<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Dear all,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As promised, here is your bimonthly update on progress for each of the projects identified in our second meeting. For your reference, the list of projects and leaders can also be found here:</div><div class=""><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iML_EzPHvhQjNI50Z0ITYCGj58kiP7lbUBSog9aQ5IU/edit?usp=sharing" class="">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iML_EzPHvhQjNI50Z0ITYCGj58kiP7lbUBSog9aQ5IU/edit?usp=sharing</a></div><div class="">If you would like to contribute to one or more of these projects, then please feel free to contact the project leader(s) and offer ways to help. If you have questions, then please feel free to ask the project leaders or me. Thanks in advance for your contributions!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please let me know if you plan to attend the <a href="https://lternet.edu/lter-scientists-meeting-2018/" class="">LTER All Scientist Meeting</a> this fall, as we have proposed a workshop related to our synthesis working group.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best wishes,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Forest, Jane, and Laura</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Nonrandom changes in biodiversity and EF led by Tim Newbold</b></div><div class="">No update at this time.</div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><b class="">BEF causality review led by Laura Dee</b></div><div class="">Integrating the many helpful comments and reaching out to individuals for contributions to particular sections. Hope to have the next version to send to the group by early July.</div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><b class="">NutNet BEF causality analysis led by Laura Dee</b></div><div class="">No update at this time.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Instrumental variables with Cedar Creek biodiversity and fertilization experiments led by Jane Cowles</b></div><div class="">No update at this time.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Quantifying performance-enhancing insurance effects led by Forest Isbell</b></div><div class="">I have requested help from investigators of tree diversity experiments to standardize data into a common format. More than two dozen tree diversity experiments have now submitted data. I am still waiting on a few more. If we are going to add in marine data, which would be fantastic, then I will need someone, such as Mary or Jarrett, to take the lead on organizing those data, as I am already swimming in data and finding it difficult to keep up with all the emails on the grassland and forest sides.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Global drivers of biodiversity loss (N) led by Yann Hautier</b></div><div class="">No update at this time.</div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><b class="">SAR, EAR, and BEF led by Akira Mori</b></div><div class="">My colleagues and I have estimated spatial distributions of nearly 2000 tree species at the resolution of 30 arc-seconds in 2005 and at the resolution of 0.5 degrees in 2070 (using different climate change and land-use change scenarios). Based on some simulations and machine learning, I am now trying to estimate percent changes in species richness from 2050 to 2070 at the spatial scale of roughly 1 x 1 km^2 for estimating possible declines in forest productivity. I am hoping to provide preliminary results soon. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class="">Agenda 2049 led by Mary O’Connor</b></div><div class="">No update at this time, but Mary will be reaching out soon.</div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><b class="">Coexistence mechanisms led by Jane Cowles</b></div><div class="">No update at this time.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><b class="">Global BEF led by Sasha Wright</b></div><div class="">Almost all participants have devoted time/writing to their assigned sections. This means we are getting close to a full working draft, but Peter Reich pointed out that some further unifying is needed. Peter and I developed several questions for each topical subheading to help focus the writing. We will send these out soon. I’ve also been working on a figure that helps visualize mechanisms that may play out in different BEF relationships for local vs. global scales. Laura and I (and possibly Peter) will discuss this on Wednesday.</div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>