LTER-LIFE aims to study and predict how global change affects ecosystems. LTER stands for Long-Term Ecosystem Research, an international network of research facilities that research specific ecosystems, of which: De Hoge Veluwe and the Wadden Sea are the most important ecosystems being researched in the Netherlands. The LTER-LIFE research environment allows ecologists to link scattered long-term data on plants, animals and the environment, share methods for data analysis, modelling and simulation, and build digital replicas (Digital Twins) of entire ecosystems. These Digital Twins make it possible to understand and predict how ecosystems react to, for example, prolonged drought or the arrival of exotic plants and animals.
For LTER-LIFE to be successful, large quantities of well-structured, FAIR data must be available in the long term. This includes data from ongoing research programmes, as well as historical data collected decades ago which is now at risk of being lost due to a lack of resources and proper infrastructure.
In this project, DANS is sharing its knowledge and expertise in the long-term storage of research data and its optimal reuse. LTER-LIFE is coordinated by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), with which DANS collaborates as it is a KNAW institute. Other partners include the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
