News

Since its inception in 2009, TERN’s infrastructure has enabled the publication of more than 500 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles or books. We now have enough data on publications over the last 5 years to examine trends in the quality and quantity of scientific articles produced across TERN facilitites.

Overall between 2009 and September 2015 (data incomplete for 2015) there has been a substantial increase in the quantity of publications (Figure 1).  2010 represented the lowest count (n = 34) and 2013 the highest (n=117), and represents a more than 3 fold increase over this period.

The total number of papers published for 2015 (considering the year is not yet out) looks set to be a similar to the average for the most recent two years, approximately 110 papers (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Number of publications by impact factor (0-1, 1-2, 2-4, 4-10, 10-20, >20) by year

The overall quality of publications, as measured by Impact Factor—a measure of citations received per paper—has also steadily increased. The average Impact Factor (IF) of TERN related published articles increased from 3.24 in 2009 to 5.8 in 2014 (Figure 2), and represents a 70% increase in impact over this period. 

Figure 2. Average impact factor for all TERN refereed journal articles by year 

Overall the total number of publications in the highest ranked journals (IF > 20, i.e. Science or Nature) was 11, with four published in 2013 and 2014 respectively.  TERN produced a further 12 publications over the census period that fit into the next IF category of internationally leading journals (IF 10-20, e.g. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Nature Climate Change, Ecology Letters).

A list of the highest impact TERN publications is included below.

Citation data are readily available for 163 articles. Since 2009 these TERN publications have attracted a total of 2843 citations (now almost 1000 per year), and have an h-index—a measure of the productivity and citation impact of publications—of 29 (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Citation distribution by year for all TERN refereed journal articles

What is notable by looking at the individual publications is that the number of large synthesis and domain summary papers arising out of TERN work has also increased substantially recently. As a demonstration, below is a list of forthcoming papers by facility that are currently in press, submitted or in prep for 2015 (although the total list of papers currently in prep would be well over 100).

