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Network Level Science, Social-Ecological Research and the LTER Planning Process

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The Challenges of Long Term Ecological Research: A Historical Analysis

Part of the book series: Archimedes ((ARIM,volume 59))

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Abstract

This chapter provides a personal perspective and history of the LTER Planning Process that took place from 2004 through 2007 with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Decadal reviews of LTER in 1990 and 2000 commissioned by NSF emphasized the need for interdisciplinary science, greater cross-site synthesis and the desire for a network-level research agenda. The purpose of the Planning Process was to develop the scientific basis and conceptual framework for network-level science that would facilitate synthesis and integration from the start. Many researchers from the biophysical and social sciences were involved in the process, which resulted in a conceptual framework for integrated, long-term, social-ecological research that has been widely embraced globally. Although the LTER Network did not get to implement its Network-level science initiative, the process demonstrated that LTER scientists could work together across sites to develop a research agenda essential for understanding how global environmental change will affect the dynamics of social-ecological systems during the Anthropocene.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Scott L. Collins

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  1. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Robert B. Waide

  2. Department of History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Sharon E. Kingsland

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Collins, S.L. (2021). Network Level Science, Social-Ecological Research and the LTER Planning Process. 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_14

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