Abstract
Long-term, place-based research programs in the National Science Foundation-supported Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have had profound effects on public policies and practices in land use, conservation, and the environment. While less well known than their contributions to fundamental ecological science, LTER programs’ commitment to serving broad public interests has been key to hel** achieve their mission to advance basic science that supports society’s need to address major environmental challenges. Several attributes of all LTER programs are critical to these accomplishments: highly credible science, strong site-level leadership, long-term environmental measurements of ecosystem attributes that are relevant to the public and to resource managers, and effective and accessible information that supports sound management practices. Less recognized attributes of three case study LTER sites (Andrews Forest, Harvard Forest, Hubbard Brook) which have contributed to major impacts include strong interdisciplinary research communities with cultures of openness, dispersed leadership within those communities, a commitment to carry science perspectives to society through multiple governance processes, strong public-private partnerships, and communications programs that facilitate the exchange of information and perspectives among science communities, policy-makers, land managers, and the public. Taken together, these attributes of sites drive on-the-ground outcomes. These case studies reveal a virtue of the long-term nature of LTER not anticipated when the program began: that the decades-long engagement of a place-based, science community can have a major impact on environmental policies and practices. These activities, and the cultivation of science communities that can accomplish them, go beyond the initial directives and review criteria for LTER site proposals and programs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berlik, Mary M., David B. Kittredge, and David R. Foster. 2002. The illusion of preservation: A global environmental argument for the local production of natural resources. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1557–1568.
Bocking, Stephen. 2016. Forest experiment and practice at Hubbard Brook. In Ecologists and environmental politics: A history of contemporary ecology, ed. Stephen Bocking, 116–147. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.
Bormann, F. Herbert, and Gene Likens. 1979. Pattern and process in a forested ecosystem. New York: Springer.
Brodie, Nathaniel, Charles Goodrich, and Frederick J. Swanson, eds. 2016. Forest under story: Creative inquiry in an old-growth forest. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Callahan, James T. 1984. Long-term ecological research. Bioscience 34 (6): 363–367.
Chen, L., and C.T. Driscoll. 2005. Regional application of an integrated biogeochemical model to northern New England and Maine. Ecological Applications 15: 1783–1797.
Colman, David C. 2010. Big ecology: The emergence of ecosystem science. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Driscoll, Charles T., Gregory B. Lawrence, Arthur J. Bulger, Thomas J. Butler, Christopher S. Cronan, Christopher Eagar, Kathleen F. Lambert, Gene E. Likens, John L. Stoddard, and Kathleen C. Weathers. 2001. Acidic deposition in the northeastern United States: Sources and inputs, ecosystem effects, and management strategies. BioScience 51: 180–198.
Driscoll, Charles T., D. Whitall, J. Aber, E. Boyer, M. Castro, C. Cronan, C.L. Goodale, P. Groffman, C. Hopkinson, K. Lambert, G. Lawrence, and S. Ollinger. 2003. Nitrogen pollution in the northeastern United States: Sources, effects and management options. BioScience 53: 357–374.
Driscoll, Charles T., Y.-J. Han, C.Y. Chen, D.C. Evers, K.F. Lambert, T.M. Holsen, N.C. Kamman, and R.K. Munson. 2007. Mercury contamination in forest and freshwater ecosystems in the northeastern United States. BioScience 57: 17–28.
Driscoll, Charles T., Kathy F. Lambert, and Kathleen C. Weathers. 2011. Integrating science and policy: A case study of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation Science Links program. BioScience 61: 791–801.
Driscoll, Charles T., Kathleen F. Lambert, F. Stuart Chapin III, David J. Nowak, Thomas A. Spies, Frederick J. Swanson, David B. Kittredge, and Clarisse M. Hart. 2012. Science and society: The role of long-term studies in environmental stewardship. BioScience 62: 354–366.
Driscoll, Charles T., K.F. Lambert, D. Burtraw, J.J. Buonocore, S.B. Reid, and H. Fakhraei. 2015. US power plant carbon standards and clean air and health co-benefits. Nature Climate Change 5: 535–540. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2598.
Driscoll, Charles T., Kimberley M. Driscoll, Habibollah Fakhraei, and Kevin Civerolo. 2016. Long-term temporal trends and spatial patterns in the acid-base chemistry of lakes in the Adirondack region of New York in response to decreases in acidic deposition. Atmospheric Environment 146: 5–14.
Duncan, S.L., and J.R. Thompson. 2006. Forest plans and ad hoc scientist groups in the 1990s. Forest Policy and Economics 9: 32–41.
