1	Collaborative LTER Research in the Baltic Region Brian Kloeppel Coweeta LTER Program University of Georgia USA
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3	ILTER Organization ILTER Chairperson: Hen-biau King (Taiwan) ILTER Executive Committee Western Europe - Christian Leveque (France) Central/Eastern Europe - Julius Oszlanyi (Slovakia) North America - Manuel Maass (Mexico) Central/South America - Jorge Jimenez (Costa Rica) East Asia/Pacific - Zhao Shidong (China) Southern Africa (ELTOSA) - Johan Pauw (S. Africa) ILTER Coordinating Committee Consists of one voting person from each ILTER member network ILTER Support Short-term support for a coordinator to insure success during transition - John VandeCastle (USA)
4	Baltic Regional Network Countries represented at this meeting: Belarus Estonia Finland Latvia Lithuania Poland Russia Sweden Ukraine Other potential collaborators for future research: Denmark Germany Additional Russian Collaborators
5	Long-term research is necessary to reveal: Slow or transient processes Episodic or infrequent events Trends Multi-factor responses Processes with major time lags
6	THE IMPORTANCE OF CROSS-SITE SYNTHESIS
7	Information Management Potential Database Product for the Baltic Network Baltic Network Species Database: 1) select an organism such as birds or fish 2) compile species lists that are already in existence 3) note red book species 4) generate hypotheses that can be answered by “mining” these databases 5) could be conducted by a graduate student who follows up with the participants from this meeting
8	Potential Baltic Network Research Themes Biodiversity Indicators Bird Population Studies links with climate change Fish Population Studies links with climate change Land Use Change Utilizing Satellite Imagery
9	Coweeta LTER Land Use Change
10	Successful Research Projects from the CEE Regional Network Detritus Input and Removal Treatments (DIRT) Study started in 1957 at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum (Nielsen and Hole 1963) DIRT research sites were established at the Andrews and Harvard Forest LTER sites (US) Sikfokut DIRT site established in Hungary in 2000 with funding from Hungary and US-NSF
11	Successful Research Projects from the CEE Regional Network Siemianice Site in Poland “Linking Leaf and Root Traits to Ecosystem Structure and Function in a Common Garden Study of 14 Temperate Tree Species” Start Date June 1, 2002 End Date May 31, 2005 (Estimated) NSF Award #0128958: $630,804 US Investigators: Jacek Oleksyn and Peter Reich
12	LTER Information on the Web ILTER Network www.ilternet.edu US LTER Network www.lternet.edu Coweeta LTER Site coweeta.ecology.uga.edu