Break down of TERN Science and Nature publications

FluxNet and remote sensed research – part of international research networks

• E. T. Borer, E. W. Seabloom, D. S. Gruner, W. S. Harpole, H. Hillebrand, E. M. Lind, P. B. Adler, J. Alberti, T. M. Anderson, J. D. Bakker, L. Biederman, D. Blumenthal, C. S. Brown, L. A. Brudvig, Y. M. Buckley, M. Cadotte, C. Chu, E. E. Cleland, M. J. Crawley, P. Daleo, E. I. Damschen, K. F. Davies, N. M. DeCrappeo, G. Du, J. Firn, Y. Hautier, R. W. Heckman, A. Hector, HilleRis, J. Lambers, O. Iribarne, J. A. Klein, J. M. Knops, K. J. La Pierre, A. D. B. Leakey, W. Li, A. S. MacDougall, R. L. McCulley, B. A. Melbourne, C. E. Mitchell, J. L. Moore, B. Mortensen, L. R. O’Halloran, J. L. Orrock, J. Pascual, S. M. Prober, D. A. Pyke, A. C. Risch, M. Schuetz, M. D. Smith, C. J. Stevens, L. L. Sullivan, R. J. Williams, P. D. Wragg, J. P. Wright and L. H. Yang  2014 Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation Nature   508         517-520
• J. M. Gray, S. Frolking, E. A. Kort, D. K. Ray, C. J. Kucharik, N. Ramankutty and M. A. Friedl 2014 Direct human influence on atmospheric CO2 seasonality from increased cropland productivity        Nature 515 398-401
• Y. Hautier, E. W. Seabloom, E. T. Borer, P. B. Adler, W. S. Harpole, H. Hillebrand, E. M. Lind, A. S. MacDougall, C. J. Stevens, J. D. Bakker, Y. M. Buckley, C. Chu, S. L. Collins, P. Daleo, E. I. Damschen, K. F. Davies, P. A. Fay, J. Firn, D. S. Gruner, V. L. Jin, J. A. Klein, J. M. H. Knops, K. J. La Pierre, W. Li, R. L. McCulley, B. A. Melbourne, J. L. Moore, L. R. O’Halloran, S. M. Prober, A. C. Risch, M. Sankaran, M. Schuetz and A. Hector    2014      Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands                   Nature 508 521-525
• P. Adler, E. Seabloom, E. Borer, H. Hillebrand, Y. Hautier, A. Hector, W. Harpole, L. O’Halloran, J. Grace, T. Anderson, J. Bakker, L. Biederman, C. Brown, Y. Buckley, L. Calabrese, C. Chu, E. Cleland, S. Collins, K. Cottingham, M. Crawley, E. Damschen, K. Davies, N. DeCrappeo, P. Fay, J. Firn, P. Frater, E. Gasarch, D. Gruner, N. Hagenah, J. Lambers, H. Humphries, V. Jin, A. Kay, K. Kirkman, J. Klein, J. Knops, K. La Pierre, J. Lambrinos, W. M, A. MacDougall, R. McCulley, B. Melbourne, C. Mitchell, J. Moore, J. Morgan, B. Mortensen, J. Orrock, S. Prober, D. Pyke, A. Risch, M. Schuetz, M. Smith, C. Stevens, L. L. Sullivan, G. Wang, P. Wragg, J. Wright and L. H. Yang 2011 Productivity Is a Poor Predictor of Plant Species Richness  Science  333         1750-1753
• J. B. Grace, P. B. Adler, E. W. Seabloom, E. T. Borer, H. Hillebrand, Y. Hautier, A. Hector, W. S. Harpole, L. R. O’Halloran, T. M. Anderson, J. D. Bakker, C. S. Brown, Y. M. Buckley, S. L. Collins, K. L. Cottingham, M. J. Crawley, E. I. Damschen, K. F. Davies, N. M. DeCrappeo, P. A. Fay, J. Firn, D. S. Gruner, N. Hagenah, V. L. Jin, K. P. Kirkman, J. M. H. Knops, K. J. La Pierre, J. G. Lambrinos, B. A. Melbourne, C. E. Mitchell, J. L. Moore, J. W. Morgan, J. L. Orrock, S. M. Prober, C. J. Stevens, P. D. Wragg and L. H. Yang 2012 Response to Comments on “Productivity Is a Poor Predictor of Plant Species Richness”                 Science  335 1441

Hydrological research

• C. Ponce, E. Guillermo, M. S. Moran, A. Huete, Y. Zhang, C. Bresloff, T. E. Huxman, D. Eamus, D. D. Bosch, A. R. Buda, S. A. Gunter, T. H. Scalley, S. G. Kitchen, M. P. McClaran, W. H. McNab, D. S. Montoya, J. A. Morgan, D. P. C. Peters, E. J. Sadler, M. S. Seyfried and P. J. Starks         2013 Ecosystem resilience despite large-scale altered hydroclimatic conditions              Nature 494 349-352

Vegetation dynamics

• C. Lehmann, T. Anderson, M. Sankaran, S. I. Higgins, S. Archibald, W. A. Hoffmann, N. P. Hanan, R. J. Williams, R. J. Fensham, J. Felfili, L. B. Hutley, J. Ratnam, J. San Jose, R. Montes, D. Franklin, J. Russell-Smith, C. M. Ryan, G. Durigan, P. Hiernaux, R. Haidar, D. M. Bowman and W. J. Bond 2014 Savanna Vegetation-Fire-Climate Relationships Differ Among Continents  Science  343         548-552

Perspective pieces

• D. Lindenmayer, W. Laurance and J. Franklin           2013      Old Trees: Large and Small Response Science  339 905-905
• D. Lindenmayer and H. Possingham 2013 No Excuse for Habitat Destruction                   Science  340 680-680
• D. Lindenmayer, W. Laurance and J. F. Franklin       2012 Ecology. Global decline in large old trees Science 338 1305-6

