Towards the co‐ordination of terrestrial ecosystem protocols across European research infrastructures

Abstract

The study of ecosystem processes over multiple scales of space and time is often best achieved using comparable data from multiple sites. Yet, long‐term ecological observatories have often developed their own data collection protocols. Here, we address this problem by proposing a set of ecological protocols suitable for widespread adoption by the ecological community. Scientists from the European ecological research community prioritized terrestrial ecosystem parameters that could benefit from a more consistent approach to data collection within the resources available at most long‐term ecological observatories. Parameters for which standard methods are in widespread use, or for which methods are evolving rapidly, were not selected. Protocols were developed by domain experts, building on existing methods where possible, and refined through a process of field testing and training. They address above‐ground plant biomass; decomposition; land use and management; leaf area index; soil mesofaunal diversity; soil C and N stocks, and greenhouse gas emissions from soils. These complement existing methods to provide a complete assessment of ecological integrity. These protocols offer integrated approaches to ecological data collection that are low cost and are starting to be used across the European Long Term Ecological Research community.

The Case for a Critical Zone Science Approach to Research on Estuarine and Coastal Wetlands in the Anthropocene

“…For example, environmental observatories facilitate funding to provide research infrastructure, attract high profile scientists and allow data sharing and complex model development. If appropriate research protocols can be established (Firbank et al 2017), this further enhances coordination and enables meaningful comparison between observatory sites and amplifies the value of research results. As Ward et al (2020: 11) note '…a predictive understanding of the role of coastal interfaces on a global scale is not a task that can be achieved by any one agency, institution or researcher, but requires collaboration across scales, disciplines, cultures and funding agencies'.…”

The handbook for standardized field and laboratory measurements in terrestrial climate change experiments and observational studies (ClimEx)

“…Experiments are generally designed to disentangle complex and interactive drivers, causal relationships, response surfaces and underlying mechanisms, whereas observational studies document large-scale temporal and spatial patterns. The growing interest in data re-use, synthesis and upscaling within and across experiments and observations highlights challenges and pitfalls regarding the downstream use of knowledge from these studies, especially regarding data availability and data compatibility across studies (Denny et al, 2014;Firbank et al, 2017;Vicca, Gilgen, et al, 2012) and the lack of basic study information or covariates necessary for comparison (Gerstner et al, 2017;Haddaway & Verhoeven, 2015;Halbritter et al, 2018).…”

“…As the number of such climate change studies is quickly increasing, new opportunities for meta-analyses and syntheses are emerging to explore broad-scale patterns and context dependencies in effects, responses and processes, as well as for model development and evaluation. However, there are major challenges for meaningful and high-quality syntheses, including geographic and climatic biases in the available studies (Beier et al, 2012;Vicca et al, 2014), a lack of coordinated measurements and standardized protocols (Denny et al, 2014;Firbank et al, 2017;Vicca, Gilgen, et al, 2012) and a lack of basic and well-structured study information (i.e. covariates, metadata) needed for comparisons (Gerstner et al, 2017;Haddaway & Verhoeven, 2015).…”

Failure and Collapse of Ancient Agricultural Stone Terraces: On-Site Effects on Soil and Vegetation

“…The soil mesofauna were extracted using a Berlese-Tullgren funnel, in which heat from a lamp caused the arthropods to escape and eventually fall into a solution of 75% alcohol and 25% glycerine (by volume) [35]. The mesofauna were identified by class for miriapods (Diplopoda, Chilopoda, Symphyla, and Pauropoda) and order for insects (Chelicerata and Crustacea).…”