Presentation by Emma Burns, Executive Director

Integrated purpose

LTERN’s objective: To integrate key established plot networks across Australia to tackle critical

questions associated with the impacts of disturbance on Australian ecosystems

Australian Government Investment Goal: A sustainable set of long term data collection

procedures and archives from plots across Australian ecosystems measuring selected flora,

fauna and biophysical processes, suitable for key ecosystem science

questions and for developing and testing ecosystem models

A research enablerInfrastructure to allow the research community to:

– Develop a detailed understanding of the behaviour and regulation of key ecosystem

functions and processes, including influence of interacting abiotic and biotic factors on

landscape function.

– Quantify critical relationships between vegetation condition and/or biodiversity and

major disturbance regimes such as those associated with fire, logging, livestock grazing,

invasive species and climate change.

3

Spatial distribution of the plot networks

• 12 Plot Networks• 1,119 sites

• 9 Principle Investigators/Network Leaders

• 8 Institutions

Victorian Tall Eucalypt Forest

Nanangroe Plantation

Jervis Bay Booderee National Park

Upland Heath Swamps

Woodland Restoration

Mallee

Desert Uplands

Tropical Rainforest

Desert Ecology

Three Parks Savanna Fire-Effects

Connell Rainforest

Victorian Alpine

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

33

19

14

33

14

22

12

45

26

22

53

70

LTERN Plot Network Monitoring Periods (yrs)

7%

9%

23%

19%

11%

42%

23%

36%

15%

36%

26%

15%

% = proportion of time within LTERN (not representative of cost or sampling intensity/complexity within years)

LTERN’s Management Committee

Chair Executive Director, Dr Emma Burns, Australian National University.

Standing MembersProfessor David Lindenmayer, Australian National University. Science Director, LTERN and Plot Leader of three plot

networks

Professor David Keith, University of New South Wales. Plot Leader of three plot networks

Dr Dan Metcalfe, CSIRO. Plot Leader of two plot networks

Dr Peter Green, LaTrobe University. Plot Leader of the Connell Rainforest Plot Network

Professor Ary Hoffmann, University of Melbourne. Plot Leader of the Victorian Alpine Plot Network

Professor Glenda Wardle, University of Sydney. Co-Plot Leader of the Desert Ecology Plot Network

Professor Chris Dickman, University of Sydney. Co-Plot Leader of the Desert Ecology Plot Network

Dr Jeremy Russell-Smith, Charles Darwin University. Co-Plot Leader of the Three Parks Savanna Fire-Effects Plot Network

(Fire and Vegetation lead)

Dr Graeme Gillespie, Northern Territory Government, Department of Land Resource Management. Co-Plot Leader of the

Three Parks Savanna Fire-Effects Plot Network (lead)

Governance, planning, transparency and internal communication FIRST= healthy and productive culture

LTERN’s Priority Areas

Data collection

Field trips

Surveys

Data Publication and Archiving

Project data

Historic data

Book data

Science output data

Science Communication and Education

Publications and engagement

25 Monitoring Themes

The objectives of LTERN, the research-questions being

examined, and the field methodologies being employed have

been published collectively in The Long Term Ecological

Research Network: Objectives, design and methods at

www.tern.org.au/ltern.

Desert storm (Aaron Greenville)

Question-driven research underpins every plot network

Data Collection: Plot network locations relative to Eco-Regions

Data Collection: Sites within Plot Networks relative to Eco-Regions

165449

19278

64144

Data Collection: Plot Networks relative to Land-use categories

49

5355

200

1

581180

• Established in September 2013• Using software and standards used by the

international LTER community, DataONE and the Australian SuperSite Network

• High quality data delivery to permit re-use• Systems, procedures, priorities and work

flows well tested and documented• Monitoring statistics on usage established• No known third-party re-use resulting in a

scientific output yet

Data Publication: describing data so appropriate for re-use

Data Publication: volume and download metrics

project data

background data

science output data

book data

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

(i) LTERN Data Publications by Year

LTERN Data Publications by Year 2016LTERN Data Publications by Year 2015LTERN Data Publications by Year 2014LTERN Data Publications by Year 2013

• 280 data publications available

• 230 registered users, and increasing annually

• 33,000+ site visits

LTER

N D

ata

Publ

icati

ons

LTER

N D

ata

Dow

nloa

ds

Number of individual data files downloaded

Total downloads (some files downloaded by multiple people)

Number of registered users

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

(ii) LTERN data Publication Downloads (Google Analytics)

2015-162014-152013-14

Data Publication: data-user profileLT

ERN

Dat

a Pu

blic

ation

sLT

ERN

Dat

a Po

rtal

use

r pro

file

Australia

South-east Asia

Europe

Canada

China

India

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

(i) LTERN User by Country or Region

201620152014

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Victoria

Western Australia

0 5 10 15 20 25

(iii) LTERN Australian Users by State

201620152014

Academic

Natural resource management

Industry or Consultant

Researcher - University

Professional staff UoA

Student

Research Support

Software Engineer

Other

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

(iv) LTERN User Occupation by Year

201620152014

(i) Data-user profile showing country or region of LTERN user.