Franklin, Jerry F., Kermit Cromack, Jr., William Denison, Arthur McKee, Chris Maser, James Sedell, Fred Swanson, and Glen Juday. 1981. Ecological characteristics of old-growth Douglas-fir forests. US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Gen. Tech. Report PNW-118.
Foster, David R. 1999. Thoreau’s country: Journey through a transformed landscape. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Foster, David R., and John D. Aber. 2004. Forests in time: The environmental consequences of 1,000 years of change in New England. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Foster, David R., D.B. Kittredge, B. Donahue, G. Motzkin, D. Orwig, A. Ellison, B. Hall, E.A. Colburn, and A. D’Amato. 2005. Wildlands and woodlands: A vision for the forest of Massachusetts. Harvard forest paper no. 27. Petersham, MA: Harvard University Press.
Foster, David R., B.M. Donahue, D.B. Kittredge, K.F. Lambert, M.L. Hunter, B.R. Hall, L.C. Irland, R.J. Lilieholm, D.A. Orwig, A.W. D'Amato, E.A. Colburn, J.R. Thompson, J.N. Levitt, A.M. Ellison, W.S. Keeton, J.D. Aber, C.V. Cogbill, C.T. Driscoll, T.J. Fahey, and C.M. Hart. 2010. Wildlands and woodlands: A vision for the New England landscape. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Foster, David R., David Kittredge, Brian Donahue, Kathy Fallon Lambert, Clarisse Hart, and James N. Levitt. 2014. The Wildlands and Woodlands Initiative of the Harvard Forest, Harvard University. In Conservation catalysts: The Academy as nature’s agent, ed. James N. Levitt, 3–30. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Foster, David R., K.F. Lambert, D.B. Kittredge, B.M. Donahue, C.M. Hart, W.G. Labich, S. Meyer, J. Thompson, M. Buchanan, J.N. Levitt, R. Pershel, K. Ross, G. Elkins, C. Daigle, B. Hall, E.K. Faison, A.W. D’Amato, R.T.T. Forman, P. Del Tredici, L.C. Irland, B.A. Colburn, D.A., Orwig, J.D. Aber, A. Berger, C.T. Driscoll, W.S. Keeton, R.J. Lilieholm, N. Pederson, A.M. Ellison, M.L. Hunter, and T.J. Fahey, T.J. 2017. Wildlands and woodlands, farmlands and communities: Broadening the vision for New England. Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gondo-Tugbawa, Solomon S., Charles T. Driscoll, John D. Aber, and Gene E. Likens. 2001. Evaluation of an integrated biogeochemical model (PnET-BGC) at a northern hardwood forest ecosystem. Water Resources Research 37: 1057–1070.
Gregory, Stanley V., Frederick J. Swanson, W. Arthur McKee, and Kenneth W. Cummins. 1991. An ecosystem perspective of riparian zones: Focus on links between land and water. BioScience 41: 540–551.
Harmon, M.E., J.F. Franklin, F.J. Swanson, P. Sollins, S.V. Gregory, J.D. Lattin, N.H. Anderson, S.P. Cline, N.G. Aumen, J.R. Sedell, G.W. Lienkaemper, K. Cromack, and K.W. Cummins. 1986. Ecology of coarse woody debris in temperate ecosystems. In Advances in ecological research, ed. A. MacFadyen and E.D. Ford, vol. 15, 133–302. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Holmes, Richard T., and Gene E. Likens. 2016. Hubbard Brook: The story of a forested ecosystem. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hughes, Brent B., Rodrigo Beas-Luna, Allison K. Barner, et al. 2017. Long-term studies contribute disproportionately to ecology and policy. BioScience 67: 271–281.
Johnson, K. Norman, and Frederick J. Swanson. 2009. Historical context of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest--Policy, practices, and competing worldviews. In Old growth in a new world: A Pacific Northwest icon reexamined, ed. Thomas A. Spies and Sally L. Duncan, 12–28. Covelo, CA: Island Press.
Kelly, David, and Gary Braasch. 1988. Secrets of the old-growth forest. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs-Smith Publisher.
Labich, W.G., E.M. Hamin, and S. Record. 2013. Regional conservation partnerships in New England. Journal of Forestry 111: 326–334.
Lach, Denise, Peter List, Brent Steel, and Bruce Shindler. 2003. Advocacy and credibility of ecological scientists in resource decision making: A regional study. BioScience 53: 171–179.
Lambert, K.F., M.F. McBride, M. Weiss, J.R. Thompson, K.A. Theoharides, and P. Field. 2018. Voices from the land: Listening to New Englanders’ views of the future. 24 p. Harvard Forest, Harvard University and the Science Policy Exchange.
Likens, Gene E., F. Herbert Bormann, and Noye M. Johnson. 1972. Acid rain. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 14 (2): 33–40.
