<div dir="ltr"><div>The NCO is forwarding this message and attachment from Peter Groffman. In a nutshell, <span style="color:rgb(31,73,125)">a group of International LTER scientists is
recruiting participants for a global decomposition study. Expressions of interest should go straight to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""><a href="mailto:Ika.Djukic@umweltbundesamt.at" target="_blank">Ika.Djukic@umweltbundesamt.at</a><br><br></span></div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> FD</span><br><div><div><br><div><div style="border-width:1pt medium medium;border-style:solid none none;border-color:rgb(181,196,223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color;padding:3pt 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Djukic Ika [mailto:<a href="mailto:Ika.Djukic@umweltbundesamt.at" target="_blank">Ika.Djukic@umweltbundesamt.at</a>] <br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 17, 2015 4:45 AM<br><b>To:</b> Peter Groffman<br><b>Subject:</b> AW: Teatime for ILTER in US</span></p></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Dear Peter,</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The
project idea is to measure the global litter decomposition and draw
conclusion on the effect of litter decomposition on the C and N cycling.
To achieve this, the infrastructure of existing networks will be used,
focusing on the drivers that would potentially also affect decomposition
such as biodiversity (TreeDivNEt, GLORIA), nutrient availability
(NutNet), climatic extreme events (DROUGHTNET, TERENO). In this context,
the high resolution measurements obtained through the ILTER network
(>700 sites) would allow good calibration of the models (e.g. DNDC,
YASSO) as a prerequisite for an accurate prediction of the expected
changes. Therefore, it would be of great importance to get as many as
possible sites in order to cover the diversity of the terrestrial
ecosystems.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Basically, the costs and time needed for the implementation are very low.</p><p style="margin-bottom:10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>The tea has to be ordered; the costs for the tea for the incubation period over 3 years per site would be around 5 EURO.</p><p style="margin-bottom:10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Before incubation, the tea has to be dried for 48 h and then weighed and buried in the field.</p><p style="margin-bottom:10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>Sampling points shall be after 3, 12,24, and 36 months</p><p style="margin-bottom:10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>After retrieval the bags have to be dried again for the 48 h, cleaned and weighed.</p><p style="margin-bottom:10pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Symbol"><span>·<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span>The estimated effort is around 6 person-days <span tabindex="0" class=""><span class="">in 3 years</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">We
will provide a standard protocol for implementation of the experiment
as well as a template for data reporting after expression of interest
(by the end of January 2016). Experiment start is planned to be summer
2016.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">In this
context, I would like to write a project proposal in coming year so that
resources would be available for the analyses of needed parameter. I
would also very much welcome interested colleagues to join more closely
in project writing and implementation of work since the planed work is
going to be more than enough for one.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Thank you very much for your support.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I wish you very pleasant holidays and the best for the coming year.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Warm greetings from Vienna,</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Ika</p><br clear="all"><div><div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><pre cols="72"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Frank W. Davis<br>Director, LTER Network Communications Office<br></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Director, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis</span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span></span><br>University of California, Santa Barbara
735 State St., Suite 300
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3351, USA
<a href="http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu" target="_blank">http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu</a>
Tel (805) 893-7527
Fax (805) 893-7451</span></pre>
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