Integrated European
Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and
socio-ecological Research

10 years old… and demonstrating them: Results and perspectives of LTER-Italy

15 November 2016

The 10th anniversary of the Italian LTER network, which comprises terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine sites, will be marked with a conference in Mantova, Italy, on November 16th. The event will be an opportunity to present the results of 10 years of intense environmental research and observation, to celebrate past projects and to discuss new initiatives.

Participants will discuss the achievements of LTER-Italy during this 10 year period and identify areas on which to focus efforts in the near future.

During the Conference the main scientific outcomes from LTER-Italy will be discussed with a trans-eco-domain approach, trying to highlight signals of ecological changes shared by different sites. Topics covered will include: plankton dynamics in lakes and seas, phenological changes in aquatic and terrestrial environments, the relevance of alien species in the LTER-Italy sites, climate change affecting high altitude terrestrial and aquatic sites.

The possibility to use LTER data to create Virtual Research Environments (VRE) will also be assessed, in the context of the LifeWatch e-research infrastructure.

Finally, a round table on “Communicating Ecological Research” will be held, addressing some relevant questions about the relations between ecology and civil society.

A photo contest “Nature in the network” has also been launched: the winners of the competitions will be awarded during the Conference.

Further information

Happy 10th Birthday LTER-Italia!