South America terrestrial ecosystems had experienced large transformations as a result of land-use and climatic changes. Identification, monitoring and understanding of these transformations require the convergence of expert knowledge from different disciplines and countries in a space for collaboration and synthesis. Although large and active, the research community dedicated to study these changes in South America is fragmented by different national contexts and scientific traditions. This fragmentation leads to poor awareness of the intellectual production of colleagues in other (or some times the same) regions of the continent. We believe that a collaborative scheme, supported by an increasing availability of satellite information at a continental scale, would allow to a more effective integration of knowledge and ideas on ecosystem changes, to guide South American societies in their decisions.

LechuSA initiative provides a web-based arena for the analysis of changes in ecosystem functioning analysis, and seeks to:

• Generate a collaborative frame for those dedicated to understand, manage and preserve South American terrestrial ecosystems, through a satellite-based monitoring of their functioning.
• Document significant changes of ecosystems functioning during the last 25 years.
• Facilitate the identification of common ecosystem change patterns and emergent properties across the continent.
• Offer easy access to satellite information without needing specialized tools.