Modeled with Mohid

The site of Botanic Garden Meise is a 92 ha domain near Brussels. It has been assembled from parts of two historic castle parks. For more than 75 years it has been home to a collection of plants, as well as a research institute dedicated to botany, forming one of the largest botanic gardens in Europe but also an important tourist attraction close to Brussels. Some habitats get a high degree of disturbance, either due to garden maintenance, or from the large number of visitors. There are also managed and more natural areas. A variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats occur, among which valuable woody (semi-)natural areas, and also managed meadows. The study of biodiversity in the park has relealed an exceptional species richness in many taxonomic groups. More than 600 wild vascular plant species have been found since 2002, including rare species that were inadvertently introduced during the 19th century, so called wood lawn neophytes . Since 1993 the ectomycorrhizal fungi have been monitored, and there are observations of 52 Red List species in the domain. The park is also the richest Belgian site for Laboulbeniales (Ascomycetes), obligate ectoparasites of Arthropoda. Especially the wet ash-alder forests hold a number of rare and unique taxa and host-parasite combinations, some of them with only a few localities known worldwide. Moreover, the domain is a biodiversity hotspot for lichens and lichenicolous fungi, among other factors as a result of management, such as the regular maintenance of the undergrowth which has a positive effect on light-loving epiphytic lichens, and also due to the diversity of habitats and the large range of different substrates of varying age and of ecological conditions. Another well represented group are diatoms (Bacillariophyta), of which a mere survey in a small pond already yielded two species which have been described as new to science. The site is also rich in fauna, for example rare bat species that overwinter in our historical underground ice cellars. The diverse range of cultivated species also attracts an enormous range of arthropods and plant pathogens, which we know exceeds what we know of it.

Gobabeb is a Research Centre with accommodation, conference, laboratory and teaching facilities in Namibia's Namib-Naukluft National Park, about 65km from the coast on the northern bank of the ephemeral Kuiseb River. It is located at a point where three main habitats meet (ephemeral river, gravel plain and the Namib erg) and lies within the inland edge of the fog zone. It is the designated monitoring and research centre for the Namib Sand Sea World Heritage Site.

Desert grassland, shrubland, woodland, forest and riparian habitats in central New Mexico, USA

The Connell Rainforest Plot Network is a member of Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), Australia (http://www.ltern.org.au), a facility of the Australian Government's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), (http://www.tern.org.au). The long-term forest dynamics plot at O'Reilly's is located in the subtropical rainforest near O’Reilly’s Guest House in Lamington National Park, 65 km south of Brisbane. It consists of two 1-ha plots spaced approximately 600 m apart, but for analyses they have always been treated as a single unit. This plot has never been logged, but some selective logging has occurred just outside the plot boundary. Temporal visits occur between 1 to 6 years.

Sokolov post-mining ecosystems represent a unique LTER study area comprising forest and non-forest ecosystems developing after reclamation or by spontaneous revegetation on heaped overburden from brown coal mining. Several 1 ha sites are studied since 1992 (10 sites intensively and over 50 sites occasionally). Research has been focused on interactions between soil, plants and soil organisms and their role in soil formation and biogeochemical cycles restoration. Great attention has been paid to comparison of long-term development of reclaimed and non-reclaimed sites and to the effect of different tree species, types of substrates and heaping technique used during reclamation. Series of sites of known age (15–70 years) developing on similar substrate represent a great opportunity for ecological research using a chronosequence approach.

Except for minor disturbances associated with selective logging on two plots, the Tropical Rainforest Plot Network plots were established in old growth forest and all plots have thereafter been protected. Plots have been regularly censused and at each census the diameter at breast height of all stems is recorded. The data collected from the 20 plots provides an insight into the floristical composition, structure and long term forest dynamics of Australian tropical rainforests and allows direct comparisons to be made with long-term monitoring plots at a global scale. Temporal visits were initially conducted every 2 years, then every 5 years from 1990. Between 2012 and 2018 the Tropical Rainforest Plot Network is a member of Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), Australia, a facility of the Australian Government's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN).

Shennongjia Station is located in Xingshan County, Hubei Province, China. It is located in the southern slope of Mount Shennongjia. The altitude is 1290m above sea level. The typical forest types are the northern subtropical mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaved forest. Shennongjia Station was established in 1994, it became a station of National Field Research Station network running by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China in 2005, and became a member of Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN), CAS in 2008.

Changwu station was found in 1984 as one of field experiment stations of Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISWC, CAS). It joined the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) organized by CAS in 1991 and the National Ecosystem Research Network of China (CNERN) in 2005 by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. The station located in Wangdong Village, Hongjia town, Changwu County, Shaanxi Province, 200 km away from Xi’an city. Its location is E107°41′ and N35°12′, south of the Loess Plateau. It belongs to the warm temperate semi-humid continental monsoon climate. Mean annual precipitation is 580mm and temperature 9.1℃, frost-free day 171. The elevation is about 1200 m and the depth of ground water is 50-80m. Main crops are winter wheat, spring maize, potato, sorghum, millet, beans and so on. The zonal soil is called Heilu soil with a parent material of clay loam Malan loess paleosol soil with an average depth in excess of 100m that were deposited during the Quaternary period. It belongs to the high table land - gully region, and a typical rain-fed agricultural area on the Loess Plateau. Wangdong small watershed, which the station located in, is 6.3km2. Three landform types are high table land, slop land called “Liang” and valley, which occupy the total area of watershed with 35%, 35.6% and 29.4%, respectively. The soil is deep and has good physical properties, like reservoir, support the agro-ecological system.

The primary research site for the Konza Prairie LTER program is the Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS), a 3,487-ha native tallgrass prairie preserve and research station jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University. The KPBS is located in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas (39°05’ N, 96°35’ W), a grassland region of steep-slopes overlain by shallow limestone soils unsuitable for cultivation. The climate is continental, with mean annual precipitation of 835 mm yr-1, but high variability. KPBS is topographically complex (320 to 444 m asl), and soil type and depth vary with topography. Soils are silty clay loams, formed from thick colluvial and alluvial deposits ≥2 m in lowlands, while hillside and upland soils are shallow. Soils overlay alternating layers of limestone and shale, contributing to complex subsurface hydrology. Vegetation is primarily (>90%) native tallgrass prairie dominated by perennial C4 grasses, but precipitation is sufficient to support woody vegetation, making periodic drought, fire and grazing critical for maintaining grassland. Numerous sub-dominant grasses, forbs and woody species contribute to high floristic diversity (>600 plant species). The entire Kings Creek watershed, a USGS Benchmark Stream, is located on Konza. Hardwood forests occur along major stream courses. Several agricultural fields and restored prairies are located on site. Overall, the site is representative of native tallgrass prairie, with selected areas representing other contemporary land use practices (e.g., agriculture, restored grasslands, cattle and bison grazing).