International papers mentioning TERN

• R. Kwok 2013      Fieldwork: The great outdoors Nature 503 301-3

TERN facility recent and upcoming papers

TERN General

• Bissett et al. (submitted) Introducing BASE – The Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database. GigaScience
• Lowe AJ, Liddell M, Lindenmayer D, Campbell A, Phinn S, Clancy T et al. (in prep) Why we need a new continental ecosystem research approach. Continental Surveillance Monitoring Book Chapter
• Thurgate et al (in prep) Drivers and pitfall avoidance for establishing  a continental ecosystem science network. Nature – opinion (invited)

AusCover

• Beggs, P. J., Katelaris, C. H., Medek, D., Johnston, F. H., Burton, P. K., Campbell, B., Huete A., et al. (2015). Differences in grass pollen allergen exposure across Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 39(1), 51–55. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12325
• Zeng, Y., Li , J., Liu, Q., Qu, Y., Huete, A., Xu, B., Yin, G., Zhao, J., 2015, An optimal sampling design for observing and validating long-term leaf area index with temporal variations in spatial heterogeneities. Remote Sensing, 7(2), 1300-1319; doi:10.3390/rs70201300
• Broich, M., Huete, A., Paget, M., Ma, X., Tulbure, M., Restrepo-Coupe, N., Evans, B., Beringer, J., Devadas, R., Davies, K., Held, A., 2015, A spatially explicit land surface phenology data product for science, monitoring and natural resource management applications. Environmental Modelling & Software 64, 191-204.

AusPlots

• G. R. Guerin, L. Ruokolainen and A. J. Lowe (2015) A georeferenced implementation of weighted endemism. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6: 845-852.
• Guerin GR, Biffin E, Baruch Z, Lowe AJ. Identifying sub-continental centres of biodiversity and their threat levels as conservation targets. PLoSONE Submitted
• Foulkes JN, White IA, Sparrow BD, Wardle G, Thurgate NY, Caddy-Retalic S, Lowe AJ (in prep)Developing and implementing a continental-scale surveillance monitoring method for rangeland ecosystems. For Methods in Ecology and Evolution
• Sparrow B, Ward B, Tokmakoff A, van den Hengel A, Lowe AJ (in prep) Revolutionising and socialising basal area calculation using image analysis. For Science

Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

Special Issue of Science of the Total Environment (2015, vol 534), including:

