Dr Michael Mirtl (ILTER Chair) presenting at the AusLTER Forum 2018

1. ILTER - Status and perspectives
Michael Mirtl
Chair of ILTER & LTER-Europe
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ, Germany)
Environment Agency (EAA, Austria)
Filling a critical gap
for top-class science
ESA conference, 26-28 Nov. 2018, Brisbane
International
Long-Term Ecological Research
Network

2. ILTER - Status and perspectives
Michael Mirtl
Chair of ILTER & LTER-Europe
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ, Germany)
Environment Agency (EAA, Austria)
Filling a critical gap
for top-class science
ESA conference, 26-28 Nov. 2018, Brisbane
International
Long-Term Ecological Research
Network

3. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Level of
SITES
LTSER
Region
LTSER
Region
Level of
PLATFORMS
National
Networks
East Asia Pacific, Americas, LTER-Europe
Global LTER
Regional
Groups
ILTER: Integrating and coordinating key elements of
environmental systems research
ILTER publications
(Li B. et al., 2013)

4. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Example for LTER Site design & activities
Input OutputEcosystem Change
Integrated LTER research on the whole system responding to Grand Challenges:
 Climate change
 Biodiversity and land use
 Biogeochemistry and pollution
 Sustainable socio-ecological systems (LTSER)
Hydrology
ExperimentsAtmosphere,
e.g. FluxNet
Co-location:
Supporting long-term observation
• System structure & functions
• Main drivers
• Disturbance effects (slow presses,
fast pulses – extreme events)
Regular env. monitoring

5. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
LTSER Platforms
• Regional scope,
including multiple land use
types
Courtesy D: Orenstein , 2017
• Interdisciplinary: Promote
integration of natural and
social science
• Cross-sector stakeholder
collaboration
• Relevant knowledge for
decision-making
RESEARCH POLICY
Reflexive:
Did it work?
Iterative:
Continue the research
Responsive:
Addressing societal needs
Relevant:
Designed for direct policy uptake
Platforms for long-term socio-ecological reearch (LTSER)

6. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Site categories & spatial assemblage
Network specific spatial assemblage:

7. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Development of member networks since
1993

8. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
The gobal network of LTER Sites

9. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Year of site establishment

10. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
US LTER/ NSF
CERN/ CAS
AusLTER
- TERN/ NCRIS
- LTERN
LTER-Europe/
eLTER/ EC
LTER South
Africa/
SAEON
NRC
LTER EAP
LTER
Germany/
Helmholtz
LTER France/
CNRS
ILTER: Benefiting from nationally/regionally funded
LTER network ambitions

11. ILTER´s four main fields of activities
Coordination in close collaboration
with pace setting LTER networks/regions
in China (CERN), South Africa (SAEON), Australia
(TERN), US-LTER, eLTER, EAP etc.
Scientific
Identity &
alignment
Physical
infrastructure &
services:
GRI
Strategic
framework
& partner
Network of
scientists &
institutions
ILTER
Regional Groups
National Networks
Sites & Platforms
Strategic framework for national/regional
network & RI development
ILTER as platform for high-level global
partnerships (e.g. GEO, UNESCO WNBR, NEON,
ICSU/PECS, INI, Droughtnet, FutureEarth)

12. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
ILTER: A platform for integration and alignment
Network of scientists and institutions
 Global Open Science Meetings (OSM 2016, SA; OSM 2019 Germany)
 Annual ILTER CC & national/regional conferences (France, Taiwan)
 Communities interactions & cultural issues
Scientific identity
 Integrated conceptual model
 LTER research challenges (scope)
 Science initiatives (incl. bottom-up initiatives)
 Anchoring in the Grand Challenges landscape
Physical infrastructure & services ( GRI)
 Site categories
 Services incl. site registry & harmonized standard observation variables
 Integrated infrastructures
Strategic framework and partner at various levels
 Mutual interaction und benefits with regional and member NW
 International interactions (GEO, NEON, INI/INMS, GERI,
ICSU/PECS, Droughtnet, FutureEarth, IPBES)

13. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
ILTER: A platform for integration and alignment
Network of scientists and institutions
 Global Open Science Meetings (OSM 2016, SA; OSM 2019 Germany)
 Annual ILTER CC & national/regional conferences (France, Taiwan)
 Communities interactions & cultural issues
Scientific identity
 Integrated conceptual model
 LTER research challenges (scope)
 Science initiatives (incl. bottom-up initiatives)
 Anchoring in the Grand Challenges landscape
Physical infrastructure & services ( GRI)
 Site categories
 Services incl. site registry & harmonized standard observation variables
 Integrated infrastructures
Strategic framework and partner at various levels
 Mutual interaction und benefits with regional and member NW
 International collaboration (GEO, NEON, INI/INMS, GERI,
ICSU/PECS, Droughtnet, FutureEarth, IPBES)

14. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
ILTER Open Science Meeting
2016 - Stats
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
South Africa
United States
France
China
Germany
Italy
Israel
Australia
Portugal
Netherlands
Spain
Austria
Mexico
Serbia
Belgium
Sweden
Czech Republic
Japan
Chile
Finland
New Zealand
Norway
Kenya
United Kingdom
Taiwan
Greece
India
Ukraine
South Korea
Slovakia
Brazil
Dominating topics
(driven by number of talks and posters)
~ 300 participants
~ 35 countries
~160 talks
~ 70 posters

15. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Whole-systyem approach:
Elements
Tansley 1935
Collins et al. 2011
Heffernan et al. 2014
Heffernanetal.2014
Critical
Zone
Biogeophysical template
Tansley 1935
Vernadsky 1926

16. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Whole system approach for
in-situ research on
life supporting systems
Life
Supporting
System(s)
across
scales Human-
environment-
interactions/
ESS
Ecosystems/
Biodiversity
Mirtl et al., in prep. [2019]

17. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Response to a central ILTER Network dilemma:
Science initiatives
Active long-term initiatives
• Harmonized observations - EI & EBV
• Nitrogen Initiative (training, INMS)
• Litter decomposition experiment “TeaComposition”
• Diversity-Stability
Inactive: ForestREplot, Distributed Experiments task force, PECS
Bottom-up initaitives
• Lichens as indicators in a global network for the assessment of the effects of
atmospheric N and CC (Portugal)
• Long-term ecological research for citizens: TRAIL - TRAvelling through
ecosystems and bIodiversity: (Italy)
• Data integration across continents: Understanding Changes in Biodiversity,
Carbon and Water under Climate change at top sites (Australia)
Filling critical gaps
• multi-site
• cross-disciplinary
• conceptual work

18. ILTER´s four main fields of activities
Coordination in close collaboration
with pace setting LTER networks/regions
in China (CERN), South Africa (SAEON),
Australia (TERN/ AusLTER), US-LTER, eLTER,
EAP etc.
Regional Groups
National Networks
Sites & Platforms
Prominent example GEO:
• ILTER as in-situ data provider for GEO
• DEIMS SDR as agreed pilot for a global site
registry
ILTER as platform for high-level global
partnerships (e.g. UNESCO WNBR, NEON,
ICSU/PECS, INI, Droughtnet, FutureEarth)
Scientific
identity &
alignment
Physical
infrastructure &
services:
GRI
Strategic
framework
& partner
Network of
scientists &
institutions
ILTER

19. Content
https://deims.orgDEIMS-SDR - Dynamic Env. IM System – Sites and Dataset Registry

20. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
LTER ties to GEO
▪ GEO
▪ 100 national governments
▪ 100 Participating Organizations
▪ ILTER =Participating Organisation
▪ Observations contributing to
several SDGs
(e.g. 6/water; 15/biodiversity)
Calibration,
verification and
validation facility for
RS service providers
ILTER as in-situ data
provider
User of RS products
to better fulfil its own
mission (scale?)
DEIMS SDR as agreed
pilot for a global site
registry across networks
(incl. accreditation)
ILTER fosters bottom-
up integration/consoli-
dation of terrestrial in-
situ observation
networks
Contribution to the
development of a Global
Terrestrial
Observation System
successor
GEO 2018: ILTER leading
the related side event

21. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Hitting limits: 6 Sigma problem & challenges for a
network
Time / Development Path
VarianceinScopeorDegreesofFreedom
Target/RefinedScope
Science Drivers
Societal Imperatives
Everything to Everyone
Large Science Community
Large Intellectual Creativity
Requirements
Capture
Grand Challenges Defined
Prioritization
Activities
Budget / Schedule /
Risk Management
Focused
Overarching
Scope
Idea space Formulating Concept Formal Project Management
Managing Science Vision
Courtesy Hank Loescher 2018

22. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
The „Zhaoqing Think Tank“ on the Global Research
Infrastructure challenge for Ecosystem RIs
(China, 2018-04; USA, 2019-04)
 Human resources & staffing of RIs
 RI design issues incl. combining observation with experimentation
 Organisational requirements and system engineering
 Standard environmental observation and trade off with hypothesis driven
appraoches
 Globalisation incl. requirements emerging from wealth gradients
constraining global coverage
 Options for a Global
Ecosystem Ecology
Research Infrastructure
(„GERI“)
 „GERI“ as G8 Group of
Senior Officers/GRI case
study
 Clarification of GEO-
relevance

23. Recent action: ILTER at ICRI 2018, Vienna castle
Cluster of 7 concerted roll-
ups of major networks and
ILTER (in the center)
5 oral presentation on
ecosystem and
environmental research

24. ILTER Strategic Plan 2030
Cope with challenges of national and
global strategies
Raise profile and underpin uniqueness
Sustainably
increase
number of key
partnerships
Grow and
broaden
Scientific
Identity
Physical
infrastructure &
services:
GRI
Strategic
framework
& partner
Network of
scientists &
institutions
ILTER

25. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
COMPETITION: „The most striking LTER case“
 Outstanding outcomes
 Underpinning the importance of LTER
 Findings, which only LTER sites and/or their data could
enable
 Award: Costs of attending the OSM 2019
(value 2000 US$)
 4 slides max.
 1 page description max.
 Upload to CLOUD link
on ILTER CC (Taiwan)
conference website
Password 4321Wow!

26. Federal Environment Agency
ILTER
Open Science Meeting (OSM) 2019
 Covers Long-term ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research
 Germany, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig
 Save the date 2-7 September 2019
 www.ilter-2019-leipzig.de
 Field trip to Elbsandsteingebirge

27. DEPARTURE FOR
ANOTHER 25 YEARS