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Title: The Long Term Agroecosystem Research Network - Shared research strategy

Author
item Steiner, Jean
item Strickland, Timothy - Tim
item Kleinman, Peter
item Havstad, Kris
item Moorman, Thomas
item Moran, Mary
item Heilman, Philip - Phil
item Bryant, Ray
item Huggins, David
item McCarty, Gregory

Submitted to: Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/26/2015
Publication Date: 3/3/2015
Citation: Steiner, J.L., Strickland, T.C., Kleinman, P.J., Havstad, K.M., Moorman, T.B., Moran, M.S., Heilman, P., Bryant, R.B., Huggins, D.R., Mccarty, G.W. 2015. The Long Term Agroecosystem Research Network - Shared research strategy. Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds. Available:http://www.cvent.com/events/fifth-interagency-conference-on-research-in-the-watersheds-icrw5-/event-summary-23477970235644b2b1d05e3f69273cd7.aspx.

Interpretive Summary: Agriculture faces tremendous challenges in meeting multiple societal goals, including a safe and plentiful food supply; climate change adaptation and mitigation; supplying sources of bioenergy; improving water, air, and soil quality; and maintaining biodiversity. The Long Term Agroecosystem Research network (LTAR) was established to enable long-term, trans-disciplinary science across major agro-ecological regions to address these challenges. The LTAR shared research strategy (SRS) is a living document, founded on the basic goals of the LTAR network and designed to capitalize on the strengths of the 18 LTAR sites. The LTAR creates common geographically- and temporally-scalable databases that deliver knowledge and applications to address agro-ecosystem productivity; climate variability and change; conservation and environmental quality; and socio-economic viability. The long-term integration of foundational science with long-term, multi-location experimental data underpins the provision of key LTAR products. Ultimately, LTAR is expected to provide a wide array of clients, partners, and stakeholders with four basic outcomes: applications of new technologies, predictions of resource responses to system drivers, linkages to other networks, and educational outreach. The LTAR’s SRS is built upon a progressive approach that (1) focuses on priority research questions, (2) reviews measurement variables and protocols used by sites to confirm comparability and identify a core set of variables and protocols for the network to adopt, (3) develops shared data sets from across network sites, (4) initiates new monitoring and experimentation efforts in conjunction with other networks, and (5) conducts retrospective analyses of trends across LTAR sites and modeling studies to generalize locally-derived observations and forecast future outcomes. Successful implementation of LTAR’s SRS is based on the commitment to the SRS across all network sites, energetic leadership from each participant in the network, and the engagement of producers, partners and policymakers.

Technical Abstract: Agriculture faces tremendous challenges in meeting multiple societal goals, including a safe and plentiful food supply; climate change adaptation and mitigation; supplying sources of bioenergy; improving water, air, and soil quality; and maintaining biodiversity. The Long Term Agroecosystem Research network (LTAR) was established to enable long-term, trans-disciplinary science across major agro-ecological regions to address these challenges. The LTAR shared research strategy (SRS) is a living document, founded on the basic goals of the LTAR network and designed to capitalize on the strengths of the 18 LTAR sites. The LTAR creates common geographically- and temporally-scalable databases that deliver knowledge and applications to address agro-ecosystem productivity; climate variability and change; conservation and environmental quality; and socio-economic viability. The long-term integration of foundational science with long-term, multi-location experimental data underpins the provision of key LTAR products. Ultimately, LTAR is expected to provide a wide array of clients, partners, and stakeholders with four basic outcomes: applications of new technologies, predictions of resource responses to system drivers, linkages to other networks, and educational outreach. The LTAR’s SRS is built upon a progressive approach that (1) focuses on priority research questions, (2) reviews measurement variables and protocols used by sites to confirm comparability and identify a core set of variables and protocols for the network to adopt, (3) develops shared data sets from across network sites, (4) initiates new monitoring and experimentation efforts in conjunction with other networks, and (5) conducts retrospective analyses of trends across LTAR sites and modeling studies to generalize locally-derived observations and forecast future outcomes. Successful implementation of LTAR’s SRS is based on the commitment to the SRS across all network sites, energetic leadership from each participant in the network, and the engagement of producers, partners and policymakers.