• Specht A., I.J. Gordon, R.H. Groves, H. Lambers, S.R. Phinn (2015) Catalysing transdisciplinary synthesis in ecosystem science and management. Pgs 1-3
• C.A. Campbell, E.C. Lefroy, S. Caddy-Retalic, N. Bax, P.J. Doherty, M.M. Douglas, D. Johnson, H.P. Possingham, A. Specht, D. Tarte, J. West. Designing environmental research for impact. Pages 4-13
• Richard Thackway, Alison Specht. Synthesising the effects of land use on natural and managed landscapes. Pages 14-30
• Peter J. Clarke, Michael J. Lawes, Brett P. Murphy, Jeremy Russell-Smith, Catherine E.M. Nano, Ross Bradstock, Neal J. Enright, Joseph B. Fontaine, Carl R. Gosper, Ian Radford, Jeremy J. Midgley, Richard M. Gunton. A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems. Pages 31-42
• Cyrille Violle, Philippe Choler, Benjamin Borgy, Eric Garnier, Bernard Amiaud, Guilhem Debarros, Sylvain Diquelou, Sophie Gachet, Claudy Jolivet, Jens Kattge, Sandra Lavorel, Servane Lemauviel-Lavenant, Jessy Loranger, Alexis Mikolajczak, François Munoz, Jean Olivier, Nicolas Viovy. Vegetation ecology meets ecosystem science: Permanent grasslands as a functional biogeography case study. Pages 43-51
• David A. Crook, Winsor H. Lowe, Frederick W. Allendorf, Tibor Erős, Debra S. Finn, Bronwyn M. Gillanders, Wade L. Hadwen, Chris Harrod, Virgilio Hermoso, Simon Jennings, Raouf W. Kilada, Ivan Nagelkerken, Michael M. Hansen, Timothy J. Page, Cynthia Riginos, Brian Fry, Jane M. Hughes. Human effects on ecological connectivity in aquatic ecosystems: Integrating scientific approaches to support management and mitigation. Pages 52-64
• Jenny Davis, Anthony P. O’Grady, Allan Dale, Angela H. Arthington, Peter A. Gell, Patrick D. Driver, Nick Bond, Michelle Casanova, Max Finlayson, Robyn J. Watts, Samantha J. Capon, Ivan Nagelkerken, Reid Tingley, Brian Fry, Timothy J. Page, Alison Specht. When trends intersect: The challenge of protecting freshwater ecosystems under multiple land use and hydrological intensification scenarios. Pages 65-78
• Hamish A. Campbell, Hawthorne L. Beyer, Todd E. Dennis, Ross G. Dwyer, James D. Forester, Yusuke Fukuda, Catherine Lynch, Mark A. Hindell, Norbert Menke, Juan M. Morales, Craig Richardson, Essie Rodgers, Graeme Taylor, Matt E. Watts, David A. Westcott. Finding our way: On the sharing and reuse of animal telemetry data in Australasia. Pages 79-84
• Janet M. Davies, Paul J. Beggs, Danielle E. Medek, Rewi M. Newnham, Bircan Erbas, Michel Thibaudon, Connstance H. Katelaris, Simon G. Haberle, Edward J. Newbigin, Alfredo R. Huete. Trans-disciplinary research in synthesis of grass pollen aerobiology and its importance for respiratory health in Australasia. Pages 85-96
• Kieryn Kilminster, Kathryn McMahon, Michelle Waycott, Gary A. Kendrick, Peter Scanes, Len McKenzie, Katherine R. O’Brien, Mitchell Lyons, Angus Ferguson, Paul Maxwell, Tim Glasby, James Udy. Unravelling complexity in seagrass systems for management: Australia as a microcosm. Pages 97-109
• Petina L. Pert, Emilie J. Ens, John Locke, Philip A. Clarke, Joanne M. Packer, Gerry Turpin. An online spatial database of Australian Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge for contemporary natural and cultural resource management. Pages 110-121
• Samantha J. Capon, A. Jasmyn J. Lynch, Nick Bond, Bruce C. Chessman, Jenny Davis, Nick Davidson, Max Finlayson, Peter A. Gell, David Hohnberg, Chris Humphrey, Richard T. Kingsford, Daryl Nielsen, James R. Thomson, Keith Ward, Ralph Mac Nally. Regime shifts, thresholds and multiple stable states in freshwater ecosystems; a critical appraisal of the evidence. Pages 122-130
• Tania Laity, Shawn W. Laffan, Carlos E. González-Orozco, Daniel P. Faith, Dan F. Rosauer, Margaret Byrne, Joseph T. Miller, Darren Crayn, Craig Costion, Craig C. Moritz, Karl Newport. Phylodiversity to inform conservation policy: An Australian example. Pages 131-143
• A. Specht, S. Guru, L. Houghton, L. Keniger, P. Driver, E.G. Ritchie, K. Lai, A. Treloar. Data management challenges in analysis and synthesis in the ecosystem sciences. Pages 144-158
• Kevin Crowston, Alison Specht, Carol Hoover, Katherine M. Chudoba, Mary Beth Watson-Manheim. Perceived discontinuities and continuities in transdisciplinary scientific working groups. Pages 159-172
• A.J.J. Lynch, R. Thackway, A. Specht, P.J. Beggs, S. Brisbane, E.L. Burns, M. Byrne, S.J. Capon, M.T. Casanova, P.A. Clarke, J.M. Davies, S. Dovers, R.G. Dwyer, E. Ens, D.O. Fisher, M. Flanigan, E. Garnier, S.M. Guru, K. Kilminster, J. Locke, R. Mac Nally, K.M. McMahon, P.J. Mitchell, J.C. Pierson, E.M. Rodgers, J. Russell-Smith, J. Udy, M. Waycott. Transdisciplinary synthesis for ecosystem science, policy and management: The Australian experience. Pages 173-184

