Abstract. Long-term environmental research networks are one approach to
advancing local, regional, and global environmental science and education. A
remarkable number and wide variety of environmental research networks operate
around the world today. These are diverse in funding, infrastructure,
motivating questions, scientific strengths, and the sciences that birthed and
maintain the networks. Some networks have individual sites that were
selected because they had produced invaluable long-term data, while other
networks have new sites selected to span ecological gradients. However, all
long-term environmental networks share two challenges. Networks must keep
pace with scientific advances and interact with both the scientific community
and society at large. If networks fall short of successfully addressing these
challenges, they risk becoming irrelevant. The objective of this paper is to
assert that the biogeosciences offer environmental research networks a number
of opportunities to expand scientific impact and public engagement. We
explore some of these opportunities with four networks: the International
Long-Term Ecological Research Network programs (ILTERs), critical zone
observatories (CZOs), Earth and ecological observatory networks (EONs),
and the FLUXNET program of eddy flux sites. While these networks were founded
and expanded by interdisciplinary scientists, the preponderance of expertise and
funding has gravitated activities of ILTERs and EONs toward ecology and
biology, CZOs toward the Earth sciences and geology, and FLUXNET toward
ecophysiology and micrometeorology. Our point is not to homogenize networks,
nor to diminish disciplinary science. Rather, we argue that by more fully
incorporating the integration of biology and geology in long-term
environmental research networks, scientists can better leverage network
assets, keep pace with the ever-changing science of the environment, and
engage with larger scientific and public audiences.