Overview
Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) is an essential component of worldwide efforts to better understand ecosystems. This comprises their structure, functions, and long-term response to environmental, societal and economic drivers. LTER contributes to the knowledge base informing policy and to the development of management options in response to the Grand Challenges under Global Change.
From the beginning (around 2003) the design of LTER-Europe has focussed on the integration of natural sciences and ecosystem research approaches, including the human dimension. LTER-Europe was heavily involved in conceptualizing socio-ecological research (LTSER). As well as LTER Sites, LTER-Europe features LTSER Platforms, acting as test infrastructures for a new generation of ecosystem research across European environmental and socio-economic gradients.
Who benefits and how?
LTER’s community directly benefitS from practical usage of the EUDAT services, and, indirectly, it will also be positively impacted, as far as data infrastructure issues are concerned, from the cross-fertilisation with the other disciplines that are encompassed in the EUDAT perimeter.
Results
The uptake plan of LTER is still evolving. Although it is not finished, it already contains two strategic aspects that have been addressed with EUDAT technology, which are:
- The use of B2SAFE for distributing, archiving virtual machines (including the data);
- The integration of DEIMS (the LTER Dynamic Ecological Information Management System) with B2SHARE, using B2SHARE as an deposition/archiving option from DEIMS.
Further Information
See the presentation describing the LTER Europe & EUDAT service uptake collaboration here
Read our interview with Johannes Peterseil, the current leader of the Expert Panel on Information Management in the European Long-term Ecosystem Research Network (LTER-Europe), about LTER's ongoing work integrating its infrastructure with the EUDAT common data services. Johannes is also Deputy Head of the Department of Ecosystem Research & Environmental Information Management at the Environment Agency Austria.