Editorial

The Long-Term time series of Ecological Research (LTER) allow us to follow the evolution of the ecosystems over decadal scales to understand the driving processes behind their temporal variability in relation to local and global stressors. LTER-Italy (http://www.lteritalia.it) network includes terrestrial, freshwater, tran- sitional and marine sites where ecological research is regularly carried out on decadal scale with the involvement of numerous universities, scientific and technical institu- tions, as well as local authorities. Since 2006, LTER-Italy is part of LTER-Europe (http://www.lter-europe.net) and LTER-International (https://www.ilter.network) networks. LTER-Italy consists of 79 research sites belonging to 25 different areas (par- ent sites) distributed throughout the Country and also including extra-national sites in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) and in the Himalayas (Nepal). The present Special Issue entitled “Italian Long-Term Ecological Research for un- derstanding ecosystem diversity and functioning. Case studies from aquatic, terrestrial and transitional domains” is the first published collection of studies performed at LTER-Ita- ly sites which address the diversity and dynamics of ecosystems in different domains in response to natural and anthropogenic forcing. Eighteen papers in the volume present research carried out at 2 Antarctic and 16 Italian sites, one of which includes a com- parative analysis with other International LTER sites in Northern Europe and USA (Figure 1 and Table 1). Two additional cross-domain papers address methodological and conceptual themes: Zilioli et al. (2019) tackle data management practices and in- teroperability for the monitoring of the Essential Biodiversity Variables in LTER-Italy; Ribera d'Alcalà (2019) compares terrestrial and marine ecosystems, highlighting their similarities and specific features in response to perturbations and climate change.