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.
Need a bulk order of ground beetles? How about some frozen soil samples? Or a selection of well-preserved small mammal specimens? Now, you can check out these and dozens of other biological sample types from the NEON Biorepository.
To build better models of watershed processes and calibrate remote sensing data with observations on the ground, a diverse team of researchers spent two weeks this summer gathering soil and vegetation data from hundreds of individual sites within the East River watershed near Crested Butte, CO.
Two major reports recently came out (the 4 th National Climate Assessment and the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report) that got me thinking about our changing planet and the role of NEON in monitoring those changes.
Ecological data collected in the field gives researchers a window into how ecosystems and climate are changing in a particular area. But to see the bigger picture, you have to take a step back— way back. All the way to space.
Several long-term national and international science networks such as the Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER), the Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), AmeriFlux and GLEON are driving a deeper understanding of environmental processes and systems. But how can these networks complement and reinforce each other? And how does the NEON project fit in among these established networks?
If you've been out walking in the woods or tall grasses this summer, you may have brought home an unwelcome passenger on your clothes or person. Ticks—and the diseases they carry—are on the move throughout much of the United States.
On October 19, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH-D), Ranking Member of the Senator Appropriations Commerce, Science, and Justice Subcommittee, visited NEON’s Bartlett Experimental Forest field site to learn firsthand about the long-term, continental-scale and open access data collection program.
In early October, hundreds of scientists from the National Science Foundation’s LTER Network gathered together in Asilomar, CA for their All Scientists Meeting, which takes place once every three years. This year several scientists from NEON were invited.
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.
It's never too early to get kids interested in ecology—and Girl Scouts may provide the perfect opportunity. A troop of 6th graders is tackling important issues in habitat preservation and ecosystem change through a Girl Scout Journey focused on animals, ecology and NEON.
A new study out of the University of Wisconsin—nicknamed "CHEESEHEAD19," for Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors 2019—seeks to explore and resolve some of the inconsistencies between local observations and the data that drive our environmental models.
018 is an exciting year for the NEON project. The construction of the observatory is nearing completion, with almost all field sites transitioned into operations. The NEON Data Portal now houses a growing collection of data products from our aquatic and terrestrial field sites.
A study led by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) has used the NEON assignable assets program to gather airborne remote sensing data near Crested Butte, Colorado. They will use the data to study plant community distributions and canopy biochemistry to shed light on watershed systems.
Could drones be part of the NEON program's arsenal of data collection platforms one day? Their low cost and versatility could help NEON expand its airborne remote sensing capacities. Before integrating them into NEON's operations, however, more work has to be done.
The amount of moisture in the soil is one of the critical variables that influence the overall makeup and diversity of the local ecosystem. To ensure data quality and consistency across 47 field sites, scientists had to carefully calibrate soil moisture sensors. Here's what they did—and why it matters to the NEON community.
A new collaboration offers mentorship opportunities for undergraduate faculty and hands-on activities to help them bring real-world data into the classroom.
The NEON project is producing a vast treasure trove of open access airborne remote sensing data. Can computer algorithms help ecologists make sense of it all? A team of ecologists and data scientists at the University of Florida thought so. To accelerate the process, they initiated a data science challenge.
Turning field measurements and samples into usable, downloadable data takes a lot of work—and now that work is paying off. Battelle's NEON project met a major milestone this spring when all 83 Observation System (OS) data products became available through the NEON Data Portal.
Tree die-offs have a tremendous impact on local ecosystems. But could the consequences extend beyond the surrounding area? New research suggests the answer is yes.
Want to watch the planet breathe? You're in luck—a whole new set of data products that let you do just that is now available from the NEON project. These eddy-covariance (EC) or “flux” data products give scientists a powerful new tool to monitor how energy, water, carbon dioxide and other gases move between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere.
As the NEON project gets off the ground, NEON project scientists are reaching out to ecologists who are just starting their careers. And for good reason—today's undergrads, grad students and newly minted PhDs are likely to be the prime users of NEON data over the life of the project.
What's the best way to forecast ecological changes? How do botanists measure photosynthesis? And what in the world is eddy covariance? You can find the answers to these and other questions in NEON's Science Explained videos which aim to make the science behind the NEON project simple.
Announcing a new opportunity for early career scientists to attend the 2018 ESA conference via a NEON-ESA Early Career Scholars (NECS) program funded by the National Science Foundation to help cultivate and support a diversity of early career scholars and practitioners.
The NEON project isn't just about collecting ecological data. It's also about enabling collaboration between scientists across disciplines to explore fundamental questions about earth systems and ecological processes.
What can the size of a deer mouse tell you about the number of species present in its environment? A lot, as it turns out. A team of ecologists turned to data from the NEON project to look for clues.
