Our long-term studies at Cedar Creek, which were begun in 1982 with the funding of our LTER proposal by the National Science Foundation, are focused on six major issues and questions. These six foci explore topics of fundamental scientific interest and of relevance to human-driven global environmental change, especially the impacts of elevated nitrogen deposition, of increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and of the loss of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. In addition, we have performed other shorter-term related studies. These studies are supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and other sources.

In an attempt to make our data more readily accessible, we have recently (2001) compiled various data sets into three new file formats (tab-separated text, Excel, and Jmp formats). These formats are accessible from the linkages to the left. Although we have taken care to assure the quality of these data, it is possible that errors occurred in the data compilation process or may occur in the downloading process. Please carefully evaluate these data should you decide to use them, such as by comparing the data you download with results presented in our published papers. Such comparisons are an essential first step in assuring that the data were complied correctly and that you have downloaded them correctly. If you encounter any problems, please contact our data manager (dman@lter.umn.edu).