Australian SuperSite Network

• Gosper C, Petit MJ, Andersen AN, Yates CJ, Prober SM (2015) Multi-century dynamics of ant communities following fire in Mediterranean-climate woodlands of south-western Australia: are changes congruent with vegetation succession? Forest Ecology and Management 342, 30-38  
• Stevens CJ, Lind EM, Hautier Y, Harpole S, Borer ET, Hobbie S, Seabloom EW, Ladwig L, Bakker JD, Chu C, Collins S, Davies KF, Firn J, Hillebrand H, La Pierre KJ, MacDougall A, Melbourne B, McCulley RL, Morgan J, Orrock JL, Prober SM, Risch AC, Schuetz M, Wragg PD (2015)   Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition predicts local grassland primary production worldwide. Ecology In press.    
• Meyer W et al (submitted) Evaporation of perennial semi-arid woodland in south eastern Australia is adapted for irregular but common dry periods. Hydrological Processes

Australian Transect Network

• Christmas M, Breed M, Biffin E, Lowe AJ (2015) Exploring the constraints on climate change responses in plants and the consequences for conservation. Conservation Genetics. Published online
• Andersen, A. N., Del Toro, I. & Parr, C. L. (in press) Savanna ant species richness is maintained along a bioclimatic gradient of decreasing rainfall and increasing latitude in northern Australia. Journal of Biogeography
• Caddy-Retalic S, Andersen AN, Aspinwall MJ, Breed MF, Byrne M, Christmas MJ, Dong N, Evans BJ, Guerin G, Fordham DA, Hoffmann AA, Hughes AC, McInerney F, Prober SM, Rossetto M, Rymer P, Steane DA, van Leeuwin SI, Lowe AJ (submitted) Bioclimatic transects as platforms for studying climate change impacts and adaptation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution
• Gellie N, Breed M, Mortimer P, Harrison R, Xu J, Lowe AJ (submitted) Developing the Evidence Base for Cost-Effective and Resilient Landscape Restoration. BioScience

Eco-informatics

• Tokmakoff A, Sparrow B, Turner D, Lowe A. AusPlots (2015) Rangelands field data collection and publication: Infrastructure for Ecological Monitoring. Future Generation Computer Systems. In Press.
• Turner D, Chinnock P, Walker C, Lowe AJ (in prep) Developing an evolutionary ontology to manage ecological data. For Science
• Anita K. Smyth, Craig Walker, Andrew L. Lowe (in prep) Publishing ecological data in step with science practice. For PLoS ONE

Ecosystem Modelling and Scaling Infrastructure

• Y.-S. Lin, B. E. Medlyn, R. A. Duursma, I. C. Prentice, H. Wang, S. Baig, D. Eamus, V. R. de Dios, P. Mitchell, D. S. Ellsworth, M. O. de Beeck, G. Wallin, J. Uddling, L. Tarvainen, M.-L. Linderson, L. A. Cernusak, J. B. Nippert, T. W. Ocheltree, D. T. Tissue, N. K. Martin-StPaul, A. Rogers, J. M. Warren, P. De Angelis, K. Hikosaka, Q. Han, Y. Onoda, T. E. Gimeno, C. V. M. Barton, J. Bennie, D. Bonal, A. Bosc, M. Low, C. Macinins-Ng, A. Rey, L. Rowland, S. A. Setterfield, S. Tausz-Posch, J. Zaragoza-Castells, M. S. J. Broadmeadow, J. E. Drake, M. Freeman, O. Ghannoum, L. B. Hutley, J. W. Kelly, K. Kikuzawa, P. Kolari, K. Koyama, J.-M. Limousin, P. Meir, A. C. Lola da Costa, T. N. Mikkelsen, N. Salinas, W. Sun and L. Wingate (2015) Optimal stomatal behaviour around the world. Nature Climate Change 5: 459-464
• Coutts, A. M., White, E. C., Tapper, N. J., Beringer, J., & Livesley, S. J. (2015) Temperature and human thermal comfort effects of street trees across three contrasting street canyon environments. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Accepted.
• Dong N, Prentice IC, Evans BJ, Caddy-Retalic S, Lowe AJ, Wright IJ. Leaf nitrogen from first principles: Field evidence for optimal plant acclimation to environmental gradients. Global Ecology and Biogeography submitted
• R Whitley, D Kelley, M De Kauwe, T Keenan, J Beringer, L Hutley, B Evans (in prep) Does Water Availability Drive Plant Phenology in Northern Australia? For Nature Geoscience.

