TY - JOUR
T1 - Research questions to facilitate the future development of European long-term ecosystem research infrastructures
T2 - A horizon scanning exercise
AU - Musche, Martin
AU - Adamescu, Mihai
AU - Angelstam, Per
AU - Bacher, Sven
AU - Bäck, Jaana
AU - Buss, Heather L.
AU - Duffy, Christopher
AU - Flaim, Giovanna
AU - Gaillardet, Jerome
AU - Giannakis, George V.
AU - Haase, Peter
AU - Halada, Luboš
AU - Kissling, W. Daniel
AU - Lundin, Lars
AU - Matteucci, Giorgio
AU - Meesenburg, Henning
AU - Monteith, Don
AU - Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P.
AU - Pipan, Tanja
AU - Pyšek, Petr
AU - Rowe, Ed C.
AU - Roy, David B.
AU - Sier, Andrew
AU - Tappeiner, Ulrike
AU - Vilà, Montserrat
AU - White, Tim
AU - Zobel, Martin
AU - Klotz, Stefan
N1 - Funding Information:
Research infrastructures dedicated to long-term ecosystem research are typically fragmented, unevenly distributed in space and focused towards specific scientific questions ( Haase et al., 2018 ). One initiative trying to overcome these limitations is the European Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER-Europe). Its main objective is to enhance the understanding of processes that shape ecosystems and socio-ecological systems under global change ( Mirtl et al., 2018 ). The network currently comprises 25 national networks with a pool of around 400 LTER sites (DEIMS-SDR 2019) and about 45 active LTSER (Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research) platforms ( Angelstam et al., 2019 ; Haberl et al., 2006 ). These cover the main European ecosystem types, climatic and land use gradients, and usually involve co-located measurements of physical, chemical, biological and socio-economic variables. LTER-Europe is part of the global network ILTER (International Long-Term Ecological Research). The Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) represent another interdisciplinary research network created to study the chemical, physical, and biological processes that shape Earth's surface ( Lin et al., 2011 ; White et al., 2015 ). The CZO program was funded in 2007 by the U.S. National Science Foundation, and was extended to Europe in the SoilTrEC initiative ( Banwart et al., 2011 ). Currently there are around 230 sites registered in the global Critical Zone Exploration Network ( CZEN, 2019 ), many of them located in Europe. The wide range of expertise, topics and measurements across the ILTER and the CZO networks provides unique opportunities to foster cross-disciplinary research. Nevertheless, different histories of research sites have resulted in considerable heterogeneity in research approaches, measurements and methods which hamper cross-site and cross-network analyses. Therefore, LTER-Europe and the European CZO community are collaborating in the EU funded project eLTER H2020 ( LTER-Europe, 2019 ) to improve the existing network of LTER sites and LTSER platforms and to implement an improved co-location approach with Critical Zone Observatories in Europe.
Funding Information:
The eLTER H2020 project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 654359. MZ was supported by the grant IUT20-28 and by the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). PP was supported by EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X (Czech Science Foundation) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (The Czech Academy of Sciences).
Funding Information:
The eLTER H2020 project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 654359 . MZ was supported by the grant IUT20-28 and by the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). PP was supported by EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X ( Czech Science Foundation ) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (The Czech Academy of Sciences ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors
PY - 2019/11/15
Y1 - 2019/11/15
N2 - Distributed environmental research infrastructures are important to support assessments of the effects of global change on landscapes, ecosystems and society. These infrastructures need to provide continuity to address long-term change, yet be flexible enough to respond to rapid societal and technological developments that modify research priorities. We used a horizon scanning exercise to identify and prioritize emerging research questions for the future development of ecosystem and socio-ecological research infrastructures in Europe. Twenty research questions covered topics related to (i) ecosystem structures and processes, (ii) the impacts of anthropogenic drivers on ecosystems, (iii) ecosystem services and socio-ecological systems and (iv), methods and research infrastructures. Several key priorities for the development of research infrastructures emerged. Addressing complex environmental issues requires the adoption of a whole-system approach, achieved through integration of biotic, abiotic and socio-economic measurements. Interoperability among different research infrastructures needs to be improved by developing standard measurements, harmonizing methods, and establishing capacities and tools for data integration, processing, storage and analysis. Future research infrastructures should support a range of methodological approaches including observation, experiments and modelling. They should also have flexibility to respond to new requirements, for example by adjusting the spatio-temporal design of measurements. When new methods are introduced, compatibility with important long-term data series must be ensured. Finally, indicators, tools, and transdisciplinary approaches to identify, quantify and value ecosystem services across spatial scales and domains need to be advanced.
AB - Distributed environmental research infrastructures are important to support assessments of the effects of global change on landscapes, ecosystems and society. These infrastructures need to provide continuity to address long-term change, yet be flexible enough to respond to rapid societal and technological developments that modify research priorities. We used a horizon scanning exercise to identify and prioritize emerging research questions for the future development of ecosystem and socio-ecological research infrastructures in Europe. Twenty research questions covered topics related to (i) ecosystem structures and processes, (ii) the impacts of anthropogenic drivers on ecosystems, (iii) ecosystem services and socio-ecological systems and (iv), methods and research infrastructures. Several key priorities for the development of research infrastructures emerged. Addressing complex environmental issues requires the adoption of a whole-system approach, achieved through integration of biotic, abiotic and socio-economic measurements. Interoperability among different research infrastructures needs to be improved by developing standard measurements, harmonizing methods, and establishing capacities and tools for data integration, processing, storage and analysis. Future research infrastructures should support a range of methodological approaches including observation, experiments and modelling. They should also have flexibility to respond to new requirements, for example by adjusting the spatio-temporal design of measurements. When new methods are introduced, compatibility with important long-term data series must be ensured. Finally, indicators, tools, and transdisciplinary approaches to identify, quantify and value ecosystem services across spatial scales and domains need to be advanced.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109479
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109479
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31499467
AN - SCOPUS:85071864354
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 250
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
M1 - 109479
ER -