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11 AUGUST 2017 • VOL 357 ISSUE 6351 557SCIENCE sciencemag.org
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in global initiatives such as the International
LTER will be impaired. The LTER network
is part of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research
Network (TERN), funded by Australia’s
government (5). TERN’s inclusion of existing
LTER capability provided a template that
others in Europe, China, and South Africa
have followed. Discontinuing the LTER net-
work within TERN will therefore undermine
global cohesion in environmental research
and monitoring.
At a time when the United States
is increasing funding for its LTERs by
US$5.6M annually (6), and other nations
are rapidly building substantial LTER
capacity, terminating Australia’s LTER
network is totally out of step with interna-
tional trends and national imperatives. To
prevent the collapse of the LTER network
and prevent the resulting irreversible
impacts of breaking current time-series,
urgent and direct investment by the
Australian government is crucial.
David Lindenmayer and
68 additional authors
College of Medicine, Biology, and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Email: [email protected]
The full list of authors is available online.
REFERENCES
1. TERN, Quarterly Newsletter, Issue 16 (2017); www.ozflux.org.au/publications/newsletter/SuperSitesOzFluxCZONewsletter_Issue16_July2017.pdf.
2. D. B. Lindenmayer, E. Burns, N. Thurgate, A. Lowe, Eds., Biodiversity and Environmental Change: Monitoring, Challenges and Direction (CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 2014).
3. D. A. Keith, Austral. Ecol. 40, 337 (2015). 4. D. B. Lindenmayer et al., Austral. Ecol. 40, 213 (2015). 5. Long Term Ecological Research Network (www.ltern.org.au). 6. Nature 543, 469 (2017).
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
www.sciencemag.org/content/357/6351/557/suppl/DC1Full author list
10.1126/science.aao4228
Save Australia’s
ecological research
Australia will lose its integrated long-term
ecological research (LTER) network at the
end of 2017 (1). The network comprises
more than 1100 long-term field plots within
temperate forests, rainforests, alpine grass-
lands, heathlands, deserts, and savannas,
with an unparalleled temporal depth in
biodiversity data. Its many achievements
includ e Australia’s first published trend
data for key ecosystems (2) and a suite of
IUCN ecosystem risk assessments (3).
Long-term ecological data are criti-
cal for quantifying environmental and
biodiversity change and identifying its
causes. LTER is especially important in
Australia because many of the country’s
ecosystems are subject to frequent climatic
extremes. Continuity of long-term research
and monitoring, and broader use of exist-
ing time series data by science and policy
communities, are crucial for measuring
impacts of current unprecedented global
environmental change and reliably predict-
ing future impacts.
Long-term research and monitoring is
also essential to understanding relation-
ships between the economy, ecosystems, and
risks to human well-being (4). The loss of
Australia’s LTER network will substantially
diminish resource managers’ ability to judge
the effectiveness of management interven-
tions on which billions of dollars are spent
annually (such as vegetation restoration
and invasive species control). Ending the
network will also jeopardize sustainability
assessments of resource-based industries
such as agriculture and forestry. Moreover,
Australia’s capacity to participate effectively
Edited by Jennifer Sills
LETTERS Australia’s long-term ecological
research projects are at risk.
Academics can help
shape Wikipedia
Public understanding of science is increas-
ingly important. Wikipedia is widely used
by students, educators, researchers, doctors,
journalists, and policy-makers. The online,
crowd-sourced encyclopedia site is per-
ceived as increasingly trustworthy, making
it a key public engagement platform with
immediate impacts on scientific literacy (1).
Now is an important time in the evolution
of the encyclopedia. Its parent organization,
the Wikimedia Foundation, is working to
shape its strategic focus through to 2030.
This represents an unprecedented opportu-
nity for the global scientific community to
advise on its future. Wikipedia has discus-
sion pages for users to provide feedback on
some of the upcoming challenges (2).
The scientific community can improve
Wikipedia on a more granular level by
learning to edit the encyclopedia in areas
that need improvement. Poorly written
articles can mislead readers and give a
false impression of a research field. The
recent introduction of a new editing inter-
face has made the encyclopedia as easy
to edit as a Word document, and a short
2014 article outlines some editing advice
for scientists (3).
Wikipedia is increasingly engaging
expert communities to improve accu-
racy and coverage. Interested parties can
contribute to several existing collabora-
tive initiatives or propose new ones. For
example, some academic journals (such as
PLOS Computational Biology, Gene, and
WikiJournal of Medicine) have agreed to
dual-publish articles as both a citable publi-
cation and Wikipedia page (4). The Cochrane
library, a collection of health care data-
bases, has a similar quality-improvement
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Supplementary Materials for
Save Australia’s ecological research David Lindenmayer and 68 additional authors
Email:
Published 11 August 2017, Science 357, 557 (2017)
This PDF file includes:
Full author list
Name Address/Institution Email 1 David B.
