Long-term site-based ecological research and data collection are highly welcomed by ecologists in Central and Eastern Europe for several reasons:
They compliment standard practices and existing research, especially in long term biodiversity studies.
They are needed in joint efforts in preventing regional and global environmental degradation.
They allow the collection of important long-term ecosystem and landscape dynamics data, which are needed for making predictions.
The main threats to the region's environment and biodiversity are eutrophication, acidification (due to air and water pollution), toxic pollution and changes in land use and climate. Although many regions of Central and Eastern Europe are heavily damaged or degraded there are still large areas of diverse ecosystem, which are rich in flora and fauna. The region has a tradition for long-term data collection, with meteorological, geological, soil, flora, fauna and vegetation surveys and mapping records dating back decades or centuries.
Site-based integrated research and monitoring have been given a considerable impetus by international scientific Programmes such as IBP (International Biosphere Program) and MAB (Man and Biosphere). Biological productivity, ecosystem function and human ecological impact are usually monitored at these sites. Data collected at terrestrial sites include biodiversity, primary and secondary productivity, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem management and restoration observations. Other terrestrial studies include vegetation dynamics, bird migration and the response of populations and communities to disturbances (e.g. pollution, climate and land use changes). The main research themes in aquatic systems are hydrobiology (plankton, macrophytes, benthos, fish stock, microbial loop), biodiversity, and water and sediment quality, as well as nutrient loading from catchments, eutrophication and acidification impacts, and the function and sustainable management of estuaries, wetlands, fishponds and reservoir ecosystems.
The research is usually programmed and carried out under extremely poor financial conditions by enthusiastic and keen members of scientific institutions (national academies and universities) and state institutes and services (natural history museums, state forestry institutes, national meteorological and hydrological services and national parks).
University involvement also creates the prospect of student participation in site research. Most sites have undergraduate and postgraduate students working on their diplomas and Ph.D. theses. There is a great quantity of data accumulated but in most cases the information is not computerized and properly managed making it partly or completely inaccessible. The region therefore needs training and development as well as financial support in information technology.
