12.9. Parr

Keynote Presentations from the 2nd ALTER-Net Summer School, Peyresq 1 - 13 September 2007

Abstract

In order to manage biodiversity and ecosystem services, long-term research and monitoring is required to understand the dynamics of ecosystems and how these are affected by a multitude of drivers and pressures of change. In response to this need, the scientific community has established many research sites and networks to undertake long-term ecological research. An increasing amount of effort is being put into networking these sites in order to be able to provide larger-scale assessments and syntheses. But there are considerable costs attached to networking and, as networks get larger, the barriers to effective integration get bigger and more difficult to overcome. So is it worth the effort and what’s in it for you, me and biodiversity?

In this spot I will talk about site-based long-term ecological research at 4 scales; site, national (UK), continental (Europe), and global and briefly describe efforts that being made to undertake biodiversity and ecosystem research. The examples will come from:

Level 1: The Moor House site in the Northern Pennines of England: a site which has a long history of research on upland ecology.
Level 2: The UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) is a Long-term Ecosystem Research Network (LTER) that has been in operation for 15 years. It was established with the aim of creating a well-designed and cost-effective national network to identify, assess and research environmental change and its impacts and to provide a basis for European and international collaboration.
Level 3: The recently established LTER-Europe Network and the role that ALTER-Net (A Long-term Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research and Awareness Network) has played in this.
Level 4: The International Long-term Ecological Research Network (ILTER).

I will review the stage of development at each of these levels and outline how past work has contributed to addressing some key research and policy questions related to biodiversity. I will also outline the future integration challenges faced at each level. Throughout, I will also challenge you to think about the costs and benefits of integration and networking. If we have time we will discuss the role of the Summer School in helping the networking process and consider how you might continue to engage with LTER, and perhaps benefit from it, in the future.

Information and links for this presentation:

• ECN - UK Environmental Change Network: http://www.ecn.ac.uk
• LTER-Europe - Long-Term Ecosystem Research and Monitoring in Europe: http://www.lter-europe.ceh.ac.uk/
• ALTER-Net - A Long-term Biodiversity, Ecosystem and Awareness Research Network: http://www.alter-net.info/
• ILTER - The International Long-term Ecosystem Research Network:http://www.ilternet.edu/