This section of the website is for the ECN community (site managers, CCU staff, etc.). Here you will find essential information and links to a range of tools supporting site managers and others. Please scroll down to find information on: key sampling dates; providing data from your site; contacting people in ECN; related LTER inititiatives (ILTER, eLTER, etc.); checking/changing your site description on DEIMS-SDR; ECN performance indicators; providing details of relevant publications and requests for ECN data.
Noticeboard
- General reminder: Please let Andy Sier know about any new publications relating to your ECN site, or about any new projects or activities involving your ECN site. We are also interested to know about any uses of ECN data.
Key sampling dates
Please refer to the current protocols for sampling methods
| Protocol | Start month | Details | End month | Frequency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frog spawn | Not specified | From start of frog congregation to froglet dispersal | Not specified | Weekly | ||||
| Rabbits & Deer - 1st survey | March | Clear droppings in late March, count 2 weeks later | March/April | Once | ||||
| Ground predators | March | Traps set out in late March. The precise date (see notices above) is circulated each year to maintain consistency between years and across the network. Monitoring continues through to early November | November | Fortnightly | ||||
| Butterflies | April | 1 April to 29 September | September | Weekly | ||||
| Birds (BBS) - 1st survey | April | From early April to mid-May | May | Once in this period | ||||
| Birds (BBS) - 2nd survey | May | From mid-May to end June | June | Once in this period | ||||
| Bats - 1st survey | June | 15 June to 6 July | July | Once in this period | ||||
| Spittle bugs - nymph counts | June | ASAP after mid June | June | Once | ||||
| Bats - 2nd survey | July | 7 July to 27 July | July | Once in this period | ||||
| Bats - 3rd survey | July | 28 July to 17 August | August | Once in this period | ||||
| Spittle bugs - adult netting | August | ASAP in late August | August | Once | ||||
| Bats - 4th survey | August | 18 August to 7 September | September | Once in this period | ||||
| Rabbits & Deer - 2nd survey | September | Clear droppings in late September, count 2 weeks later | September/October | Once |
Providing your data
All Site Managers should have copies of ECN Data Transfer Documents, Coding Lists and Data Entry Templates. If you require any of these please contact Andy Sier in the ECN CCU who can provide them as zip files. The ECN CCU will circulate updated versions of these documents when necessary. Similarly, the CCU will, at intervals, also provide annual data progress charts showing the status of data collection and assimilation. If you require a copy of a data progress chart for the current or past years please contact Andy.
Contacting the CCU and other Site Managers: ECN staff mailing list
We operate a simple mailing list to send group-wide messages to ECN site managers and the CCU team. For details please contact Andy Sier (CCU). Please see the privacy notice for relevant privacy information relating to this mailing list.
Related LTER initiatives: eLTER, ILTER, DEIMS-SDR, etc.
Site-based Long-Term Ecosystem Research and monitoring (LTER) takes place around the world by networks similar to ECN. A global network - ILTER - provides a forum for these networks to exchange information and work together. In Europe, eLTER brings together the LTER networks of many European nations and is working to establish eLTER as a formally recognised Research Infrastructure. ILTER manages DEIMS-SDR, an online register of LTER sites and datasets.
- Visit ILTER website
- Visit eLTER website
- View DEIMS-SDR (Dynamic Ecological Information Management System - Site and dataset registry)
More on DEIMS-SDR
DEIMS-SDR provides descriptions of LTER sites around the world, including those in the UK. The repository's coordinators periodically request sites and networks to check and update their site records, but even in the absence of such requests, it is good practice to check these descriptions - and the descriptions of the sites on our own ECN website - annually.
Andy Sier (ECN CCU) is ECN's main contact point with respect to the ECN data in DEIMS-SDR. However, since Site Managers know their site better than anyone, and since checking and updating the data for each site is now much easier, it would help if site managers/contacts could check the data for their site and in particular, add data to empty fields. Please refer to the instructions below.
To find your site record simply use the search box. This may return more than one entry, including site records and datasets. Icons indicate the type of record. The icon shown to the right indicates a site record; be sure to select the correct record from the list. You can also filter the search using the checkboxes- Please read through your site record and note anything that is incorrect or that could be added
- To edit your record, click on 'Log in' and use the UK ECN login details (please contact Andy Sier for assistance)
- Tutorials provide more information about DEIMS-SDR and how to edit records. If need further help, please contact Andy Sier.
IMPORTANT: If you edit the site descriptive text, please also check how your site is described on ECN's website. It is likely that this description will also need updating.
Publications and data requests
We maintain a catalogue of ECN-related publications such as scientific papers describing research using ECN data and/or sites. We also try to keep a record of any requests made for ECN data. Providing this information helps us to monitor interest in, and use of, ECN data and sites. Please contact Andy Sier with details of any new publications or known uses of ECN data. Please also notify Andy of any changes to an existing catalogue entry.