Long Term Ecological Research Network

• Lindemayer, D.B., Burns, E.L., Tennant, P., Dickman, C.R., Green, P.T., Keith, D.A., Metcalfe, D.J., Russell-Smith, J., Wardle, G.W., Williams, R., Bossard, K., deLacey, C., Hanigan, I.C., Bull, C.M., Gillespie, G., Hobbs, R.J., Krebs, C.J., Likens, G.E., Porter, J. and Vardon, M. (2015) Contemplating the future: Acting now on long-term monitoring to answer 2050’s questions. Austral Ecology, doi:10.1111/aec.12207.
• Austral Ecology IUCN special issue, Volume 40, Issue 4, pages 386–399, June 2015 (and references therein). Example, Keith D.A. (2015) Assessing and managing risks to ecosystem biodiversity. Austral Ecology 40, 337-346.
• Lindemayer, D.B., Welsh, A., Blanchard, W., Tennant, P. and Donnelly, C.F. (2015). Exploring co-occurrence of closely-related guild members in a fragmented landscape subject to rapid transformation. Ecography, 38, 251-260.

OzFlux

A special issue of 23 publications has been proposed to Biogeosciences – some key ones are listed below

• Beringer et al. (in prep) An introduction to the Australian flux tower network – OzFlux. For Biogeosciences
• Cleugh et al. (in prep) The Story of OzFlux — transforming ecosystem knowledge in Australia. For Biogeosciences
• Cleverly et al. (in prep) Carbon emissions due to photo-degradation in a semi-arid savanna. For Biogeosciences

Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia

A special issue of 10 publications published in Soil Research, including:

• Grundy MJ, Rossel RAV, Searle RD, Wilson PL, Chen C, Gregory LJ (2015) Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia. Soil Research 53(8), 835-844.
• Viscarra Rossel RA, Chen C, Grundy MJ, Searle R, Clifford D, Campbell PH (2015) The Australian three-dimensional soil grid: Australia’s contribution to the GlobalSoilMap project. Soil Research 53(8), 845-864.
• Gallant JC, Austin JM (2015) Derivation of terrain covariates for digital soil mapping in Australia. Soil Research 53, 895–906
• Hicks W, Viscarra Rossel RA, Tuomi S (2015) Developing the Australian mid-infrared spectroscopic database using data from the Australian Soil Resource Information System. Soil Research 53, 922-931
• Holmes KW, Griffin EA, Odgers NP (2015) Large-area spatial disaggregation of a mosaic of conventional soil maps: evaluation over Western Australia. Soil Research 53, 865-880
• Kidd D, Webb M, Malone B, Minasny B, McBratney A (2015) Eighty-metre resolution 3D soil-attribute maps for Tasmania, Australia. Soil Research 53, 932-955
• Clifford D, Dobbie MJ, Searle R (2014) Non-parametric imputation of properties for soil profiles with sparse observations. Geoderma 232–234, 10–18.
• Wilford JR, Searle R, Thomas M, Grundy M (2015) A regolith depth map of the Australian continent. Geoderma In review.
• Grundy M (2014) The new Australian grid: a multi-institutional template? In ‘GlobalSoilMap: basis of the global spatial soil information system’. (Eds D Arrouays, N McKenzie, J Hempel, AR de Forges, AB McBratney) pp. 73–77. (CRC Press: London)
• Odgers NP, Sun W, McBratney AB, Minasny B, Clifford D (2014) Disaggregating and harmonising soil map units through resampled classification trees. Geoderma 214–215, 91–100.
• Odgers NP, McBratney AB, Minasny B (2015b) Digital soil property mapping and uncertainty estimation using soil class probability rasters. Geoderma 237–238, 190–198.

Download full lists of TERN research publications for 2009 – 2015

Published in TERN newsletter December 2015