ERF-LTER Joint Session Scheduled: ERF and LTER Join Forces in Seattle

The Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) Network's 2003 All Scientists Meeting will be held in Seattle from September 18-21 in association with the annual meeting of the Estuarine Research Federation. There will be a joint session with ERF on the afternoon of Thursday, September 18; the LTER meeting officially begins on September 19. There will be a joint mixer for the two groups on Thursday evening, and the LTER meeting will continue through Sunday. ERF members are invited to stay for the LTER meeting. Details on the agenda will be available on the LTER web site (http://www.lternet.edu/).

The choice for an LTER/ERF joint session was an easy one says LTER Network Office Executive Director Bob Waide. "There are five coastal LTER sites, and they will all be attending the ERF meeting. Locating the LTER meeting in Seattle and planning a joint session makes it very interesting for everyone." The LTER coastal sites include Santa Barbara Channel (Dan Reed), Florida Coastal Everglades (Dan Childers), Georgia Coastal (Tim Hollibaugh and Steve Pennings), Virginia Coast Reserve (Bruce Hayden, Karen McGlathery, and John Porter, PIs), and Plum Island Estuary (Chuck Hopkinson).

Dan Childers is chairing the program committee for the joint session, which will consist of an afternoon session and an evening social cohosted by ERF and LTER. "The special joint session will be called 'Long-term and large-scale patterns in coastal and freshwater aquatic ecosystems,'" Childers says. Childers adds: "The goal of this session is to bring coastal and estuarine scientists together with scientists from noncoastal aquatic LTER sites, to address the common theme of large-scale comparisons....Our hope is that this atypical mixing of these different scientific groups will incubate new ideas and generate innovative collaborations for both ERF and LTER scientists."

Overlapping Research Presentations
A mix of invited and contributed 15-minute oral presentations will follow a 30-minute invited plenary talk. The list of invited speakers may include three non-coastal aquatic LTER scientists, five coastal LTER scientists, and two ERF scientists.

"While not necessarily part of the LTER network, LTER-types of research are ongoing at many coastal and estuarine locations across North America," says Rob Daoust, a graduate student who is also on the joint-session program committee. "For example, NOAA funds National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) sites in almost every single coastal state. Scientists working at these sites will undoubtedly gain insight from the lessons learnt and ecological approach taken by LTER scientists.

Tiffany Troxler Gann, co-chair of the LTER Graduate Student Committee, is also on the joint-session program committee. "Non-LTER folks will have the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of what the LTER Network seeks to accomplish, and to see how the ERF work fits into that context." This opportunity to interact with ERF scientists will benefit LTER scientists, Gann says. "The estuarine and coastal systems are the downstream ecosystems of many LTER research sites, and this meeting will accentuate how LTER work can be integrated with more coastal ecosystems."

Group Connections
Gann notes that similar questions are addressed in both groups, "particularly connectivity-an exceedingly important concept in both LTER and ERF research. This joint session affords the opportunity for convergence and a stronger understanding of ecosystem science."

The growing connection in LTER to urban ecosystem study sites may be of further interest to ERF scientists. "Incorporating the urban landscape into ecosystem studies has long been an important objective of estuarine science," Gann says, "and both ERF and [LTER] would benefit from the opportunity to share ideas and present research."

Gann and Daoust share the task of making sure student's interests are well represented in the joint session. While still in nascent stages of planning, topics discussed so far for student-led workshops include: ecosystem services, cross-site studies, and organic matter cycling.
For the ERF participants who stay for the LTER meeting will benefit from says Bob Waide, the benefits include the opportunity to network with the many international scientists who will be in attendance.