Welcome to the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (ARC LTER) site, part of a network of sites established by the National Science Foundation to support long-term ecological research in the United States. Our research site is located in the foothills region of the Brooks Range, North Slope of Alaska (68° 38'N, 149° 43'W, elevation 760 m) and is based out of the University of Alaska's Toolik Field Station.

The principal year-round institute is based at The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.  The Principal Investigator of the Arctic LTER is John Hobbie while Gus Shaver, Bruce Peterson, Chris Luecke, and George Kling form an executive committee and direct the tundra, streams, lakes, and landscape interactions sections, respectively. (Arctic LTER personnel)

The long-term goal of Arctic LTER project is to predict the effects of environmental change.  To achieve this goal the Arctic LTER is studying the ecology of the surrounding tundra, streams, and lakes.  We hope to gain an understanding of the controls of ecosystem structure and function through long-term monitoring and surveys of natural variation of ecosystem characteristics, through experimental manipulation of ecosystems for years and decades and through synthesis of results and predictive modeling at ecosystem and watershed scales.

After 15+ years of research there are now a number of well-studied ecosystems at the Arctic LTER site.  It is clear that because of the variability in glacial age of soils, tundra vegetation and water chemistry and size of streams and lakes, LTER research must also identify the linkages within and among ecosystems. The controls of these linkages and how they will change in future environments will be needed to predict how the entire landscape will respond to environmental change.

Accordingly, the goal of the Arctic LTER Project for 2004-2010 is: To understand changes in the Arctic system at catchment and landscape scales through knowledge of the linkages and interactions among ecosystems. (See Arctic LTER 2004 proposal).

The Arctic LTER research also addresses an important societal goal: the prediction of response of arctic ecosystems to environmental change, both natural and anthropogenic.  The data and insights gained are provided to federal, Alaska state and North Slope Burrow officials who regulate the lands on the North Slope.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants #DEB-981022, 9211775, 8702328; #OPP-9911278, 9911681, 9732281, 9615411, 9615563, 9615942, 9615949, 9400722, 9415411, 9318529; #BSR 9019055, 8806635, 8507493. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.