Treetop leaf sampling at forested NEON field sites just got a whole lot easier. We've added a new tool to our kit: an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone. Drone-based foliar sampling has been added as an official NEON protocol for forested sites. The UAV will also be available for use in the Assignable Assets program.
In this 7th Domain Digest, hear from two Domains about their collaborations with student programs designed to give the next generation of scientists experience with hands-on ecology.
Battelle NEON is working with Google Public Sector to leverage the speed and power of Google Cloud's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to accelerate discovery and get ecological data into the hands of scientists, educators, and decision makers.
A new paper in Journal of Animal Ecology uses NEON lidar data plus observational data to explore relationships between animal species richness and various local and regional variables. The goal? To determine which variables have the best predictive power for species richness at different scales.
A recent study published in Global Ecology and Biogeography explores how lidar and hyperspectral remote sensing data could be fused to improve estimates of plant biodiversity in temperate forests.
This summer, more than 3500 ecologists gathered in Montréal for the 2022 ESA/CSEE joint meeting. We were thrilled to participate and have the opportunity to meet NEON data users (and prospective data users) face to face - here are some highlights!
Dozens of individuals and teams have participated in the Ecological Forecasting Initiative Research Coordination Network (EFI-RCN)’s NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge, which challenges people to create ecological forecasts using data from the NEON program. Educators across the country are using the Challenge with their undergraduate and graduate students.
Janelle Hakala, a NEON instrument technician and a NEON-TEX Community Science Fellow, worked with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers in Colorado to develop a long-term monitoring plan modeled on the NEON plant protocols.
As they fly around the U.S. collecting data from Domain to Domain, our Airborne Sensor Operators (ASOs) take some pretty good photos! Here we introduce you to three of our ASOs and showcase some pictures taken aboard NEON's Airborne Observation Platform (AOP)—along with some other fun photos of life as a NEON ASO.
NEON and LTER have worked closely together since the initial design phase of the NEON Observatory. In fact, a number of NEON sites were deliberately colocated with established LTER sites across the country. These shared spaces add value for both networks and for the research community at large.
Teams and individuals are creating ecological forecasts around five themes, including terrestrial water and carbon fluxes, beetle communities, tick populations, aquatic ecosystems, and plant phenology using NEON data.
Students participating in ESA's SEEDS program receive engaging and hands-on ecological experiences developed for mainly undergraduates. The goal is to enable diverse students to learn more about ecological sciences and the many ways in which they could pursue Ecology as a career path. SEEDS students visited the NEON GUAN site in March 2022, their first trip since the pandemic.
As the Arctic warms, many areas where soils were previously frozen year-round are now experiencing cycles of freezing and thawing. Researchers set out to discover how these cycles are changing the physical structure of Arctic soils—using soil cores from NEON's Toolik Field Station (TOOL). The study is published in Geoderma.
In our second of this blog series highlighting the many diverse backgrounds and paths in ecology, we talked to NEON's Jeb Timm, who grew up in and works in semi-remote Alaska, about his current role and any advice he has for the next generation of ecologists—particularly those pursuing technical or vocational paths into the field.
Understanding how biological invasions start, the factors that allow invasive species to thrive, and their impact on native ecosystems are critical questions for ecology. A paper published in Ecosphere highlights the ways in which data from the NEON program could help ecologists explore the impacts and mechanisms of invasion.
At Pu'u Maka'ala Natural Area Reserve (PUUM) in Hawai`i, researchers have verified the discovery of two previously undescribed species of carabids (ground beetles). The two new species are both members of Mecyclothorax, a genus of ground beetles most diverse on volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands and the Society Islands of French Polynesia.
NEON field sites are no stranger to the effects of increasing wildfires. Field sites that have experienced burning provide a unique window for research on wildfire in small ecosystems, and on how a site may recover and change post-fire. A few of our field ecologists share how their sites have been affected by fire over recent years.
Six teachers and more than 50 students across Puerto Rico had the opportunity to explore ecological questions using NEON data as part of the 2021 PR NEON Data Jam. The event, coordinated by Forward Research and sponsored by Battelle, was built on the LTER model using NEON data from the Guánica Dry Forest (GUAN) site in Puerto Rico (D04).
Modern instrumentation and machine learning methods are increasingly used in the ecology community to supplement human effort. Could some of these methods be applied at the NEON field sites? A recent paper in Ecosphere explores the possibilities.
NEON collects aquatic data in wadeable streams. A study shows that measurements taken by stream sensors mounted on an overhead cable are as good as measurements taken using the standard in-water monopod design. The new overhead cable mounting infrastructure provides improved sensor uptime and reliability in streams prone to extreme flow changes and shifting channel morphology.
Thanks to the neonMicrobeR package, researchers can now automate much of the work of downloading, processing, and assembling microbial data from NEON terrestrial field sites.
Have you ever wondered what happens across NEON as winter settles into our colder Domains? Our field staff are still hard at work to keep our open data flowing. In this blog, a handful of our field staff share their experiences and incredible surroundings. Take a look at what NEON life and operations are like during these snowy months.
Using phenocams, Dr. Alesia Hallmark saw rhythmic and predictable branch movement in creosote bushes in New Mexico—even in dead branches. Now, she's looking through NEON phenocam data to see if she can document the phenomenon in other sites and species. Her results could upend common assumptions about movement—or lack thereof—in woody species.
In July 2021, more than 680 people across the world came together for a virtual summit on data science and aquatic research. The four-day "Hacking Limnology" Workshop Series, organized by AEMON-J and DSOS, explored applications for remote sensing, machine learning, numerical modeling and "Big Data" in aquatic ecology. The NEON program put together a one-day workshop introducing researchers to our open data products in aquatics.
As 2021 comes to a close, we want to highlight the exceptional work delivered this year by the National Ecological Observatory Network. Here are some of the most exciting news items involving the NEON program over the past year.
One of the hallmarks of the scientific method is that when new evidence comes to light, previously held assumptions must be reassessed. That is true of the NEON program, as it is for any scientific endeavor. That's why we work closely with scientific experts in the community, continually examining methods with the goal of maintaining the high standards of data quality, continuity, and repeatability required for good science.
More than 60% of the over-100,000 physical samples from NEON field sites collected each year need to stay frozen. A 4000 square foot renovation to the NEON Biorepository at Arizona State University, completed in August 2020, ensures there will be plenty of cryostorage for the 30-year life of the program.
In August 2021, Domain 09 (Northern Plains) welcomed ten students from regional Tribal colleges and universities, along with some of their parents, for a day of hands-on activities and exploration at two NEON field sites. The day was planned in collaboration with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
