the First Annual Meeting
of the
THE NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL LTER NETWORK
to be held in conjuntion with the
ESA Annual Meeting
7 August 1999
Spokane, Washington
Following an initial workshop in 1993, the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network has developed to include networks of LTER sites from 16 countries. Additional countries are in the process of forming LTER Networks and will be added in the near future (see Status of the ILTER Network).
The formation of Regional LTER Networks is the most recent development in the
International LTER Network
The purpose of Regional Networks is to:
Focus on environmental issues common to
neighboring countries,
Facilitate exchanges of scientists and
students,
Establish scales of research appropriate to
the Region.
Regional networks currently are in existence for East Asia, Latin America and Central Europe. Last November, at a meeting in Mexico, the principals of LTER Networks in Canada, U.S. and Mexico agreed to develop the North American Regional LTER Network to facilitate these efforts in this region.
This Special Session at ESA is the first annual meeting of representatives from Canada,
the United States and Mexico - the three countries that make up the North American
Regional ILTER Network. The meeting will begin to identify the:
Existing research programs in the countries
Characteristics of sites involved in the
networks, and, most importantly,
Regional scale questions that could be
addressed through this network.
Holding this meeting in conjunction with the annual ESA meeting will broaden the
discussion to include the larger ecological community as, well as identifying the research
opportunities present in these sites and countries.
The Current Agenda:
ILTER Network
9:00 - 9:20 James Gosz, "Introduction, ILTER overview and
Regional LTER Network activities"
9:20 - 9:40 Gerardo Ceballos, "The Mexican Long-term
ecological reserve network proposal"
9:40 - 10:00 Hague Vaughan, "The Canadian Ecological Monitoring and Assessment
Network (EMAN): Its Evolution, Design and Policy Linkages"
10:00 - 10:15 Break
United States (U.S. LTER)
10:15 - 10:40 Mark Harmon, "Crossing Borders: Continental-Scale Patterns
of Decomposition"
10:40 - 11:05 David Lightfoot, "A Cross-site Experiment on faunal
community control of vegetation at U.S. LTER sites (Sevilleta, Jornada) and Mapimi
Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) "
11:05 - 11:30 K.E. Webster, P.A. Soranno, S.B. Baines, C.J. Bowser, T.K. Kratz,
J.J.Magnuson, P.J. Dillon, P. Campbell, E.J. Fee, and R.E. Hecky, "Structuring
Features of Lake Districts in Wisconsin and Ontario: Geomorphic and Landscape
Controls on Lake Responses to Drought"
11:30 - 11:55 Jim Vose, "Comparative Analyses of Hydrologic Processes in
Watersheds in Western Mexico and the Southeastern United States"
11:55 - 12:20 David Foster, Diego Perez Salicrup, and Deborah Lawrence,
"Regional Analysis of Forest Ecosystem Response to Disturbance: Comparing Temperate
and Tropical Landscapes"
12:20 - 12:30 Morning Summary/Afternoon Schedule
12:30 - 1:30 Break for Lunch
Mexican LTER Network (MEXLTER)
.
1:30 - 1:55 Manuel Maass, " Long-term nutrient cycling in a dry
forest of western Mexico"
1:55 - 2:20 Enrique Jardel, " Long term research on human impacts in
subtropical montane forests"
2:20 - 2:45 Rodrigo Medellin, "Long-term ecological research in the
tropical rain forest of the Chajul Biological station, Chiapas"
2:45 - 3:10 Lucina Hernandez and Miguel Equihua, "Long-term ecological
studies in desert habitats of the Mapimi biosphere reserve, Durango"
3:10 - 3:30 Break
Canada LTER Network (EMAN:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Network)
3:30 - 3:55 Cliff Drysdale, "Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia: An EMAN
case study site"
3:55 - 4:20 Adam Fenech, "Linking EMAN case study sites and dispersed networks
to provide an early warning capability"
4:20 - 4:45 Brian Craig, "Public Participation in EMAN: Using volunteers and
linking with associated programs such as the UNESCO MAB"
4:45 Closing Summary