Excursions

Biodiversity trends and patterns related to ecosystem resilience, climate regulation, and human survival. Long-term studies that explore adaptation to environmental change related to biodiversity and biodiversity management. Long-term studies on the drivers and impacts of biological invasions as one of the five primary drivers of global biodiversity loss are of particular interest.

How ILTER science can inform resilience to climate change and extreme events and impacts of global change – how ecosystems and human communities to respond to and recover following disturbances such as temperature, drought, extreme storms, and flooding. This may include using historical data to understand past patterns and forecast future conditions; using modern methods to recreate historic conditions and transitions; and documenting shifting baselines and predicting future trends.

Long-term studies that leverage holistic thinking to balance trade-offs and maximize synergies across multiple sectors for sustainable resource management. Of particular interest are papers that support monitoring and explore trajectories of environmental sustainability as part of the energy transition.

Advances in physical, biogeochemical, and ecological monitoring and modeling and their applications to investigate diverse topics in long-term research. How interoperable data and research infrastructures advance global long-term science. Includes how management, analysis, and synthesis of historical or modern datasets (e.g., continuous monitoring, remote sensing, gene sequences and bioinformatics) in an open environment glean new information, including quantitative description of status and function and development of predictive models and tools.

Advances in physical, biogeochemical, and ecological monitoring and modeling and their applications to investigate diverse topics in long-term research. How interoperable data and research infrastructures advance global long-term science. Includes how management, analysis, and synthesis of historical or modern datasets (e.g., continuous monitoring, remote sensing, gene sequences and bioinformatics) in an open environment glean new information, including quantitative description of status and function and development of predictive models and tools.

Long-term studies of how plants, animals, and humans interact within city environments and how integrating these natural systems into urban planning provides essential benefits—such as reducing urban heat, mitigating floods, cleaning the air, and improving the mental and physical health of city dwellers.

Research on benefits people derive from ecosystems, especially through a long-term lens, in any ecosystem type.

Of particular interest are multi-decade experiments that explore how managed livestock grazing and agroecological practices can promote biodiversity, build soil health, and mitigate climate change, while maintaining rural economic viability.

Long-term research to decrease physical, chemical, and/or biological stressors to conserve and restore ecosystems, and increase the resilience of ecosystems to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts.

Research on the unequal distribution of environmental burdens, benefits, and decision-making power, and on how to advance more equitable outcomes. Topics may include studies of exposure and access disparities, legacies of historical land use and policy, community-engaged and co-produced research, and the distributive, procedural, and recognitional dimensions of environmental justice.

Studies that combine the rigorous tracking of environmental data with the study of human systems over decades. Science that supports actionable frameworks, enabling scientists, local communities, and policymakers to co-design and co-create sustainable solutions.