A network for long‐term ecological research in the United States

SUMMARY. 1. A network of seventeen long‐term ecological research sites funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and spanning sites in arctic to tropical climates, low to high altitudes and wet to dry environments, provides evidence for the increasing popularity of sustained ecological research in the U.S.A. 2. The sites function as regional or national facilities for long‐term research as well as for comparative and process studies by investigators from the operating institutions and by visiting researchers. 3. The aquatic habitats include a variety of lakes ponds, wetlands and a playa; montane, woodland, tundra and prairie streams; as well as salt marsh, estuary, ocean beach and inshore oceanic sites.