Tara mountain is a part of Dinaric Alps with an average height of 1200 m above sea level and is a typical forested area located in western Serbia. Its forests are among the best preserved and most productive forests in Europe and represent the greatest natural value of Tara. The area has a temperate continental climate with subalpine influences. High humidity is caused by currents from the Drina canyon and daily mist. More than 75% of the area is covered with mixed forest of beech, fir and spruce. Tara is a well known refugium for many relict and endemic plant species among which the most valuable and recognizable is the endemic and relict Serbia spruce, Picea omorica (Pancic) Purkyně with very limited range to about only 60 ha.

Muntatschinig (Monteschino) is a 25m x 15m grassland site (managed meadow) on 1480m. The site was first established in 2008 as a weather station and is still the most extensive of the four sites. In 2010 the University of Innsbruck installed an eddy covariance station. Nine automatic lysimeters were added to measure evapotranspiration and water use efficiency. Since 2012 a rain-out shelter system has been used for simulating spring and summer droughts. This site is one of the sites along the elevation transect used for grassland transplantation experiments.

The present proposal aims to assess how human disturbance and changes in rainfall regime affect the Caatinga ecosystem’s biota at different levels of biological organization (i.e, from populations to ecosystem level), by correlating these aspects with the theoretical reference shown in macro trends already documented in the tropics. The project will be developed in Catimbau National Park, a polygon of approximately 63,000 ha, and one of the most important protected areas in the Caatinga. The Park presents vocation for ecological studies of long-term and thus to become an LTER site due to a series of reasons: (1) it has a biological, archaeological and landscape heritage of inestimable value, (2) it shelters areas with different historical land use and anthropic disturbance on the vegetation of Caatinga, (3) there are already in place several research initiatives and training of human resources, and (4) in term of unit management aspects, logistics and infrastructure are favorable for long-term initiatives. Furthermore, the implementation and achievement of this project’s objectives are centered on: (1) establishment of a set of 30 permanent plots, (2) periodic multi-taxa inventories, (3) continuous monitoring of environmental and anthropogenic variables (4) consolidation of biological, land usage and environmental data on the basis of GIS type and (5) dissemination / transfer of information through a wide range of instruments.This proposal will be implemented by a network composed of 23 researchers supported by a number of undergraduate / graduate students, all from six national institutions and three other overseas. The main core of the graduate programs are Plant Biology, Biology Animal and Fungal Biology, all at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). In summary, the "LTER Catimbau National Park" is an important proposal and has the ability to expand knowledge about how dry biota respond to land use changes and precipitation, with all the implications that these answers may have for the management of biodiversity and the achievement of sustainable development in semi-arid regions.

Dynamics of alpine tree line has been reported from several mountain ranges in Europe, in North America, New Zealand as well as in the Alps (Grabherr et al. 1994). This led to the formation of the GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) project, dedicated to initiate a global indicator network towards research on the effects of climate change through an international co-operation. Indian part of Himalaya was not having any site towards this mission till 2013. Therefore, based on some Indian studies which also indicated this trend in more pronounced manner, the need of having Indian network was felt. It was in this context as a part of network project across the Indian Himalayan states under the banner of HIMADRI (Himalayan Alpine Dynamics Research Initiative) a long-term monitoring site was established in Kashmir Himalaya at Gulmarg, a famous hill resort. This particular work plan (TeaComposition initiative) is conducted at this selected HIMADRI site. Gulmarg lies on the north east side of the Pir Panjal Range and is about 60 kms west of Srinagar city. It encompasses the upper catchment area of Ferozpur Nullah and the forests that surround the Gulmarg meadow. The vegetation in Gulmarg mainly comprises of coniferous temperate mountain forests of Blue Pine (Pinus Wallichiana), sub-alpine forests of Silver Fir (Abies pindrow) and Himalayan Birch (Betula utilis), followed by alpine scrub and meadows.

