The annual business meeting of the International LTER Network was held on August 16th at Kruger Park, South Africa, . Participants* included representatives of ten member countries and observers from South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia. There was extensive discussion of opportunities for network-wide research collaboration, including several activities coordinated by GTOS. The group approved: participation in the NPP demonstration project of GTOS; limited participation in a diversity project under IBOY; production of a short brochure about ILTER; preparation of a new book describing member country networks and research activities; production of a directory of ILTER scientists; and presentation of several workshops at the LTER All Scientists Meeting in the US in August 2000. Regional reports were presented from Latin America, North America, East Asia and Central Europe. The Ukraine and Namibia were accepted as new members.
The 1999 ILTER business meeting was held on August 18th in Skukuza, South Africa, just prior to a national LTER symposium and planning workshop sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Several ILTER members spoke at the symposium and many were observers at the South African workshop. Thanks are due to the Johan Pauw, Abeda Dawood and Mandy Bunker of the NRF for the excellent arrangements for meeting facilities, lodgings and field trips within Kruger National Park.
Jim Gosz, Chair of the ILTER Network, opened the meeting at 8:30. Following welcoming remarks by Johan Pauw of South Africa, and self-introductions of those present, the agenda and logistic details were reviewed and accepted. The following report is in order of priority not chronology.
The centerpiece of the ILTER agenda was discussion of network wide research opportunities. John Vande Castle of the Network Office presented an update on GTOS initiatives and the arrangements for the Net Primary Productivity demonstration project. The ILTER network has agreed to participate in this project; members will canvas their networks and report which sites want to be involved in site validation for this project. Jim Gosz will provide instructions to the group and liaison with GTOS.
Jim Gosz also reviewed other GTOS projects being developed on Global Forest Cover, Decomposition and Soil Diversity, and the Terrestrial Carbon Initiative, as well as the International Biodiversity Observing Year sponsored by DIVERSITAS. Mandy Lane of the UK described "NOLIMITS", a European initiative being coordinated by the UK, which expects several ILTER member countries as participants.
Many members expressed interest in participating in these international projects. Representatives from Canada, South Africa and the UK have agreed to design a multi-scale project on the relationship between avifaunal diversity and NPP. They will send the draft plan to all ILTER members, and other countries may decide to participate later.
The group also discussed a number of ideas for workshops to be organized by ILTER members at the LTER All Scientists Meeting (ASM) in August 2000. These included a Canadian proposal on how to involve the public and students at LTER sites, one by Mexico on a North American LTER graduate training program, one from Taiwan on disturbance effects, and several from Poland. The ASM will be the venue for the next ILTER business meeting, and there will be a special effort to arrange extensive participation by scientists from all of the ILTER networks.
There was a discussion of printed materials that would be helpful in promoting ILTER principles as well as network development. The group decided to produce a brochure that summarizes the objectives of the ILTER network and the characteristics of the national member networks. The model will be the brochure on the US LTER network. There was also discussion of the value of a shorter flyer that simply describes the network objectives and value for member countries, to assist in promoting ILTER with government officials and policy makers. In addition, the group agreed that the increase in member countries, the addition of new sites in some countries, and the evolution of regional network interactions justify an update to the 1998 book about the members of ILTER network. The book will also describe ILTER research initiatives now being planned and initiated at the regional and worldwide level. The US Network Office agreed to provide format instructions, assemble member inputs and produce both publications in time for the All Scientists Meeting next year. The deadline for chapter submission will be in late winter. Some members felt that material in languages other than English could be useful in many situations, but the group agreed that developing such materials should be pursued at a national or regional level.
The US Network staff reiterated their willingness and interest to assemble a directory of ILTER scientists, using the framework of the personnel database it maintains in its Albuquerque office. This would provide web-accessible look-up capabilities for key people in each national network, providing details such as names, e-mail and postal addresses and possibly other information such as research interests. It may be possible to make this information "updateable" by the data managers or at least by some authorized person in each national network.
Another theme that ran through the meeting was the need to strengthen regional ties due to the continued growth of ILTER. Scientists and networks in a region are in a good position to assist their neighbors with network development since they are likely to face similar political and economic situations. They are also likely to find opportunities for cross site research with neighbors that will be relevant to national priorities as well as relatively efficient to pursue (compared to collaborating with sites on other continents.)
