LTER National Coordination Office: Facilitating Collaboration, Accelerating Synthesis

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Long-term research plays a key role in the development of fundamental ecological understanding. Twenty-eight Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites are distributed in habitats across the nation and in the tropical Pacific. Research at each site provides important system-specific knowledge whereas integrating across sites fosters the discovery of wide-spread patterns of ecosystem functioning and general ecological theory. This project expands on the coordination, communication, training, and synthetic research activities across the network of Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites that were initiated while first supported as the LTER National Communications Office. The Office facilitates connections among LTER sites across multiple dimensions, including hypothesis development, experimental design, measurement protocols, data management, collaboration, communications training, education at all levels, and outreach. The office supports shared governance and collaborative relationships within the LTER network and strong ties with partner networks that are valuable for expanding the reach and implications of LTER research. LTER sites train a large fraction of the nation's ecologists in interdisciplinary team science and an important subset of activities focuses on developing and sharing best practices for inclusion and assessment.The LTER Network Office maintains and improves upon most of the activities of the current LNCO, but with some re-organization and re-prioritization based on lessons learned during the first 4 years of operation. The office remains cost-efficient through affiliation with NCEAS, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and by supporting virtual meetings for synthesis research and committee activities whenever appropriate. To engage the long-term research community, the team continues to develop the LTER network website, newsletters, and social media platforms. New tools to facilitate collaboration include a redesigned centralized personnel database, collaboration platform, and cumulative catalogue of LTER products. A central facet of the project is support for multiple synthesis working groups selected by a rigorous panel process and appropriately inclusive of terrestrial, coastal and marine scientists and perspectives. Working groups are provided training and support in open data practices and team science. Engaging partner networks such as the International LTER network (ILTER), Critical Zone Observatories (CZO), and the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is also a high priority for the office.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.