Ideas and perspectives: Strengthening the biogeosciences in environmental research networks

Richter, DD

Billings, SA

Groffman, PM

Kelly, EF

Lohse, KA

McDowell, WH

White, TS

Anderson, S

Baldocchi, DD

Banwart, S

Brantley, S

Braun, JJ

Brecheisen, ZS

Cook, CS

Hartnett, HE

Hobbie, SE

Gaillardet, J

Jobbagy, E

Jungkunst, HF

Kazanski, CE

Krishnaswamy, J

Markewitz, D

O'Neill, K

Riebe, CS

Schroeder, P

Siebe, C

Silver, WL

Thompson, A

Verhoef, A

Zhang, G

2020-08-01T15:46:43Z

2020-08-01T15:46:43Z

2018-08-15

2020-08-01T15:46:38Z

© Author(s) 2018. Long-term environmental research networks are one approach to advancing local, regional, and global environmental science and education. A remarkable number and wide variety of environmental research networks operate around the world today. These are diverse in funding, infrastructure, motivating questions, scientific strengths, and the sciences that birthed and maintain the networks. Some networks have individual sites that were selected because they had produced invaluable long-term data, while other networks have new sites selected to span ecological gradients. However, all long-term environmental networks share two challenges. Networks must keep pace with scientific advances and interact with both the scientific community and society at large. If networks fall short of successfully addressing these challenges, they risk becoming irrelevant. The objective of this paper is to assert that the biogeosciences offer environmental research networks a number of opportunities to expand scientific impact and public engagement. We explore some of these opportunities with four networks: the International Long-Term Ecological Research Network programs (ILTERs), critical zone observatories (CZOs), Earth and ecological observatory networks (EONs), and the FLUXNET program of eddy flux sites. While these networks were founded and expanded by interdisciplinary scientists, the preponderance of expertise and funding has gravitated activities of ILTERs and EONs toward ecology and biology, CZOs toward the Earth sciences and geology, and FLUXNET toward ecophysiology and micrometeorology. Our point is not to homogenize networks, nor to diminish disciplinary science. Rather, we argue that by more fully incorporating the integration of biology and geology in long-term environmental research networks, scientists can better leverage network assets, keep pace with the ever-changing science of the environment, and engage with larger scientific and public audiences.

1726-4170

1726-4189

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21232

en

Copernicus GmbH

Biogeosciences

10.5194/bg-15-4815-2018

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Physical Sciences

Ecology

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Geology

EARTHS CRITICAL ZONE

EDDY COVARIANCE TECHNIQUE

TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH

CARBON-DIOXIDE

WATER-VAPOR

SOIL ACIDIFICATION

ECOSYSTEM

FOREST

EXCHANGE

ENERGY

Ideas and perspectives: Strengthening the biogeosciences in environmental research networks

Journal article

Brecheisen, ZS|0000-0002-3712-1725

4815

4832

15

Nicholas School of the Environment

Environmental Sciences and Policy

Duke

Published

15