Likens, Gene, and F. Herbert Bormann. 1977. Biogeochemistry of a forested ecosystem. New York: Springer.
Luoma, Jon R. 2006. The hidden forest: The biography of a forest ecosystem. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press.
McBride, Marissa F., Kathleen F. Lambert, Emily S. Huff, Kathleen A. Theoharides, Patrick Field, and Jonathan R. Thompson. 2017. Increasing the effectiveness of participatory scenario development through codesign. Ecology and Society 22 (3): 16. https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss3/art16.
McBride, Marissa F., Matthew J. Duveneck, Kathleen F. Lambert, Kathleen A. Theoharides, and Jonathan R. Thompson. 2019. Perspectives of resource management professionals on the future of New England’s landscape: Challenges, barriers, and opportunities. Landscape and Urban Planning 188: 30–42.
Peters, S.C., Joel D. Blum, Charles T. Driscoll, and Gene E. Likens. 2004. Dissolution of wollastonite during the experimental manipulation of Hubbard Brook Watershed 1. Biogeochemistry 67: 309–329.
Robbins, William G. 2020. A place for inquiry, a place for wonder: The Andrews Forest. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press.
Robertson, G. Philip, Scott L. Collins, David R. Foster, and 10 additional authors. 2012. Long-term ecological research in a human-dominated world. BioScience 62:342-353.
Spies, Thomas A., and Sally L. Duncan, eds. 2009. Old growth in a new world: A Pacific Northwest icon reexamined. Covelo, CA: Island Press.
Swanson, Frederick J. 2004. Roles of scientists in forestry policy and management: views from the Pacific Northwest. In Forest futures: Science, politics, and policy for the next century, ed. Karen Arabas and Joe Bowersox, 112–126. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
———. 2015. Confluence of arts, humanities, and science in sites of long-term ecological inquiry. Ecosphere 6 (8): 1–23.
Swanson, Frederick J., Steve Eubanks, Mary Beth Adams, John C. Brissette, and Carol DeMuth. 2010. Guide to effective research-management collaboration at long-term environmental research sites. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-821. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
Templer, P.H., K.F. Lambert, M. Weiss, J.S. Baron, C.T. Driscoll, and D.R. Foster. 2015. Using science-policy integration to improve ecosystem science and inform decision-making: lessons from U.S. LTERs. Proceedings of Special Session at 100th Ecological Society of America Meeting. Baltimore, Maryland.
The Timberman. 1957. Can there be orderly harvest of old growth? The Timberman 58: 48–52.
Thompson, Jonathan R., Arim Wiek, Frederick J. Swanson, Stephen R. Carpenter, Nancy Fresco, Theresa Hollingsworth, Thomas A. Spies, and David R. Foster. 2012. Scenario studies as a synthetic and integrative research activity for long-term ecological research. BioScience 62: 367–376.
Thompson, Jonathan R., K. Fallon-Lambert, D.R. Foster, M. Blumstein, E.N. Broadbent, and A.M. Almeyda Zambrano. 2014. Changes to the land: Four scenarios for the future of the Massachusetts landscape. Petersham, MA: Harvard Forest, Harvard University.
Thompson, Jonathan R., K.F. Lambert, D.R. Foster, E.N. Broadbent, M. Blumstein, A.M.A. Zambrano, and Y. Fan. 2016. Four land-use scenarios and their consequences for forest ecosystems and services they provide. Ecosphere 7: 1–22.
Vanderbilt, Kristin, and Evelyn Gaiser. 2017. The International Long Term Ecological Research Network: A platform for collaboration. Ecosphere 8 (2): e01697.
Acknowledgements
We especially thank R. Waide and S. Kingsland for creating this book project, bringing the participants together to reflect on the history of LTER, and for many helpful comments. We also thank J. Jones for helpful discussions of various phases of this work and H. Gosnell for perspectives on governance. This chapter is a contribution from the NSF-sponsored LTER programs of Andrews Forest (NSF 1440409), Harvard Forest (NSF grants:1237491 and 1832210), and Hubbard Brook (NSF grant: DEB- 1637685). The Harvard Forest contribution is also supported by a Coupled Natural and Human Systems grant (NSF grant: 1617075) and long-term funding from the Highstead Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Swanson, F.J., Foster, D.R., Driscoll, C.T., Thompson, J.R., Rustad, L.E. (2021). How LTER Site Communities Can Address Major Environmental Challenges. In: Waide, R.B., Kingsland, S.E. (eds) The Challenges of Long Term Ecological Research: A Historical Analysis. Archimedes, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66933-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66933-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-66932-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-66933-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)