Issue 5

The Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research Program

The Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory has been a National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program site since 1980. The program is the center piece of cooperative efforts between Coweeta and the University of Georgia, and includes other major university cooperators such as Duke University, Mars Hill College, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina at Asheville, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The Coweeta LTER Program encompasses a broad array of cooperative studies, averaging 30 projects each year involving over 55 graduate and undergraduate students and over 30 senior investigators. Over 200 students have received graduate degrees from research conducted at Coweeta, and the laboratory conducts onsite tours for over 60 groups each year.

Since 1980, the program has expanded from primarily site-based studies to encompass regionwide issues. Coweeta LTER studies focus on human land uses as the primary disturbance on the private lands that include most of the remaining forest in the Southern Appalachians, to uncover how land use change affects ecosystem processes—as well as how land use decisions are influenced by social, economic, and ecological factors.

To access a full list of research programs, as well as articles, datasets, and other materials from the LTER, visit the program Web site at http://coweeta.ecology.uga.edu/.

Back to Widening The Lens