Lindenmayer Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
2 Emma L. Burns Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
3 Christopher Dickman
Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
4 Peter T. Green Head, Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086
5 Ary A. Hoffmann
Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Group University of Melbourne
6 David A. Keith Centre for Ecosystem Science School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of NSW
7 John W. Morgan
Department of Ecology, Environment & Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora 3083, Victoria, Australia
8 Jeremy Russell-Smith
Adjunct Professor. Charles Darwin University, Australia Adjunct Professor, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research Charles Darwin University
9 Glenda M. Wardle
Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
10 Graeme G. R. Gillespie
Director Terrestrial Ecosystems Flora and Fauna Division, Department of Environment and Natural Resources 564 Vanderlin Drive Berrimah NT 0828
11 Saul Cunningham
Director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
12 Charles Krebs Emeritus Professor Department of Zoology University of British Columbia 6270 University Blvd. Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 Canada
13 Gene Likens Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Founding Director and President Emeritus Distinguished Senior Scientist Emeritus PO Box AB Millbrook, New York 12545 USA
14 Johan Pauw Managing Director, SAEON South African Environmental Observation Network, P.O. Box 1758, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
15 Tiffany G. Troxler
Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC) and Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St, OE 148, Miami, Fl 33199 USA
16 William H. McDowell
Director, New Hampshire Water Resources Research Center Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire USA
17 Jane A. Catford Biological Sciences, Faculty of Natural & Environmental Sciences University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ United Kingdom
18 Richard Hobbs School of Biological Science The University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
19 Andrew Bennett
Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, 3125, Australia
20 Emily Nicholson
Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, 3125, Australia
21 Euan Ritchie Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, 3125, Australia
22 Barbara Wilson School of Life and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science Engineering & Built Environment Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
23 Aaron C. Greenville
Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006 Australia
24 Thomas Newsome
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
25 Rick Shine School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
26 Alex Kutt Arid and Riverine – Northern Region Bush Heritage Australia Longreach, Queensland, 4730 Australia
27 Ayesha Tulloch Wildlife Conservation Society Research Fellow School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, QLD Australia
28 Nicole Thurgate
Genetics and Evolution University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Australia
29 Alaric Fisher Department of Land Resource Management (DLRM), Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
30 Kate Auty Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment GPO Box 158 Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia
31 Becky Smith Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment GPO Box 158 Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia
32 Richard Williams
Adjunct Professorial Fellow, Charles Darwin University Visitor, University of Melbourne
33 Barry Fox School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Science Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
34 Graciela Metternicht
School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Science Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
35 Xuemei Bai Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
36 Samuel Banks Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
37 Rebecca Colvin
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
38 Mason Crane
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
39 Liz Dovey Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
40 Ceridwen Fraser
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
41 Claire Foster Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
42 Robert Heinsohn
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
43 Geoffrey Kay Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
44 Katherina Ng Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
45 Chris MacGregor
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
46 Damian Michael
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
47 Luke O’Loughlin
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
48 Thea O’Loughlin
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
49 Luciana Porfirio
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
50 Libby Robin Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
51 David Salt Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
52 Chloe Sato Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
53 Ben Scheele Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
54 Janet Stein Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
55 John Stein Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
56 Brian Walker Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
57 Martin Westgate
Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
58 George Wilson Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
59 Jeffrey Wood Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
60 Susanna Venn Research School of Biology The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
61 Michael Vardon
ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
62 Sarah Legge National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub c/o The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
63 Robert Costanza
VC's Chair in Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, 2601 Australia
64 Danny Kenny Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
65 Peter Burnett College of Law, The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia
66 Alan Welsh Mathematical Sciences Institute The Australian National University Acton, ACT, 2601 Australia
67 Joslin Moore Senior Lecturer, Ecology School of Biological Sciences Monash University Victoria 3800, Australia
68 Carla Sgrò
School of Biological Sciences Building 18, Monash University Victoria 3800, Australia
69 Mark Westoby Dept of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW, 2109 Australia
Save Australia's ecological researchDavid Lindenmayer and 68 additional authors
DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4228 (6351), 557.357Science
ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6351/557.1
MATERIALSSUPPLEMENTARY http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2017/08/09/357.6351.557-a.DC1
REFERENCEShttp://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6351/557.1#BIBLThis article cites 3 articles, 0 of which you can access for free
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