UK Environmental Change Network

Web: www.ecn.ac.uk | Twitter: @UKECN
The UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) began in 1992 and is the UK’s long-term ecosystem observation and research network. We collect, manage, analyse and interpret environmental data collected at a network of sites across the UK.

ECN's objectives are to:

* Establish and maintain a selected network of sites within the UK from which to obtain comparable long-term datasets through the monitoring of a range of variables identified as being of major environmental importance
* Provide for the integration and analysis of these data, so as to identify natural and human-induced environmental changes and improve understanding of the causes of change
* Distinguish short-term fluctuations from long-term trends, and predict future changes
* Provide, for research purposes, a range of representative sites with good instrumentation and reliable environmental information.

ECN gathers information from sites across the UK about the pressures on and responses to environmental change in physical, chemical and biological systems. The network consists of 11 terrestrial sites and we also receive data from a network of freshwater sites (lakes, rivers and streams). ECN is supported by a consortium of sponsoring organisations and research partners. The network is coordinated by the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.