Reflecting this trend, regional representatives gave reports on developments in their regions, both at the national and regional level. Tadeusz Prus of Poland reported on two regional ILTER meetings in Central Europe, one in Poland organized by him as chair of the Polish network and one in Hungary that was organized by Edit Lang, chair of the Hungarian network. In both cases participants were invited from Central European countries that were not yet ILTER members, and communication continued with those scientists. As a result of this encouragement, the Ukraine has now formally applied for membership in ILTER and Slovakia is actively discussing a national network and pursuing official endorsements. The two meetings, nine months apart, also provided further impetus to the plans for a multinational research project in the Carpathian mountains that will involve several networks in the region. Scientists from the US LTER network who have expressed interest in collaborating with Central European partners were able to obtain support from NSF to participate in research planning discussions at both meetings.
News from the East Asian networks was also encouraging. Hen-biau King of Taiwan reported on several past and future meetings and exchanges that will increase research collaborations within East Asia as well as with US partners. The region expects to have five members soon, and already has more than 40 sites. Scientists from Taiwan are working with partners at H. J. Andrews and Luquillo in the US to develop a cross-site research project on the effects of disturbance. They are also encouraging regional involvement in a project on Decomposition Processes in cooperation with H J Andrews site. China will send a scientist to Andrews to work with staff there. The aim is to develop a longitudinal profile through East Asia. Eun-Shik Kim of Korea is organizing the upcoming regional meeting in Seoul; there will be a research-planning workshop associated with it that will involve a group of US LTER scientists funded by NSF.
The North American Network held its first formal meeting during the ESA meeting in August, as reported elsewhere in this newsletter. Regional interaction is already strong on a personal and site to site level. All three networks have agreed to select sites to participate in the GTOS projects on NPP and Soil Biodiversity; Canada and Mexico will also propose workshops for the All Scientists Meeting.
Latin American networks are moving from planning into operation as well, as reported by Francisco Barbosa of Brazil. A small working group formed at the last regional meeting is charged with drafting an outline for a regional pilot project on the influence of El Nino in the region. Government funding and approvals have just been provided in Brazil that will greatly accelerate the consolidation of an operational network there. Scientists in the Uruguayan and Brazilian LTER networks are planning cross-site research on coastal processes. Venezuelan sites are initiating research in some topics that will have practical importance there, such as the impact of cattle grazing on grassland systems. Site selection is underway in Colombia, and the next regional meeting will be held there. Following informal participation in several regional meetings, significant momentum has developed in Argentina for establishment of an ILTER network there. Bolivia and Paraguay also have expressed interest and have sent representatives to regional meetings.
The assembled members unanimously accepted formal requests for ILTER membership from the Ukraine and Namibia,. This brings network membership to nineteen countries, as reflected in the updated map on the ILTER web site at http://www.ilternet.edu/networks/.
The 2000 meeting will be held in the United States in Snowbird, Utah, in association with an "All Scientists Meeting" of the US LTER network and just prior to the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
The ILTER group accepted offers from the British and Canadian representatives to host the annual meetings in the following two years. The 2001 meeting will be held in London, in conjunction with a meeting on "Detecting Environmental Change" organized by the UK's Environmental Change Network. The 2002 meeting will be held in Canada, associated with the annual meeting of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Network.
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| Brazil | Francisco Barbosa |
| Canada | Hague Vaughan |
| China - Beijing | Zhao Shidong |
| China - Taipei | Hen-biau King |
| Costa Rica | Jorge Jimenez |
| Korea | Eun-shik Kim |
| Mexico | Gerardo Ceballos |
| Poland | Tadeusz Prus |
| UK | Mandy Lane |
| United States | James Gosz |
| John Vande Castle | |
| Christine French |
| Namibia | Joh Henschel |
| South Africa | Johan Pauw |
| Albert van Jaarsveld | |
| Abeda Dawood | |
| Tanzania | Idris Kikula |
| Zambia | Harry Chabwela |
Global Terrestrial Observing System and GT-NET:
http://www.fao.org/gtos/Home.htmDIVERSITAS and IBOY:
http://www.icsu.org/DIVERSITAS/LTER All Scientists Meeting:
http://www.lternet.edu/network/meetings/allsci/2000ESA Annual Meeting http:// at Snowbird Utah (