LTER (Long Term Ecological Research)
Since November 2007 the marine area of the Portofino Promontory has been admitted as a site of the LTER-Italy network.
The Italian Network for Long Term Ecological Research (LTER-Italia) officially became part of the International LTER Network (ILTER), during the General Assembly which took place in August 2006 in Namibia. The International LTER Network today brings together 39 countries from five continents, including the USA, Brazil, China, the United Kingdom and Australia.
17 sites that have been studied for many years are part of the LTER-Italy Network, among which are cited: the permanent areas of the Alps, the Apennines and Sicily of the CONECOFOR Program (CONTROL of FORest Ecosystems), coordinated by the CFS, some lakes of the subalpine belt (such as Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda), the marine research stations controlled by the CNR in the Upper Adriatic, by the Zoological Station A. Dohrn in the Gulf of Naples, by the DISTAV (UNIGe) in the Ligurian Sea-promontory of Portofino and research bases in Antarctica and on K2.
The LTER-Italy Network contributes to clarifying the state of the main terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems present in Italy, especially in relation to the influence of pollution, climate change and the worrying loss of biodiversity.