West of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies lies a northern landscape dominated by wide-open spaces, prairie grasslands and an abundance of agriculture. Welcome to the Northern Plains Domain, NEON Domain 09.
Dr. Phoebe Zarnetske, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University (MSU), is using data from the NEON sites to investigate patterns in biodiversity and species traits across the continent. Her goal is to better understand the drivers that influence species distributions and community assembly.
The Southern Rockies and Colorado Plateau field sites offer some of the most stunning views in the observatory. But these fragile alpine, subalpine and high desert ecosystems are also threatened by climate change, pollution and invasive species.
Paula Mabee, the Nolop Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of South Dakota, has been selected as the Chief Scientist and Observatory Director of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
Kyla Dahlin and her team are using Airborne Remote Sensing data from five NEON sites to develop detailed 3D maps of forest structure. Their work, which was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), could provide new insights into the carbon storage potential of forests.
Land use changes and habitat loss have resulted in an overall loss of biodiversity across much of the country. Luis Carrasco, a post-doctoral fellow at NIMBioS, is leveraging NEON data to better understand the relationships between vegetation structure and density and bird biodiversity in forested ecosystems.
Imagine walking through the deciduous forests in Massachusetts early one spring, a gentle rain falling down on you. Taking a closer look, you now see thousands of hairy caterpillars in the trees.
It's that time again. Each year, NEON hires hundreds of temporary field scientists to assist our full-time field operations staff with observational sampling.
Adlafia neoniana (Naviculaceae) may be tiny, but it's got a big name to live up to. It's the first new species to be discovered on a NEON field site and named after the NEON program. So what is this newly discovered organism? A single-celled aquatic alga with a cell wall made of silica, known as a diatom.
A new partnership with the Arizona State University Global Airborne Observatory (ASU-GAO) will make more frequent airborne observations possible of NEON's Hawaii field site in the Pu`u Maka`ala Natural Area Reserve. The GAO team completed their first flyover of PUUM in January 2019, and these data are now available.
The exact composition of each local community is influenced by variables that include evolutionary history, current climate and interspecies competition or codependence. A new study led by Will Pearse of Utah State University is using NEON data to quantify the roles of these different variables in the assembly of ecological communities.
Michael Cramer, a small mammal researcher and the Assistant Director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC), has spent much of his career studying the ecology and behavior of mice and other small mammals. His latest research leverages NEON data to document how mouse populations are changing over time—and how these small fries may be changing the ecosystems around them.
The environment impacts every single one of us. But historically, we haven't all had equal opportunity to be involved in the data collection and analysis that informs our understanding of the environment and drives environmental policy. That's why Battelle and the NEON program teamed up with QUBES and 11 other partners for a three-day conference in Boulder, Colorado in April 2019.
On October 15-17, more than 150 ecologists, earth scientists, data analysts and programmers will descend on Boulder, CO for the NEON Science Summit . While the "unconference" is sold out, those interested in exploring ideas for using NEON data can still participate remotely.
Collecting leaf (foliar) samples from the top of the forest canopy can be difficult and dangerous work. But NEON field teams may soon have an easier way to snip samples with the help of a drone equipped with a robotic sampling device. In July, the Pacific Northwest team tested drone technology from DeLeaves to collect foliar canopy samples at NEON’s terrestrial field site in the Wind River Experimental Forest (WREF), Washington.
What can a ground beetle tell us about the environment? Quite a lot! This diverse and ubiquitous family of insects provides a window into environmental health and change. Erik Oberg, a biologist at Yellowstone National Park, is leading an ambitious beetle-biodiversity initiative on the Northern Range of the park.
How are ecosystems across the continent changing over time? What are the relationships between climate, ecosystem composition and soil organic matter? And how are soil composition and carbon storage potential likely to change in the future? The answers lie under our feet.
It's one thing to read about ecological concepts in a textbook. It's another to see them revealed by real-world data. Students at Ball State University recently explored key ecological concepts using data from the NEON program.
A new study led by François Ritter, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois–Chicago Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, provides important insights into the frequency of dew formation across the U.S.
A new study funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Rapid Response to Funding (RAPID) Grant program attempts to answer critical questions about the correlations between biomass burned from wildfires and the emitted quantities of trace gases and aerosols.
Hello again. Over the last few months I have been back at NEON working/consulting with Battelle and the staff here in Boulder, Colorado as the observatory moves into full operations. So I am once again back on the “Inside Looking Out.”
Tucked away in Hawai‘i's Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve (NAR), NEON's final field site will transition from construction to operations this spring. It joins monitoring and conservation efforts already underway in this unique pacific tropical ecosystem. NEON data will support these efforts and give researchers new insight into how the climate and ecosystem are changing in the mountains of Hawai‘i.
Attendees of a recent NSF-sponsored joint NCAR and NEON workshop, Predicting life in the Earth system – linking the geosciences and ecology identify some tangible synergies and paths forward to advance the capability of Earth system prediction to include terrestrial ecosystems and biological resources.
The first year of full operations in Puerto Rico was a rough one. Just as the field sites were coming online for the first time, Hurricane Maria dealt the island a devastating blow. Now, NEON is helping researchers monitor the aftereffects as well as other changes in this vibrant and fascinating ecoclimate domain.
How do you measure the biodiversity of an ecosystem? A paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution examines the use of species traits as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)—and how data products from NEON and other large-scale observatory networks can be used to monitor changes in biodiversity over time.
Remote locations. Brutally cold winters. Short summers with 24-hour sunlight. Our Tundra field sites have some of the most challenging field conditions among our NEON locations—and some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife.
An estimated 600 megatons of carbon are currently held by reactive minerals deep within terrestrial soils around the world —more than twice the amount of carbon that humans have added to the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution began. Understanding the pathways and variables that influence carbon sequestration in soil could lead to new ideas to combat climate change and protect vulnerable ecosystems.
Dr. Paul Siri Wilson is shining a light on some understudied members of California's ecosystems: bryophytes. He and his students are creating a new ebook and sponsoring open microscope days to bring awareness to the mosses, liverworts and other non-vascular plants that most people take for granted in the landscape.
Thinking about planning a ground sampling project in coordination with one of our airborne remote sensing surveys? The 2019 NEON flight campaign plans have been announced. The season will run from March to October, covering fifteen NEON domains and including 35 terrestrial sites and 21 aquatic sites.
