US Long Term Ecological Research Network

The Challenge: The LTER Network (LTER), a vast network of ecological research sites, needed a centralized, reliable system for sharing, integrating, and preserving diverse long-term datasets across multiple sites and decades. Their primary hurdles were ensuring FAIR data for synthesis, knowledge generation, and long-term legacy.

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The EDI Solution: More than 30 LTER sites chose the EDI repository to serve as their core data infrastructure. EDI enabled scientists and collaborators to:

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• Reliably deposit their research data, guaranteeing secure long-term preservation and immediate availability to the wider scientific community.

• Easily find relevant LTER datasets spanning diverse ecological phenomena.

• Access and download data with comprehensive, FAIR-compliant metadata, ensuring context and quality.

• Achieve interoperability, allowing combination of data from different LTER sites for comparative studies and broader ecological theories.

The Impact & Outcomes: EDI's seamless data access and contribution capabilities directly support the LTER Network's vision. This partnership ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of invaluable environmental observations, enabling robust cross-site synthesis, generating general ecological knowledge and predictive understanding, and creating a lasting legacy for future generations of scientists and public audiences.