The site Mondsee is part of the European Level II Forest Monitoring System in the frame of the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests). This site is one out of 16 Austrian Level II sites; it was established in 1995 and is, since 2006, part of the LTER Austria network. The site is situated about 25 km east of the city of Salzburg at 850 m a.s.l., in a mixed about 25 year old spruce broadleaved forest.

This site experienced peat extraction. It contains Sphagnum plots and Vaccinium oxycoccos, but the peatland is dominated by graminoids forming tussocks.

Mt Halla San is in Jeju Island, the only volcanic subtropical island, in South Korea. Every year the island is hit by several typhoons. It has shaped unique environmental characteristics and biodiversity. In addition the mountain is one of the most popular vacation sites with growing ecological concern.

The Mase rice paddy site is a flux station in the AsiaFlux micrometeorological tower network. Located in a regularly cultivated rice paddy area of the Kanto plain in Japan, the site was established in 1999. The initial motivation was to quantify the energy and carbon balance in the rice paddy (ca, 54 a) where the tower was situated. Because of the accessibility and line-power availability, the site has involved many researchers and students from universities and institutes, broadening its target to studies on satellite and field remote sensing, ecosystem modelling, and nutrient cycling.

The Cumberland Plain SuperSite is a member of the Australian SuperSite Network (SuperSites, http://www.supersites.net.au/), a facility within the Australian Terrestrial Ecosystem Network (TERN, http://www.tern.org.au/). Cumberland Plain SuperSite is located in remnant Eucalyptus woodland in the Cumberland Plain, at the University of Western Sydney's Hawkesbury campus in Richmond, New South Wales. Associated research extends into the Blue Mountains ecoregion. These sclerophyll woodlands occur on nutrient-poor alluvium deposited by the Nepean River from sandstone and shale bedrock in the Blue Mountains. Despite this they support high regional biodiversity and endemic biota. Cumberland Plain woodland is a critically endangered ecological community found only in the Sydney Basin Bioregion. It faces major pressures including invasive weeds, altered fire regimes, Western Sydney’s urban development, conversion to agriculture, and extreme climate events. The vegetation structure and species composition in the core 1 ha consists of a mix of Eucalyptus moluccana, Eucalyptus fibrosa and Melaleuca decora in the overstorey and Bursaria spinosa dominating the understorey. The traditional custodians are the Darug peoples, and we invite all interested parties to work with us and share their stories. Key research objectives include: • What are the processes controlling biogeochemical fluxes and the impacts of extreme climate events and climate change on biodiversity, conservation management and restoration of remnant Eucalyptus woodland and pastures of Western Sydney.

The site is a cropland with a 4-year rotation. Fluxes of CO2 and water vapour are measured by an eddy covariance system. Research activities are carried out by the university of Liège (GxABT).

The Tumbarumba Wet Eucalypt SuperSite is a member of the Australian SuperSite Network (SuperSites, http://www.supersites.net.au/), a facility within the Australian Terrestrial Ecosystem Network (TERN, http://www.tern.org.au/). The Tumbarumba Wet Eucalypt SuperSite is located in the Bago State Forest in New South Wales on the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. Key research objectives include: • How does airflow, terrain and forest structure affect the way the ecosystem takes up and releases carbon and uses water? • How can measures of carbon pools, stocks and turnover rates, atmospheric fluxes, be used to improve the surface–vegetation–atmospheric–transfer (SVAT) models? • What effects does vegetation have on the lower atmosphere, including the exchange of heat and the production of particles and chemical species that contribute to the formation of aerosols? We acknowledge and honour all traditional owners past and present of this area, including the Wiradjuri and Ngarigo people, who lived and continue to live on this land.

This is a Sphagnum dominated bog, which is part of a mire complex.

Kuršių nerija, the Curonian Spit, is a narrow strip of sand stretching 98 kilometres along the Baltic Sea in western Lithuania. The Curonian Spit is a unique and vulnerable, sandy and wooded cultural landscape on a coastal spit which features small Curonian lagoon settlements. The Spit was formed by the sea, wind and human activity and continues to be shaped by them. Rich with an abundance of unique natural and cultural features, it has retained its social and cultural importance. Local communities adapted to the changes in the natural environment in order to survive. This interaction between humans and nature shaped the Curonian Spit cultural landscape. The history of the Curonian Spit is dramatic: 5,000 years ago, a narrow peninsula (98 km in length and 0.4-3.8 km in width), the Great Dune Ridge separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon, was formed on moraine islands from sand transported by currents, and later covered by forest. After intensive logging in the 17th and 18th centuries, the dunes began moving towards the Curonian Lagoon, burying the oldest settlements. At the turn of the 19th century, it became evident that human habitation would no longer be possible in the area without immediate action. Dune stabilisation work began, and has continued ever since. By the end of the 19th century, a protective dune ridge was formed along the seashore to prevent inland sand migration, and the Great Dune Ridge was reinforced using trees and brushwood hedges. Currently, forests and sands dominate the Curonian Spit. Urbanised areas (eight small settlements) cover just about 6% of the land. One part of the 50 kilometres long Curonian Spit belongs to the Republic of Lithuania. The other to the Russian Federation. With its still drifting sand dunes, the sea side forests cherishing the hundred-years-old pine trees, dunes covered by a mountain pines’ carpet planted by hand, white sand beaches and the old fishermen villages.

Restinga semideciduous broadleaf forest with trees varying between 4 and 10 meters tall growing on nutrient-poor white sand soils distributed parallel to the Atlantic coastline. Mean annual temperature is 26oC and mean annual precipitation is 1746mm, concentrated between March and August. Dry season length (months < 100 mm) experience considerable interannual variation (3-9 months) and averages 6.2 months.