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.
Interest in Nature-based Climate Solutions is growing, in large part due to carbon markets that provide incentives to landowners. A new paper explores the use of eddy covariance flux towers and other measurement methods to get a better understanding of the impact of leveraging nature for addressing climate change.
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.
We spoke with Shalane Frost, one of NEON's assistant Domain managers for field operations in Alaska, about her unique career path and balancing her ecology studies with her athletic career. Frost believes that a career in ecology should not be one-size-fits-all, and that people in STEM—especially women—should feel empowered to explore a variety of paths that incorporate ecology into their academic and professional journeys.
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).
AOP data that were erroneously not included in RELEASE-2022 are now available in that release as well as searchable with LATEST AND PROVISIONAL release tag. For these data products, RELEASE-2022 supersedes RELEASE-2021. Read on to learn more.
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.
This is an update regarding incorrect sensorDepth values at BARC and CRAM for some time ranges in provisional and RELEASE-2022 data for Temperature at specific depth in surface water (DP1.20264.001). The previous post contains information on how to fix the issue in downloaded data.
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.
Delay in external lab particulate carbon and nitrogen data: Affects the Periphyton, seston, and phytoplankton chemical properties, Stable isotopes in surface water, and Chemical properties of surface water data products.
NEON recently discovered that the Relative humidity above water on-buoy (DP1.20271.001) data product had been over-flagged with the automated step test. NEON has adjusted the step test threshold and re-processed the data product for all time and all sites where it is produced.
We spoke with Dr. Corinna Gries, one of the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) leads at the University of Wisconsin with decades of experience in data management, about the benefits of digitizing data and making it more publicly accessible. Her unique career path provides a window into the increasingly critical—yet often overlooked—intersection of technology, scientific research, and data management in STEM fields.
Corrections were made to 2D wind speed and direction statistics in RELEASE-2022 and provisional data. Additional corrections to the quality metrics for this product are pending.
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.
NEON's second data release [RELEASE-2022] is now available for download. Note that there are some open issues with AOP data that are being investigated.
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.
Based on recommendations from our Aquatics Technical Working Group (TWG) and feedback from data users, we have made several updates to the Water quality (DP1.20288.001) data product.
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.
Guess what—we have an all-new data product! The “L1 Methane Concentration” is now available on the NEON Data Portal, with data from July 15, 2021, and going forward.
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.
