Ecology Moving Forward: Thoughts on the 2018 Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting

By Sharon Collinge, Past Observatory Director and Chief Scientist 

What does the future of ecological research look like? And where does the NEON project fit in? I had the opportunity to reflect on these questions in depth at the recent annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

I have long been involved with ESA in various capacities, but I took a breather from attending the annual meeting for the last few years. Returning to this year's meeting in New Orleans, I was struck both by what is still the same in this community of ecologists as well as what is changing. While I was still inspired by the strong commitment and enthusiasm that have always characterized these meetings, I noticed a significant expansion in the types of research being done, the methods researchers are using, and in the diversity of researchers getting involved. 

Some of these changes have been a long time coming. Ecology today is more network-oriented and more collaborative than ever before. We are seeing a shift from projects driven by individual observers in the field to collaborative research projects that tap into data from well-established, organized efforts such as the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER), AmeriFlux, GLEON, and the Critical Zone Observatory (CZO). These networks are moving ecology into the era of "big data" and enabling researchers to tackle questions about ecological systems in ways never before possible. 

As ecology moves towards new methods, it is also attracting different kinds of thinkers to the field. At this year's ESA meeting, I was especially impressed by the energy and diversity of early career scientists in the audience. These young researchers are bringing fresh ideas and new skill sets that are well matched to the opportunities that they have in front of them. 

As big data continues to transform ecology, it will be these young scientists who will carry the field forward. The shared data generated by large ecological networks, including the NEON project, enables early career scientists, and even undergraduate students, to conduct original research that would not have been possible in earlier eras. Rather than conducting time-consuming and expensive field observations on their own, they can dig into the wealth of data already available to look for new connections, test existing theories and hypotheses, and refine ecological models. Collaborative ecology is democratizing the field and making it easier for researchers to start their own research programs early in their careers. 

The NEON project is very much in the middle of these shifts. When the observatory was first envisioned, almost two decades ago, few people fully predicted or appreciated the impact that evolving data science methods would have on the way ecological research is conducted. But now, as the observatory moves from construction to full operations, we find that our approach to gathering and sharing ecological data on a continental scale is right in line with today's methods.