New Publication
A paper presented this last July at the 6th World Multiconference on Systematics,
Cybernetics and Informatics, July 14-18, 2002, Orlando Florida:
Melendez-Colom, Eda C. and K. Baker. Common Information Management Framework: in Practice. Pages 385- 389 in N. Callaos, J. Porter, and N. Rishe, editors. Information Systems Development II. Proceedings from the 6th World Multiconference on Systematics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida.
Position Change
Dear LTER collaborators,
After over 15 wonderful years at IITF, I have returned to the Northeast to accept a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, we have maintained our house in Puerto Rico and I still have an office at IITF. Moreover, I will continue to be actively involved with the LUQ-LTER, Bisley, Caribbean streams, and all the other stuff I truly love. When I'm not in Puerto Rico I can still be reached at FScatena@LTERNET.edu or at the address below.
F. N. Scatena
Department of Earth and Environmental Science
240 South 33rd Street, 156 Hayden Hall
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316
Email fns@sas.upenn.edu
Voice 215-898-6907/5724
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/
New Manuscript
After multiple revisions, data reanalysis, and more revisions, a manuscript on seedling responses to Hurricane Hugo from research done for a Masters degree at UPR-RP under Dr. Lawrence Walker's direction has finally been submitted to Biotropica. The manuscript describes the individualistic responses within as well as between guilds in their responses to light and nutrients.
SPECIES-SPECIFIC SEEDLING RESPONSES TO HURRICANE DISTURBANCE IN A PUERTO RICAN RAIN FOREST by L.R. Walker, D.J. Lodge, S. Guzmán-Grajales, and N. Fetcher.
TV Program
The mycology research in the Luquillo Forest was featured in a local natural
history program at the end of June, and it will appear in another local TV program
called Mi Pueblo.
New Publications
Myster, RW. in press. Foliar pathogen and insect herbivore effects on two landslide
tree species in Puerto Rico. Forest Ecology and Management.
Myster, RW. 2001. Mechanisms of plant response to gradients and after disturbances. The Botanical Review 67(4):441-452.
Myster, RW. 2002. The use of productivity and decomposition to address functional redundancy in the Neotropics. Community Ecology 3(1):51-57.
Myster, RW. in press. Seed regeneration mechanisms over fine spatial scales on recovering Coffee plantation and pasture in Puerto Rico. Plant Ecology.
When I have all these reprints, I will send some to IITF for distribution.
Also, I am awaiting word on the LUQ LTER book. I made contributions to the chapters headed by Nick and Bob, and would like to start working on them. Any information?
New Research
As you may know, our very own Eleutherodactylus coqui somehow managed to get to Hawaii a few years back, probably on a shipment of plants from Puerto Rico. In only a few years it has become quite a "pest", having spread across much of the wet side of the big island and invading other islands as well. I spent some time on the big island in August, initiating pilot studies on how the frog is impacting local ecosystems and comparing its population ecology there to the LEF. Initial results are interesting, especially if they reflect differences between stable and expanding populations, although I am not sure quite yet if that is true. My collaborators in HI have an NSF grant that starts in October, so I anticipate being able to continue these studies for the next few years.
New Project
We have obtained funding for the next round of LINX, our examination of stream N processing. Urban, forest, and agricultural streams will be studied. We are in the reconnaissance phase, and will begin a synoptic stream survey in the Rio Piedras basin this winter. Further overview of the project is found in the attached flyer.
LTER COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
NIWOT RIDGE LTER, SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2002
Here is a brief and uneven account of the CC meeting, September 13-14, hosted by Niwot Ridge LTER. The meeting was held at the Mountain Research Station (9500 ft asl) outside Boulder, Colorado. About 30 people attended, representing nearly all sites. From LUQ-LTER were Waide, Covich, Brokaw.
Response to Twenty Year Review
The major subject of discussion was how to respond to the Twenty Year Review
of LTER , which we had discussed a bit at our LUQ monthly meeting and which
you should all have. NSF has adopted the recommendations of the report and will
be printing several thousand copies for distribution. In the words of Mary Clutter:
"Important ecological questions have and will continue to confront the United States. The impact of invasive species on US ecosystems and the economy and the role of changing land use patterns on outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are but two of many. The recommendations contained in this report identify the scientific leadership role that the LTER program can play over the coming decade in providing the ecological understanding needed to answer these questions."
So, we have to pay a lot of attention to this Review. Actually the Review does not prescribe any science, in terms of questions; it prescribes tools and issues, such as informatics, cross-site synthesis science, biodiversity. The science is still up to us, LTER scientists. One person complained that the team who wrote the Review did not know what LTER had been doing, because LTER is to some extent already using those tools and focusing on those issues. But most were happy with that apparent fault, taking it as a sign that LTER was already on the right track and we can stay on track. The group was happy to take on more cross-site synthesis, but only if more money for that is provided. In this vein, much of the Review provides an argument for more money from NSF for LTER.
The task for the CC and the LTER Executive Committee (EC) is to develop a strategic plan in response to the Review. This is to be a several stage process: initial discussion at this CC meeting, a draft of ideas developed by the EC and to be discussed with NSF in Washington, further refinement at the Spring CC meeting at Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan. To start this process, at this Niwot CC meeting we split into three groups to discuss: 1) what is the LTER "niche" in ecological science and what are overarching network level questions, 2) what should the core areas for LTER be, and 3) how do we balance the demands of site-focused research versus cross-site synthesis science? A few things I noted on each issue follow; I have left much out and don't express the ideas as well as they were presented at the time. You will be getting more and better material eventually from the EC.
1) LTER niche: long-term studies that allow us to assess change and reasons for change; you can then forecast changes; stability and resilience are common themes; systems assembly is a common theme; study of causes and consequences of ecosystem dynamics; network level work, obviously, is for questions that can be answered only at network, not site, level, one example being an analysis of degrees of human impact at landscape level across sites; generalizations about ecological systems depend on comparisons among sites; the new core area, biodiversity, is a potential cross-site, synthesizing issue.
2) Core areas: the present core areas are easily incorporated by all sites, since they simply represent important compartments of any ecosystem and so we study them anyway; outsiders to LTER take the core areas too seriously, as if they were directives that impose conformity on site-based science; core areas are domains of science, not questions; core areas are broad enough to accommodate all sites, but not so broad as to be meaningless; applied ecology could be a major theme, but the feeling is to keep NSF basic and applications naturally flow from the basic science.
3) Site versus network balance: LTER is a collection of synoptic sites; strong site science is essential for network synthesis; network is a layer on top of site science; synthesis work is not funded adequately to meet recommendations in the Review; must build network science without sacrificing site science; sites were not chosen as a network, but are idiosyncratic; major issues for network may not include all sites, so sites don't have to conform to all network themes.
CC Science meeting, field trips, next All Scientists' Meeting
After the business meeting we had a series of talks on the theme: "Causes and Consequences of Species Change in Ecosystems: An LTER perspective". Alan Covich gave an excellent talk on stream ecology.
The following day the Niwot Ridge LTER scientists led us on a hike to 12,700 ft and showed us their work. The day after that I went to the Shortgrass Steppe LTER site, in northeastern Colorado. And (of interest to you old-timers) the day after that I went hiking with Doug Reagan.
There will be an All Scientists' Meeting next year in Seattle, September 18-21, 2003.