title: [Thirty years of US long-term ecological research: characteristics, results, and lessons learned of--taking the Virginia Coast Reserve as an example].
abstract: In order to observe and understand long-term and large-scale ecological changes, the US National Science Foundation initiated a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in 1980. Over the past 30 years, the US LTER program has achieved advances in ecological and social science research, and in the development of site-based research infrastructure. This paper attributed the success of the program to five characteristics, i.e., 1) consistency of research topics and data across the network, 2) long-term time scale of both the research and the program, 3) flexibility in research content and funding procedures, 4) growth of LTER to include international partners, new disciplines such as social science, advanced research methods, and cooperation among sites, and 5) sharing of data and educational resources. The Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site was taken as an example to illustrate how the US LTER works at site level. Some suggestions were made on the China long-term ecological research, including strengthening institution construction, improving network and inter-site cooperation, emphasizing data quality, management, and sharing, reinforcing multidisciplinary cooperation, and expanding public influence.
authors.affiliation: College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. zhugaoru@pku.edu.cn
authors.forename: Gao-Ru
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: Xue-Gong
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D004782:Environmental Health; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D012107:Research Design; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States