{"id":6117,"date":"2017-03-07T11:30:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/?p=6117"},"modified":"2019-06-04T11:23:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T18:23:20","slug":"funding-long-term-studies-promotes-better-science-environmental-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/03\/funding-long-term-studies-promotes-better-science-environmental-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding for long-term studies promotes better science, environmental policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The need for long-term research\u2014which is highly valued by environmental scientists and policymakers\u2014far outstrips the amount of funding awarded for it, according to a recent study.<\/p>\n<p>Biologists\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/people.oregonstate.edu\/~novakm\/\">Mark Novak<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lubmengelab.oregonstate.edu\/?q=content\/dr-bruce-allan-menge\">Bruce Menge<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ib.oregonstate.edu\/faculty\/grorudck\/Kirsten-Ann-Grorud-Colvert\">Kirsten Grorud-Colvert<\/a> and graduate students were part of a collaboration that evaluated the perceived benefits of long-term ecological and environmental studies \u2013 known as LTEES \u2013 to both researchers and those who determine environmental policy.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is particularly important because support for LTEES by agencies such as the National Science Foundation is declining even though such research is disproportionately valued in comparison to the one- to five-year studies the agencies tend to support.<\/p>\n<p>The OSU group was among 36 researchers who collectively analyzed the perceived value of LTEES, which can run for multiple decades, in research published in BioScience. The evaluation noted the policymaking and scientific communities\u2019 growing appreciation and demand for studies that last much longer than the ones typically being funded.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the scientists found:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The greater a scientific journal\u2019s impact factor \u2013 the frequency with which its articles are cited in other scholarly articles \u2013 the higher its percentage of articles dealing with long-term studies;<\/li>\n<li>The longer a study lasts, the more an article about it is cited;<\/li>\n<li>In the policy-informing ecological reports of the U.S. National Research Council, long-term environmental studies have representation that\u2019s greater than their frequency in scientific journals;<\/li>\n<li>The authors of those reports expressed more demand for LTEES than they did for short-term research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cFor a long time, \u2018monitoring\u2019 has been a word you never put in a grant proposal, simply because if you did your work was perceived as not being hypothesis-driven research,\u201d said Novak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut many environmental scientists have long known from personal experience that you can\u2019t know the value of new events unless you\u2019ve studied a system long enough. The relative investment in LTEES by ecologists and funders needs to be seriously reconsidered, because LTEES advance our understanding of ecology the most, and contribute disproportionately to informing policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The collaboration also found that among the comparatively few long-term studies that do exist, most are limited to single species or pairs of species.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not that short-term research isn\u2019t important,\u201d said Menge. \u201cBoth short- and long-term are really valuable. A shorter term can give you a more mechanistic understanding of long-term patterns. But the longer time series you have, the more power you have to understand changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIdeally short- and long-term should go hand in hand,\u201d Menge said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to provide a prod to funding agencies, and give at least those in an agency who do appreciate long-term research some ammunition for reconsidering the allocation of funds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Menge has been studying intertidal rocky zones at numerous sites on the Oregon coast for more than three decades, analyzing ecological processes and patterns of community structure. The intertidal community includes sea stars, whose population was nearly wiped out three years ago by an epidemic of sea star wasting disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the consequences of the disease was a huge influx of baby sea stars after the peak of the wasting was over,\u201d Menge said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have really known the significance of that if we hadn\u2019t been keeping track of how abundant sea stars were over the last 20-some years. The influx would have been remarkable, but we\u2019d have had no idea how remarkable it truly was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grorud-Colvert has studied rockfishes, important commercial fishes whose long lifespan is a challenge for researchers being funded for only a few years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRockfish can live for more than 100 years,\u201d she said. \u201cThree years doesn\u2019t do it for us. If we want environmental research that effectively informs policy, that means we need funding cycles \u2013 and funding agencies \u2013 to help build that long-term storehouse of science. That\u2019s how we can meet the demand for policy-relevant data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graduate students and faculty from the University of California, Santa Cruz, joined Oregon State scientists in the collaboration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The need for long-term research\u2014which is highly valued by environmental scientists and policymakers\u2014far outstrips the amount of funding awarded for it, according to a recent study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1507,641038,642659,523],"tags":[1729,712387,34558],"class_list":["post-6117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-and-staff","category-ib","category-marine-studies","category-research","tag-healthy-planet","tag-research-funding","tag-science-pub"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6vHeb-1AF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2015\/04\/powerhouse-pisco\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":0},"title":"Powerhouse PISCO","author":"farrisd","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Marine ecologist Bruce Menge and PISCO researchers have attracted international attention.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faculty and Staff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of Bruce Menge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/04\/BAM.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2018,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2015\/08\/record-year-for-research-funding\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":1},"title":"Record year for research funding","author":"farrisd","date":"August 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The College of Science had a record year for research funding with more than $26 million in grants.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faculty and Staff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4730,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/08\/science-research-funding-trending\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":2},"title":"Research funding trending up","author":"farrisd","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The College of Science received $12.3 million in research grants and awards in fiscal year 2015-2016, fueling strong growth of 25% since FY14.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Press Releases&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Press Releases","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/news\/press-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Funding pie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/08\/Funding-pie.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/08\/Funding-pie.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/08\/Funding-pie.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/08\/Funding-pie.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2001,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2015\/08\/obama-administrator-presents-workshop-on-federal-science-funding\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":3},"title":"Obama Administrator presents workshop on federal science funding","author":"farrisd","date":"August 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Kei Koizumi, Asst. Director for Federal Research and Development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, presents science & technology policy workshop.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/news\/events-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/08\/Sastry-with-Kei-Koizumi_2015_web2-700x543.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/08\/Sastry-with-Kei-Koizumi_2015_web2-700x543.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/08\/Sastry-with-Kei-Koizumi_2015_web2-700x543.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/08\/Sastry-with-Kei-Koizumi_2015_web2-700x543.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11699,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2019\/08\/science-faculty-research-funding-surges-from-last-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":4},"title":"Science faculty research funding surges from last year","author":"farrisd","date":"August 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"College of Science research funding surges in fiscal year 2019, increasing 46% to $16.46 million in new grants and awards.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faculty and Staff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2121\/files\/2019\/08\/Research-Funding-by-source-FY19-rev.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5901,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/05\/osu-microbiome-initiative-launches\/","url_meta":{"origin":6117,"position":5},"title":"OSU Microbiome Initiative launches","author":"farrisd","date":"May 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Fueled by an urgency driving microbiome research nationally, the College of Science launches the OSU Microbiome Initiative this spring.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Biohealth Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Biohealth Science","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/area\/biohealth-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11399,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6117\/revisions\/11399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}