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  2. Observatory Blog

Observatory Blog

Collage of people featured in blogs
Category
Case Study

A Big Idea for Small Mammal Diversity Modeling

February 10, 2020

A new modeling approach could allow researchers to use remote sensing lidar data to predict small mammal biodiversity based on the structure of vegetation in an area. The study was led by Sarah Schooler, now a Ph.D. candidate at State University of New York (SUNY)–Syracuse, and Harold Zald of the Humboldt State University Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources. Lidar Prediction of Small Mammal Diversity in Wisconsin, published in Remote Sensing, explores how measurements of vegetation structure created with lidar data could be used to predict the diversity of small mammal communities.

Sarah Schooler, SUNY graduate student

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: Central Plains

February 4, 2020

In the middle of the country, you'll find a land of windswept prairies, cattle ranches and enormous fields of wheat, corn, sorghum, hay and alfalfa. This is the Central Plains (Domain 10), where agriculture rules.

STER flux tower
Data Notification

Resolved: Notice of the re-scaling of 2019 spectrometer Albedo (L2 and L3)

January 31, 2020

This is an update to Notice of the re-scaling of 2019 spectrometer Albedo (L2 and L3). As of January, 31 2020 the data have been re-scaled and re-published to the data portal.

Data Notification

Resolved: Notice of the needed re-orthorectification of 2018 BARR and KONZ spectrometer data

January 31, 2020

Previously, we identified an issue with the 2018 KONZ and BARR airborne (AOP) spectrometer (NIS) data products. As of 31 January 2020 the corrected data are available via the data portal.

Data Notification

Upcoming corrections to 2D wind direction data

January 31, 2020

The terrestrial instrument system (TIS) team identified that the 2D anemometers on the NEON towers were producing 2D wind data that did not correlate with 2D wind data collected at NEON meteorological stations nearby. The TIS team is in the process of identifying site- and measurement-level--specific dates of incorrect anemometer orientation so that these data can be corrected.

Spotlight

Women in Ecology – Nancy Glenn

January 30, 2020

In recent years, the persistence of gender disparities in STEM fields has become a concern for educators, research institutions and commercial firms. We asked Dr. Nancy Glenn about her experience as a woman in ecology and how the field can continue to encourage gender diversity.

Nancy Glenn
Data Notification

Notice of the needed re-orthorectification of 2018 BARR and KONZ spectrometer data

January 22, 2020

We have identified an issue with the 2018 KONZ and BARR airborne (AOP) spectrometer (NIS) data products. The data are being reprocessed.

Data Notification

Notice of the re-scaling of 2019 spectrometer Albedo (L2 and L3)

January 22, 2020

We have identified an issue with the early 2019 airborne (AOP) spectrometer (NIS) Level 2 and 3 Albedo data products for several sites. The data are being re-scaled.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: The Northern Plains

January 16, 2020

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.

Northern Plains domain field technician
Case Study

Mapping Patterns of Biodiversity

January 9, 2020

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.

Annie Smith and Phoebe Zarnetske
Data Notification

neonUtilities 1.3.3 now available on CRAN

January 8, 2020

neonUtilities 1.3.3 is now available on CRAN! Changes in this version are fairly minor, primarily meant to fix bugs in version 1.3.2.

Data Notification

Update: Microbial Community Composition Data Products Being Reprocessed

January 8, 2020

This is an update to Microbial Community Composition Data Products Being Reprocessed.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: The Taiga

January 3, 2020

Cold winters, remote locations and plenty of mosquitos—welcome to the Taiga (Domain 19), the largest of the NEON program's ecoclimate Domains.

Owl at a field site in Domain 19, Taiga
Data Notification

Water Quality Software Updates

December 31, 2019

Data processing software improvements will now use SUNA absorbance data to estimate corrected fDOM rather than only correcting fDOM using temperature.

Data Notification

Aquatic instrument data product corrections: Update 1

December 23, 2019

Recent updates in the algorithms that generate some of our aquatic instrument data will improve published data products by fixing erroneous data.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: Southern Rockies & Colorado Plateau

December 17, 2019

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.

View of sunrise from the flux tower at MOAB

Battelle Names Paula Mabee as Chief Scientist and Observatory Director for National Ecological Observatory Network

December 12, 2019

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).

Paula Mabee
Case Study

Looking for Missing Carbon in the Forest Canopy

December 11, 2019

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.

Trees at MLBS
Case Study

Studying Relationships Between Forest Structure and Bird Biodiversity

December 6, 2019

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.

Sunlight through the trees at the ABBY field site
Data Notification

neonUtilities 1.3.2 now available on CRAN

December 4, 2019

neonUtilities 1.3.2 is now available on CRAN! There are several updates in this version, primarily around improving performance and retaining more complete metadata from the original download.

Data Notification

Microbial Community Composition Data Products Being Reprocessed

December 3, 2019

Microbial community composition data products for all data analyzed after Jan 1, 2016 had an issue with the sequence data processing pipeline. This issue is causing the resulting community composition data to consist of very few counts and lower than expected diversity. We are in the process of evaluating the extent of the issue.

Case Study

How a Tree’s Life can Change an Ecosystem: Plant Phenology, Gypsy Moths, and Heat Accumulation

November 20, 2019

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.

Gypsy moth caterpillar eating leaves
Data Notification

Aquatic instrument data product corrections

November 18, 2019

Recent updates in the algorithms that generate some of our aquatic instrument data will improve published data products by fixing erroneous data.

Data Notification

Surface water and groundwater elevation data improvements

November 18, 2019

To date, all NEON groundwater and surface water elevation data has had high uncertainty due to unstable survey reference points and delays in reporting field-based sensor position adjustments. In-the-field infrastructure upgrades will improve NEON water elevation data products at many aquatic sites.

Looking for fieldwork experience in ecology? Work for NEON

November 14, 2019

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.

Technicians electrofishing
Data Notification

Occasional high soil moisture values

November 13, 2019

We recently discovered that unreasonably high soil moistures are sometimes being reported in the soil water content and salinity data product (DP1.00094.001) at many terrestrial sites.

Data Notification

Issues with infrared gas analyzer pressure data stream mapping

November 13, 2019

We have identified issues with infrared gas analyzer pressure data stream mapping processed through October 28, 2019 (irrespective of data collect date) and are working to resolve them.

Case Study

Introducing Adlafia neoniana: A New Species Named for NEON

November 7, 2019

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.

Adlafia neoniana

A Remote Sensing Partnership Made in Paradise

November 1, 2019

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.

View of the canopy from the PUUM tower
Case Study

Understanding the Drivers of Community Assembly

October 29, 2019

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.

Cactus in the field

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Copyright © Battelle, 2019-2020

The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.