“If we ask the right questions, the reward is ecological synthesis through greater generality, greater integration, and new levels of understandings. The challenges are to transgress disciplinary boundaries, migrate concepts and theories, and compare patterns and trends associated with disparate ecosystems and landscapes.”
Riera, Kratz, and Magnuson
NTL cross-site synthesis extends beyond the LTER network. Ecological theories and long-term data from NTL have made NTL a leader in freshwater ecology. NTL researchers have been participating in – and NTL data has been used in – inter-site research since the 1980s. And this capacity is only growing.
Current Collaborative Projects
- Agro-IBIS Model – A novel family of models are being used to evaluate potential future changes in freshwater and related ecosystem services
- Community Monitoring Network – a community science program that focuses on people and ponds around the Madison, Wisconsin area
- LAGOS – database of 479,950 lakes and reservoirs > 1 ha in the 48 conterminous US states
- FLAMe – fast Limnology Automated Measurement (FLAMe) platform used to generate detailed, spatially-explicit, real-time observations of surface water quality
- Water Sustainability and Climate – an integrated effort to understand how water and the many other benefits people derive from nature can change over time
Associated Groups and Networks
- Center for Ecology and the Environment
- Clean Lakes Alliance
- Data Science Open Science
- Environmental Data Initiative
- Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON)
- LTER Network
- NTL Microbial Observatory
- NEON
- USGS Northern Temperate Lakes WEBB Project
- UW Space Science and Engineering Center
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI)
- Wisconsin State Climatology Office
