EFI RCN NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge

The Ecological Forecasting Initiative

The NSF funded EFI Research Coordination Network (EFI-RCN) is hosting a NEON Ecological Forecast Challenge with the goal to create a community of practice that builds capacity for ecological forecasting by leveraging NEON data products. As a community, we are excited to learn more about the predictability of ecological processes by forecasting NEON data prior to its release. What modeling frameworks, mechanistic processes, and statistical approaches best capture community, population, and ecosystem dynamics?

These questions are answerable by a community generating a diverse array of forecasts. The Challenge is open to any individual or team that wants to submit forecasts and includes categories for different career stages. This program started in 2020, and will continue through at least 2024, with rotating challenges over the years that will span multiple research themes. The current research challenge themes include forecasts of terrestrial water and carbon fluxes, beetle abundance, tick population size, water temperature and dissolved oxygen, and canopy greenness. Individuals can submit forecasts for any or all themes!