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

News

5 July 2022
NILU is a dynamic research institute providing expertise on a wide range of climate and environmental topics. NILU’s Atmosphere and climate (ATMOS) department studies atmospheric processes, pollutants, including greenhouse gases, as well as the dispersal of aerosols and radionuclides.The ATMOS department is seeking a research scientist to join their team. The successful candidate will use atmospheric transport modelling and inverse modelling to better understand the sources, sinks and transport...
23 June 2022
CNRS has opened a tenure track position on the observation and analysis of the stratosphere variability. This Junior Professorship aims at supporting and developing actions of long term observation of the atmospheric composition resolved in altitude (profiles) by means of active remote sensing (LIDAR).Labelled through the NDACC National Observation Service and structured within the ACTRIS research infrastructure in France and the ACTRIS ERIC in Europe, LIDAR observations are one of the most...
20 June 2022
A 2-years program graduating a Master of Science in physics or chemistry of the atmosphere at the University of Lille, at the highest level aiming to give intendants a strong background in:·       Physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere from the molecular to the global scale,·       Analytical sciences applied to airborne environment,·       Recent research activities on air pollution and climate changes. The international Master  ...
17 June 2022
Atmospheric Ammonia Pollution Measurement Scientist£41,040Full timeBased at UKCEH EdinburghThe closing date for applications is Tuesday 28th June 2022.Interviews will be held shortly after this.Research scientist with experience of passive and active sampling of atmospheric ammonia pollution is required to lead projects and develop research for high quality measurements of this pollutant and others in agricutural, urban and rural locations. Integration of ammonia pollution research with ecosyste...
27 May 2022
90 researchers from 26 countries, part of the eLTER PPP and eLTER PLUS projects, gathered in Mallorca from 16 to 20 May 2022 for the first ever consortia physical meeting.“This meeting was much needed and delayed with at least a year”, said Prof. Jaana Back, project co-coordinator, “Unfortunately, due to the pandemic measures, it was impossible to happen earlier”, added Dr. Michael Mirtl, eLTER co-coordinator.Indeed, the 5-day meeting was packed with sessions and discussions on a variety of impo...
25 May 2022
Last autumn, a project started on "Monitoring of the conservation status of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto, with particular reference to the presence of marine phanerogams and non-indigenous species". It was funded by the Apulia Region within the framework of POR-Puglia 2014-2020, aiming to select monitoring actions on Apulian species and habitat of the Natura 2000 network.During the next two years, up to December 2023, mapping of marine phanerogams (i.e. Cymodocea nodosa and Ruppia cirrhosa) will b...
23 May 2022
How can nature conservation be combined with the Bedouin shepherds' traditions? To answer this question, we've collected a diverse group of experts from academia and civil society to consider dimensions ranging from ecological impact of grazing to the meaning of 'natural'.Through discussions with Bedouin shepherds, Nature and Parks Authority (NPA) representatives, and legal experts, we aim to find collaborative, equitable solutions to this seemingly intractable socio-ecological challenge.&n...
18 May 2022
At the end of the first mandate of the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, published the fourth series of the work entitled "The environmental system of the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano. Research on the complexity of a Mediterranean coastal forest ecosystem", issued in three volumes within the "Scritti e Documenti" series by the National Academy of Sciences known as the XL.With over a thousand pages, the series collects sixty-...
10 May 2022
A new project funded by Portuguese national funds (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) started in March 2021 and will run until 2024 with the support of LTSER Montado platform.Project RENEWAL (PTDC/ASP-SIL/7743/2020) is aimed at promoting the resilience of agroforestry systems in drylands to a more arid future, ensuring ecosystem functions and services. It addresses climate change effects on oak woodlands (montados), semi-natural agroforestry systems of high ecological and socio-econom...
4 May 2022
The National Emission reduction Commitments Directive (NEC-D) sets national emission reduction commitments for Member States and the EU for five important air pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).These pollutants contribute to poor air quality, leading to significant negative impacts on human health and the environment. Nitrogen and ozone affect ecosystems and biodiversity thro...
1 April 2021
The eLTER whole system approach is utilizing the broad variety of biodiversity, environmental and socio-ecological data monitored at eLTER sites.Recently, a new study has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment titled “Recovery from air pollution and subsequent acidification masks the effects of climate change on a freshwater macroinvertebrate community”.Using 32 years of detailed freshwater macroinvertebrate and environmental data collected from the eLTER site Bavarian Fo...
30 January 2021
13th of January 2021 marked an important day for the Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological Research (eLTER) as it held its first ever Sites and Platforms Forum (SPF) in a virtual setting. Around 240 participants from 26 countries representing about 200 sites and platforms took part in the event which had one major objective – to give voice to the group of most important internal stakeholders in the eLTER initiative, the Site and Platform Coordinators (SPC...
6 January 2021
The eLTER IC is the decisive body to discuss and approve strategic issues of the emerging eLTER Research Infrastructure (RI) planning and implementation such as legal, governance, financial and operational matters. Therefore, an pro-active IC with delegations from as many countries as possible marks a major milestone in the eLTER Preparatory Phase Project (PPP) and in the entire eLTER ESFRI process. The meeting was prepared in numerous steps since February 2020 with the National Coordinators in...
9 December 2020
The managing institutions that operate six different continental-scale ecosystem observing infrastructures, from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America (two from Europe), signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday 1 December, 2020, expressly committing to the development of the first-ever Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI).  This GERI is an integrated network of site-based research infrastructures dedicated to better understand the function and ch...
29 October 2020
The two EU projects eLTER PPP and eLTER PLUS already had to hold their kick-off meeting in virtual form during the first wave of the COVID- 19 pandemic in March 2020. While eLTER PLUS collects and analyses the requirements of a wide range of eLTER actors and users (politics, science, peer organisations, etc.), eLTER PPP forges the eLTER RI design accordingly and negotiates with future donors in around 20 countries. The large consortia of the two projects are made up of experts from different fie...
1 October 2020
While eLTER PLUS collects and analyses requirements from a wide range of eLTER stakeholder and users (policy, science, peer organizations etc.), the eLTER PPP forges the eLTER RI design accordingly and negotiates with future funders in about 20 countries. Therefore, it is crucial that the teams in both projects work in full awareness of related activities within and across the two projects. In comparison to usual project working styles, this implies a vivid working culture, effectiv...
15 September 2020
Using eLTER long-term site data, a recently published article by Veronika Fontana et al. investigates beta biodiversity patterns in pastured grasslands in the European Alps. The article is published in the Scientific Reports open-access journal and is titled “Species richness and beta diversity patterns of multiple taxa along an elevational gradient in pastured grasslands in the European Alps”. The study investigates in parallel species richness and beta diversity components of nine taxo...
19 May 2020
COVID-19 might have altered our lives in the last few months, but at eLTER we have proved our resilience and determination for success through the extremely fruitful and inspiring kick off meetings of our two projects - eLTER PPP and eLTER PLUS (30 March - 03 April 2020). In the space of just a few weeks we’ve moved the two events fully online, with no cuts to the initially planned programme. We missed on a traditional group photo but we kept our spirits high through improvising severa...
17 April 2020
At the end of March, 2020, while COVID-19 continued to spread across the globe, more than 100 scientists of the integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological systems Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI) convened virtually to kick off a five-year effort to strengthen Europe’s capacity for long-term ecological observation and research though its two new projects (Horizon2020 Advanced Communities “eLTER PLUS” and the eLTER RI Preparatory Phase Project). While the confere...