WP leads highlighting the most important outcomes of th...
29 December 2021
Two new scientific papers acknowledge the eLTER PLUS project. In the first, thousands of soil temperature sensors from around the globe allowed Jonas Lembrechts from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, to map the global soil temperature at a 1-km² resolution. These maps are freely available online with the methods described in Global Change Biology.The second paper focuses on the drivers of biodiversity loss. By analysing long-term trends of 1827 plant species 141 sites across mountain summits,...
27 December 2021
Five years after its establishment (2016), the LTER-Greece network has outlined its vision, aims, objectives and its achievements through a series of case studies in an article published in the WATER journal. The network consists of eight observatories, focusing on innovative research topics, aiming to be both cooperative and complementary. The article describes the design of the LTER-Greece network, its research priorities as well as recent interdisciplinary research collaboration results, as a...
21 December 2021
On 23rd November 2021 Kevin Bishop (Sweden), the new Chairperson of the eLTER Interim Council (Ministerial delegations) met several members of the eLTER team (Jaana Bäck, Terhi Rasilo, Marjut Kaukolehto & Michael Mirtl) in Helsinki, Finland.A full day was dedicated to clarifying several strategic eLTER matters, discussing the status of eLTER across 26 countries and working on the agenda of the third eLTER Interim Council (IC), to be held on 28 and 29 January 2022.A deeper understanding of th...