Ecosystems change on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. While analyses of ecosystem dynamics in short timespans have received much attention, the impacts of changes in the long term have, to a great extent, been neglected, provoking a lack of information and methodological know-how in this area.

This book fills this gap by focusing on studies dealing with the investigation of complex, long-term ecological processes with regard to global change, the development of early warning systems, and the acquisition of a scientific basis for strategic conservation management and the sustainable use of ecosystems.

Within this book, theoretical ecological questions of long-term processes, as well as an international dimension of long-term monitoring, observations and research are brought together. The outcome is an overview on different aspects of long-term ecological research. Aquatic, as well as terrestrial ecosystems are represented.

Long-Term Ecosystem Research Between Theory and Application An Introduction.- The Significance of Ecological Long-Term Processes.- Theoretical Demands for Long-Term Ecological Research and the Management of Long-Term Data Sets.- Long-Term Ecosystem Dynamics: Theoretical Concepts of Environmental Change.- The Scientific Potential of Environmental Monitoring.- Exploring Long-Term Processes: International Experience.- Twenty-Eight Years of the US-LTER Program: Experience, Results, and Research Questions.- Introducing the Next Generation of Ecosystem Research in Europe: LTER-Europes Multi-Functional and Multi-Scale Approach.- The Role of Ecosystem Modelling for Long-Term Ecological Research.- The Role of Statistics for Long-Term Ecological Research.- The Role of Remote Sensing in LTER Projects.- Concepts and Results: Presenting and Interpreting Long-Term Ecological Processes: Aquatic Ecosystem Research.- Long-Term Ecological Change in the Northern Wadden Sea.- Long-Term Model Simulation of Environmental Conditions to Identify Externally Forced Signals in Biological Time Series.- Long-Term Investigations in Brackish Ecosystems.- Long-Term Ecological Research in Freshwater Ecosystems.- Long-Term Monitoring in Rivers of South Germany Since the 1970s Macrophytes as Indicators for the Assessment of Water Quality and Its Implications for the Conservation of Rivers.- Concepts and Results: Presenting and Interpreting Long-Term Ecological Processes: Terrestrial Ecosystem Research.- Long-Term Observations of Soil Mesofauna.- Tracing Biogeochemical Processes in Small Catchments Using Non-linear Methods.- Long-Term Measurements to Quantify the Impact of Arable Management Practices on Deep Seepage and Nitrate Leaching.- Long-Term Ecosystem Research in a Beech Forest ofNorthern Germany.- A Conceptual Framework for Integrated Functional Landscape Monitoring in the Wider Countryside of Central Europe.- Temporal Changes and Spatial Determinants of Plant Species Diversity and Genetic Variation.- Integration of Long-Term Environmental Data by the Example of the UNECE Heavy Metals in Mosses Survey in Germany: Application of a WebGIS-Based Metadata System.- Concepts and Results: Presenting and Interpreting Long-Term Ecological Processes: Linking Research and Applications.- Monitoring of Ecosystems: Two Different Approaches Long-Term Observation Versus Success Control.- National Parks as Model Regions for Interdisciplinary Long-Term Ecological Research: The Bavarian Forest and ¦umavá National Parks Underway to Transboundary Ecosystem Research.- Turning Long-Term Monitoring into Policy Using the National Park Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea as an Example.- Design and Importance of Multi-tiered Ecological Monitoring Networks.- Future Demands and Challenges.- Conceptualising Long-Term Socio-ecological Research (LTSER): Integrating the Social Dimension.- Integrating Social Sciences into Long-Term Ecological Research.- Ecosystem Manipulation and Restoration on the Basis of Long-Term Conceptions.- Exploratories for Large-Scale and Long-Term Functional Biodiversity Research.- Conclusions.- On the Way to an Integrative Long-Term Ecosystem Research Milestones, Challenges, and some Conclusions.