Kopaonik is the largest and the longest mountain range in Serbia located in its central part. It is proclaimed a national park in 1981. The observatory site in Kopaonik is located in strictly protected spruce forest, on the lower distribution of spruce zone on the border zone with beach forest. The mountain is characterized by alternating climate conditions; from warmer sub-mediterranean climate in the lowest part of the mountain to cold subalpine climate in high elevation areas. Vertical profile of the mountain with different climate zones and geological diversity resulted in high habitat diversity. The largest part of the area is covered by climatologically adapted mixed deciduous and coniferous forest having obvious zonal transition. A large number of endemic and relict plant species makes Kopaonik one of the most significant biodiversity centers in Serbia. Main threats to the area besides soil erosion present logging, deforestation and tourism.

Grazing research site

The restoration sites are located in abandoned arable land and clear-cut tree plantations mostly, but not entirely within LTER Fulophaza that is a high diversity site, both in terms of habitats and species, in the Kiskunság Sand Ridge. It uses some of the central facilities of the KISKUN LTER, such as the meteorological station and the field research station with accommodation opportunities, and a couple of long term monitoring sites and field experiments.

Mars, Mont Mars, (Fontainemore, Aosta)

The Wombat Stringybark Eucalypt SuperSite is a member of the TERN Ecosystem Processes platform (https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/), a field observatory within the Australian Terrestrial Ecosystem Network (TERN, http://www.tern.org.au/). The Wombat Stringybark Eucalypt SuperSite is located in the Wombat State Forest, Victoria, South Eastern Australia at an elevation of 713m. The site is a secondary re-growth forest that was last harvested in 1980. Dominant tree species are Eucalyptus obliqua (messmate stringybark), Eucalyptus radiata (narrow leaf peppermint) and Eucalyptus rubida (candlebark) with an average canopy height of 25 m. The understorey consists mainly of patchy grasses and the soil is a silty-clay overlying clay. The forest is managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and management includes selective harvesting and prescribed burning regimes. The climate of the study area is classified as cool-temperate to Mediterranean zone with cold and wet winters (May-Aug) and warm and dry summers (Dec-Feb). Key research objectives include: • What are the elements of structure, composition, functions and processes of the dry eucalypt forests of South Eastern Australia required for the sustainable management of these ecosystems? • What is the carbon sink/source strength of a dry sclerophyll forest and what is their contribution to Australia’s National Carbon Inventory? • What is the magnitude of emission and/or uptake of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide and methane of dry eucalypt forest? • How will climate variability, drought or fire influence the ecosystem processes of dry eucalypt forest? The Dja Dja Wurrung peoples are the traditional owners at Wombat.

GLORIA Master Site.The 3497m-peak Mount Schrankogel belongs to the highest mountains of the Austrian Alps. Its northern and eastern side is surrounded by glaciers and glacier forelands. Its southern to western faces, however, are not interrupted by glacier Established in 1994 as the first comprehensive alpine to nival long-term monitoring site for high-altitude vegetation in the Alps, with ca. 1000 permanent plots of 1x1m arranged in transects of 30x3m or smaller ranging from 2900m to 3450m. Main purpose is ecological climate impact research. In 2001 it became a master site of the GLORIA network: e.g. method development and testing for species recording in 1x1m plots for GLORIA was partly conducted on Schrankogel. The first major resurvey of plots was made in 2004, the second resurvey was conducted in 2014. Besides long-term monitoring, several other research approaches were/are carried out at the Schrankogel site, such as species and vegetation modeling, vegetation mapping, phenological studies of alpine and nival plants, exclosure studies for grazing impacts at the lower altitudes of the site, soil studies, snow pattern studies (two permanent snow cameras), surface and soil-temperature measurements. In 2014, the the scope was extended to other organism groups such as soil microbiota, soil mesofauna (Oribatida and Collembola in particular), and surface-dwelling arthropods. Site setup, resurveys, or other activities were/are supported by: the Austrian Academy of Sciences through a national grant of the International Geosphere–Biosphere and the UNESCO MaB Programmes, by the Austrian and through the Institute of Mountain Research (IGF) of the Academy; by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research; the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management; the Swiss MAVA Foundation; the Government of Tyrol; the project ALARM (Assessing Large-Scale Risks for Biodiversity with Tested Methods; No. GOCE-CT-2003-506675) in the FP-6 of the EU; the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP: GZ B368633 ACRP6 - SCHRANKOGEL_20YEARS - KR13AC6K11076). For further details on Schrankogel_GLORIA see: http://www.gloria.ac.at/?a=42&b=56