Status & next steps in advancing LTER in Europe

Michael Mirtl Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) & Environment Agency Austria (EAA)Chair of LTER-Europe & ILTER

Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem Research

Infrastructure

Filling a critical gap

for top-class science at the

continental scale

Federal Environment Agency

ILTER

Level of SITES

LTSERRegion

LTSERRegion

Level of PLATFORMS

National Networks

East Asia Pacific, Americas, LTER-Europe

Global LTER

Regional Groups

INTEGRATING & COORDINATINGKEY ELEMENTS OF ECOLOGICAL RESARCH

ILTER publications(Li B. et al., 2013)

A fleet for long-term ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research

Distributed & generic in‐situ RI for investigating change in major European environmental zones

Fundamentally systemic approach to observe and analyse the environmental system

Baseline  long‐term operation & observation, basic data products & services

Design and long‐term planning in close interaction with sister Research Infrastructures & programs

European contribution to the global LTER network, currently setting the pace  (global coordination until 2019)

Sitecategories

Spatial assemblage

Example for „traditional LTER“ site setup, activities and co-location

Input Output

Hydrology, 

Experiments Atmosphere, e.g. FluxNet

Ecosystem Change

European eLTER distributed RI

LTER: A platform for integration and alignment

• Scientific identity: • Integrated conceptual model• Anchoring in the Grand Challenges landscape• LTER research challenges (scope)• Science initiatives (incl. bottom‐up initiatives)

• Physical infrastructure & services ( GRI)• Site categories• Services incl. harmonized standard observation variables• Integrated infrastructures

• Strategic framework and partner at various levels• Regional groups (e.g. LTER‐Europe & UNECE)• Internationally

o GEOo FutureEarth, UNESCO WNBR, IPBES, INI

• Network of scientists and institutions• 160 research institutions in  27 European countries• e.g. 1st global Open Science Meeting (OSM 2016)

The 5 pillars of LTER

• Long‐term: dedicated to the long‐term AND continuous collection, documentation, provisioning and use of long‐term data on ecosystems with a time horizon of decades to centuries (covering the aspect of natural capital for sustainable development) 

• In‐situ: data generation at different spatial scales across ecosystem compartments of individual in‐natura sites, environmental zones/biomes and socio‐ecological regions

• Process orientation: identifying and studying the interactions ( patterns) of ecosystem processes affected by internal and external drivers. As for socio‐ecological systems process orientation implies processes related to ecosystem services & their use.

• System approach: interactions of abiotic and biotic components at different scales in a given system & human‐environment interactions

• Wide‐scale coverage of major terrestrial and aquatic environmentsaround the globe

Federal Environment Agency

ILTER

Haase, Tonkin, Stoll, Burkhard, Frenzel, Geijzendorffer, Häuser, Klotz, Kühn, Mirtl, Müller, Musche, Penner, Schmeller (in review): The next generation of site-based long-term ecological monitoring

Towards an integrated conceptual framework for the LTER standard ecosystem observations:

Ecosystem Integrity & Essential Biodiversity Variables

LTER Standard Observation Variables

• Representation of key elements of the Ecosystem Integrity Concept  (EI) and the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) Framework

• High sensitivity to environmental change

• Critical relevance for environmental modelling

• Simplicity/parsimony  “A design too complex increases the risk of premature demise” 

Henry Janzen, 2014

Water Budget

Water Balance

Water Budget

Water Balance

Energy Budget

Input Storage Efficiency

Energy Budget

Input Storage Efficiency

Biotic Diversity

Fauna Flora

Biotic Diversity

Fauna Flora

Abiotic Heterogeneity

Soil Air Habitat

Abiotic Heterogeneity

Soil Air Habitat

Matter Budget

Input Storage Output

Matter Budget

Input Storage Output

Site-Specific Characterization

ContentDynamic Environmental Information Management System

https://data.lter-europe.net/deims/

DEIMS - Dynamic Environmental Information Management System

Network of formal national networks26 countries450 LTER Sites35 LTSER PlatformsEuropean contribution to

the global LTER network

eLTER H2020 Project 2015-201921 LTER countries, 28 partners162 data providing sites

Recruitin

g

Stan

dards, Formalisation

eLTER ESFRI ProcessEoS: 17 Countries ~ 80 EoC: 18 countries~ 160 MoU: 27 countries

European LTER components

Advance_eLTER

„Whole system approach“: Serving various user communities

eLTER SiteeLTSERPlatform

MasterRegular

Long‐term operation

Joint use of ‐ in‐situ sites (TA) ‐ data (VA)

COOPERATIONS

Provisioning of ‐ basic infrastructure &‐ integrated basline observation

Existing linkages & possible synergies with WGE/ ICPsFormal linkages• ICP IM: MoC• ICP Forest: MoC under discussion

Physical site network• Almost all ICP IM sites, many “ICP Forest sites with a full system approach“ and several ICP Waters and EMEP sites form part of their national LTER networks

• These sites are documented and visible as  WGE components in  DEIMS• eLTER ESFRI linkage as a major guarantee for permanent operation and standardized environmental observation at the high quality sites

Improved scientific value of data and information/knowledge output• Baseline ecosystem monitoring: „Standard observation variables“• Provisioning of data for WGE related modelling activities (CL...)• Targeted (shorter‐term) research projects well anchored in the matrix of long‐term observation

Possible next stepsStrategic level

MoC  WGE‐LTER, possible issues• Joint efforts to secure long‐term  integrated environmental observation and modelling at ~220 sites• Funding alignment: Securing physical site networks (priority sites etc.)  by drawing resources from the  

environmental  AND research sector in the context of the European  RI landscape• Concerted strategy concerning  specific policies (e.g. NEC directive  and related monitoring)• Encouraging ICPs‐LTER collaboration & streamlining at national levels

Operational levelSite documentation in DEIMS• Basic harmonization with  WGE /ICP site databases• Joint site registry and globally visible, standardized documentation (� DEIMS)

Further harmonization of standard observation variables with existing WGE standards (ICP F...)

Access to data  with “system context” (partly complemented by accessory experiments)

ICP‐specificICP Integrated Monitoring• Update of MoC• Strengthening of research component at ICP IM sites

ICP Forests & ICP Waters• MoC possibly with focus on sites with an integrated apporach covering major biotic/abiotic components• Harmonization of parameters and methods with ICP F/W manuals• National site networks streamlining

eLTEReESFRI

16

If you want to go fast go alone,if you want to go far go together.

An old African proverb

European LTER:  www.lter‐europe.netILTER: www.ilternet.edu/ 

michael.mirtl@umweltbundesamt.at

Thanks for listening

www.lter-europe.net

Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem Research

Infrastructure

Whole Systems Approach

CSW

WFS

SOS

EML

Download

Standard interfaces

CSW

WFS

SOS Standard 

interfaces

NEWeLTER standard Data 

Nodes & Service Suites1... n

EXISTING LTER Data Nodes

1... n

Data Integration Platform(s)

LTER Data & Service Architecture

Content

Participating Organisation Observations contributing to

several SDGs (e.g. 6/water; 15/biodiversity)

Member of the GEO In Situ Team Involved in In Situ Foundational Task,

Subgroup C, Terrestrial systems DEIMS as pilot for global site registry

DEIMS brokering to GCI Global site registry and metadata portal GEO DAB Interoperability check successful Harvesting modes discussed

ILTER ties to GEOLTER ties to GEO