(iv) User profile showing occupation of LTERN user. (iii) Data-user profile showing state for all Australian users.

• Registered users from all states and territories

• Limited international use• Primarily university sector

Science Communication and EducationWebpage: www.tern.org.au/ltern

Data Portal: www.ltern.org.au/knb

Brochure

Publications

LTERN Publications

Fit-for-purpose, consistent, long-term monitoring is crucial

to measure and understand key attributes of ecosystems—

and the human and natural process that affect them. This

need, its challenges, and their potential solutions have

been written about by members of LTERN in a range of

publications.

Publications

Publications Catalogue

Collaborative

Cumulative

Victoria

n Tall Euca

lypt F

orest

Nanangroe Plantation

Jervis B

ay Booderee National P

ark

Upland Heath Swamps

Woodland Restoration

Mallee

Tropical R

ainforest

Desert U

plands

Connell Rainforest

Victoria

n Alpine

Desert

Ecology

Three Parks Sava

nna Fire-Effects

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

LTERN Publications per Plot Network as of September 2015

Num

ber o

f Pub

licati

ons

• 1,049 publications generated to date

• Since September 2014, 143 new publications

To provide a central and comprehensive list of all relevant LTERN publications; and to demonstrate the research productivity of this infrastructure through one type of metric (i.e. written outputs).

Biodiversity and Environmental Change book data project

The value of time-series data

Reference: Dickman, C. R., et al. (2014). Desert Complex Environments. In Biodiversity and Environmental Change: Monitoring, Challenges and Direction. E. B. David Lindenmayer, Nicole Thurgate, Andrew Lowe., CSIRO Publishing: 379–438.

The data and stories from the book, and the subset available through the data portal, demonstrate the value of time-series data and the potential misinterpretations that could result from short-term monitoring

From collection to science to policy change

30+ years of data collection from theTall Eucalypt Forest Plot Network, and hundreds of research papers

IUCN Assessment process and a result. The legacy of past logging practices, as well as current clearfelling, is driving the system towards collapse. Modelling suggests that even if logging ceased today, and there were no bushfires, there is still a 92% chance of ecosystem collapse

Up listing of the threat status of leadbeater’s possum from endangered to critically endangered

Mapping linkages – Desert Ecology Plot Network Example

Data collection Data Publication and

Archiving Science Communication

and Education

TERN National International

AEKOSSupersites

TDDPAusCover AusPlots

Droughtnet

ANDS NESPNuNet

Biodesert

Where to from here?Primary Priority: Continued repeated data collection from across LTERN.

Secondary Priority: Continued publication of data collected and then, as feasible, publication of the background data. Based on current funding levels it is estimated that it will take at least 5 years to curate and publish all our data.

Secondary Priority: A new challenge…..What can the data from within plot networks tell us collectively? Can multiple datasets collected from different studies for different purposes be used collectively to test a relevant and important continental scale science question?

Proof of concept project: under a unifying lens of long-term climate data and climate projections—examine variation and patterns in long-term datasets, and model/predict future and past variations and patterns.

And of course increased integration with international observatory networks and initiatives.

Questions and AcknowledgementsThe creation of LTERN and the products it has delivered to date are the result of the dedication and drive of a number of people over the last four years. The LTERN Management Committee acknowledges significant contributions from:

From the office: Claire deLacey, Alvin Sebastien, Christy Geromboux, Ivan Hanigan, Phil Tennant, John Stein, Wade Blanchard, Kathryn Allard, Janet McDougal, Karl Bossard, Karen Anderson, Ian Szarka, Natasha Purvis, Wendy Park, Tabitha Boyer, Claire Shepherd, and Clive Hilliker.

From the field: David Blair, Matt Bradford, Mason Crane, Alaric Fisher, Aaron Greenville, Heather Keith, Alan Kwok, Dominique Lynch, Lachlan McBurney, Chris MacGregor, Tanya Mason, Damien Michael, John Morgan, David Nelson, Sachiko Okada, Thea O’Loughlin, Warwick Papst, Chris Pavey, Bobby Tamayo, Eric Vanderduys, Henrik Wahren, Richard William, Renee Woodward, and Cameron Yates.

LTERNs viability and productivity has also been possible thanks to sustained inputs and contributions from many others from across TERN, and from LTERN’s External Reference Group.