Beneficiary of a Changed Paradigm: Perspectives of a “Next-Generation” Scientist

Abstract

As a scientist, the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has deeply influenced my approach to scientific inquiry by creating an environment of effective collaboration and long-term evaluations of ecosystems. The increasing emphasis on data management and sharing has shaped both the philosophy and implementation of my scientific projects. I have become a highly collaborative scientist because of my experiences with the effectiveness of collaborative inquiry, put in place by initiatives including the LTER program and institutes such as National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). I have been involved in the LTER program since I began my first faculty position at Oregon State University in 2004. Although my primary site affiliation is now Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (CDR), I have ongoing experiments and collaborations spanning nine LTER sites (Borer et al. 2014b). I am a community ecologist with work that bridges into ecosystems. My research focuses on quantifying the consequences of global changes (e.g., nitrogen deposition, species invasions and extinctions) for interactions among species, including host–pathogen, plant–herbivore, and plant–plant interactions, and the resulting consequences for ecosystem functions. Since 2007, I have been the lead principal investigator of the Nutrient Network (NutNet; www.nutnet.org), a global scientific cooperative of more than 100 scientists performing identically replicated experiments at more than 75 sites in 17 countries on 6 continents to examine the interactive effects of herbivory and multiple nutrients on controlling critical processes and functions in the world’s grasslands (Borer et al. 2014a). I am currently an associate professor in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Department at the University of Minnesota and serve as senior personnel on the ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) grant supporting CDR. My LTER site affiliation is not entirely clear in my own mind, even though I am listed as a scientist at CDR. Although I have ongoing projects at LTER sites, primarily at CDR, I do not consider myself a site-based researcher in the LTER program.