The tales of ecology
LTER Trails (“Cammini” in Italian) are informal science communication activities about ecology created by the researcher from LTER-Italy. The trails are itinerant events connecting one or more LTER-Italy sites. During these events, people move preferably by foot or bike.
The Trails are open to everybody and foster the dialogue between researchers, territories, and citizens, promoting an active and participatory approach. They have been organized every year since 2015, with a break between 2020 and 2022 due to the pandemic.
The Trails aim to:
- Raise awareness on LTER-Italy research activities and highlight the importance of the long-term ecological research
- Encourage researchers to leave their comfort zone and experiment with less formal and more direct communication channels, filling the gap between researchers and inhabitants of the same territory
- Foster a sense of responsibility and belonging to strengthen the union between citizens and researchers
- Learn to dialogue, listen and accept different kinds of knowledge, considering the points of view of the so-called “laypeople” and rethinking the relationship between scientific knowledge and other forms of knowledge, like art, traditions, aesthetics, philosophy, and experiences
- Integrate the interior dimension into science communication, including emotions, identity, values, hopes, and fears
- Valorise the role of the emotional approach in generating knowledge and building stable and intimate relationships with the natural world
Trails editions
2015
The scientists and the citizens have traveled together on three itineraries. From the Alps to Southern Italy, through nine LTER-Italy sites. The Trails were officially presented in Milan on the 29th of July 2015 at the Italian Pavilion during EXPO2015, for the event “Ecosystems and Biodiversity: science at the Service of the Citizens”
2016
Four Trails were organized in the north and center of Italy to contribute to the rich calendar of celebrations for the 150 years since the formalization of the concept of ecology by the biologist, philosopher, and German artist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919).
2017
Two Trails took place this year: one by foot between the two high-elevation sites of Gran Sasso and Majella, and one by bike between the Gulf of Naples and the “Mar Piccolo” of Taranto. This is the year in which the Trails became international since they were selected among the initiatives officially adopted by ILTER.
2018
Other than the usual Biodiversity Trail along the Apennines, the first transnational Trail took place between the LTER-Italy site “Laghi Paione” and the LTER Visp site belonging to the Swiss Network. In the same year, a monography was published on the activities carried out during the Trail’s first four editions.
2019
Two Trails took place this year. The first one, called “Walking through the ecology time” was a sedentary event that lasted several days and was hosted by the national forest “La Torre di Feudozzo”, Castel di Sangro (AQ).
The second Trail, the “Socio-ecological marathon – 42 Km of aLTERnative transhumance between Austria and Italy” connected with a walking trail from the Obergurgl site in Ötztal from the LTER Austrian network and the LTER-Italy site of Val Mazia.
2022
On November 15, 2022, following the break due to the pandemic, a meeting titled “Reflections and perspectives for the Trails of the LTER Italy Network” was held in Rome. The meeting aimed to pause and reflect on Trails’ significance for LTER-Italy and for those who have participated in their co-creation process, and to imagine the future of this initiative.
2023
Two Trails took place, after the break due to the pandemic: “The Tovel Lake- Past, Present, and Future”, in August, and “Ecological transitions: walking with LTER-Italy between the Mar Piccolo of Taranto and the Lagoons of Salento”, in October.
2024
Two Trails took place in 2024: the second edition of the Tovel Trail “Tovel – Passato, Presente e Futuro” in August, and the first edition of the Trail “Al confine tra terra e mare: trekking & snorkeling alla scoperta delle Cinque Terre” in Liguria, in September.