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C H A P T E R T H R E E
Conceif and Implemenfafion of
fle National Ecological
Observatory ATefwork
After identifying the major environmental challengesfacing the nation, the
committee proposed that thefirst NEON observatory sho?~ldfoc?~s on one
challenge and that the network should grow by addressing additional challenges.
Each theme-based NEON observatory would comprise sites that span the
continent and infrastr?~ct?~refor integrated suites of experimental
manipulations, monitoring, and synthesis directed at its theme.
One of the four tasks in the charge to the committee was to
address the question, WiD NEON, as conceptualized in the
series of five community workshops, be able to provide
infrastructure and logistical support to address ecological and
environmental questions of national concern? Our answers to
the question are provided in this and later chapters. The
answers are not simple; such an evaluation must be based on a
comparison of sometimes divergent concepts proposed in the
various workshops. In pursuing this task, the committee
unavoidably came upon aspects of the National Ecological
Observatory Network that it felt could be implemented in
better ways. We communicate these findings as an essential
part of our answer to the stated question.
PROPOSED CONCEPT AND IMPL.EMENTATION
OF NEON
The NEON program as currently envisioned by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) would be driven mainly
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NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
by the science community an investigator-driven approach that has
been highly successful in generating creative research by the scientists
funded by NSF. That is, requests for proposals would be issued with
only the broadly specified goals of NEON and the requirements of and
constraints on regional NEON observatories. The designs set forth in
the winning proposals would dictate what each regional NEON observa-
tory ultimately became. Thus NEON observatories would take shape
only after infrastructure funding under the Major Research Equipment
and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account has been secured from
Congress.
To be successful, NEON would have to attract a large number of the
brightest and most productive environmental scientists in the nation,
who must be wiring to dedicate their careers to their NEON research.
The investigator-driven approach proposed by NSF has advantages and
disadvantages. In the committee's opinion, the peer-review process used
to select the most promising investigator-proposed research from a suite
of numerous competing proposals is the most important factor that has
allowed NSF to be so effective. In addition, because investigators
articulate their insights and propose the novel scientific anoroaches that
1 1
they find most promising, funded NSF investigators are extremely
dedicated to their research. Thus, the committee agrees with NSF that
investigator-driven research must be a central feature of the formulation
and implementation of NEON.
However, the currently envisioned approach requires that NSF request
new MREFC funds from Congress without being able to show Congress
how the funds would be used or what each NEON observatory would
look like or do. That is inconsistent with the normal congressional
approach to MREFC funding decisions; Congress expects detailed
scientific justification of goals and plans and detailed descriptions of
proposed MREFC facilities, including blueprints and cost estimates.
The deviation from MREFC funding requirements could decrease the
chance that NEON would be established with MREFC funds. In
addition, the current approach would build a NEON network piecemeal
via funding of one or two regional observatories at a time. Thus, NEON
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Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
will not be a truly integrated national network of sites until ad the
observatories are funded and built which could take more than a decade.
If, as currently proposed, different universities and consortia submit
proposals and obtain funding for design and implementation of each
NEON regional observatory, it would be difficult to ensure an integrated
and coordinated approach to each of the major environmental challenges
and proper replication and coordination of critical experiments and
observations at a suite of appropriate sites across the nation. But the
drawback of an issue-driven approach is that NSF may be over prescrip-
tive in the NEON design, which could potentially reduce the creativity
and commitment of investigators, cause less efficient resource use, and
have NEON fail to attract the most appropriate scientists.
For NEON to be efficient in addressing the nation's major environ-
mental challenges, the committee believes that a middle ground needs to
be found between the issue-driven and the investigator-driven approaches.
The ideas and creativity of a large number of highly productive scientists
should be incorporated into NEON design to ensure the scientists'
dedication to NEON projects. A sufficiently detailed vision of NEON
needs to be presented not only to fulfill MREFC funding criteria but
also to ensure that research programs at NEON observatories would
provide information from experimentation and observations that could
aid local, regional, and national policy-makers, park and wildlife-preserve
managers, Forest Service personnel, overseers of agricultural sectors,
land-use planners, conservation biologists, water managers, and others in
environmental decision-making. Hence, NEON research teams should
be multidisciplinary and include social scientists, such as economists and
political scientists, in addition to ecologists and environmental biologists.
Given NSF's current implementation plan for NEON, it is difficult
to identify the infrastructure needed without knowing the type of research
to be conducted in the full suite of regional observatories. For example, a
regional observatory might procure infrastructure of little use to itself in
the false belief that it would be useful to as-yet-unnamed observatories at
some future date. The committee is also concerned that the nationwide
aspect of NEON would not be realized if the regional observatories are
49
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NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
built two at a time. Hence, we suggest that one way to achieve the
objectives would be for NSF to focus NEON explicitly on such environ-
mental challenges as presented in Chapter 2. The six environmental
challenges have already been suggested as issues that could be addressed
in NEON observatories by NSF and AlBS (NSF 2002d, AlBS 2003),
and three of them have been recommended as priority research areas that
deserve immediate investments (NRC 2001~.
An advantage of having NEON focus explicitly on major environ-
mental challenges is that NEON could be implemented more efficiently
and effectively. Each NEON observatory would be national in scope and
focused on one particular challenge. Sites in an observatory would be
selected simultaneously and located strategically across the nation to
ensure adequate regional and national coverage for addressing the
challenge. The research focus of each theme-based nationwide NEON
observatory would guide the selection of sites and help to identify its
essential facilities, infrastructure, and research support. Each later
NEON observatory would build on existing infrastructure as needed to
pursue its particular challenge and the interactive effects of its challenge
with those already being studied in established observatories. Six nation-
wide, theme-based NEON observatories would thus cover all the major
challenges that the committee identified.
We envision each observatory as a network of sites spanning the
nation with infrastructure, providing the resources for the experimental
and observational research needed for its specific theme and for an array
of appropriate core monitoring tasks. Experimental sites would be
replicated in different habitats across the continent to allow comparative
ecosystem analyses. A synthesis center would collate and integrate data
and make information available to all workers, modelers, and educators.
The design of each NEON observatory would be optimized for its
environmental challenge by interactions among the coalition of many
multi-investigator and interdisciplinary teams and associated sites
competitively chosen from across the nation. Sufficient funds must be
allocated for the development of each NEON observatory for it to be a
truly nationwide network.
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Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
To be effective, each NEON observatory must form partnerships
with appropriate federal, state, and local agencies and organizations so
that it can coordinate and optimize data collection and sharing. A
number of agencies already collect long-term systematic environmental
data relevant to the six themes we suggested. NEON observatories could
include some of this long-term core monitoring that complements the
experiments at selected sites and adds to those datasets. In some cases,
sites may be colocated with existing long-term monitoring systems by
other agencies. Long-term data could show trends that lay the founda-
tion for hypothesis setting, reveal the status of the system relative to what
is being measured, and subsequently lead to a better understanding of the
effectiveness of environmental regulations or allow prediction. More-
over, all the observatories in the network should be linked with each
other via a central coordinating and synthesis center. Research in each
observatory and among observatories should be coordinated cooperatively
to increase the effectiveness of the entire NEON program. It is imprac-
tical, if not impossible, to design meaningful nationwide experimental
studies that explore the fuD range of interactions among all six environ-
mental challenges, but one or more individual sites in a given NEON
observatory could simultaneously address several grand challenges and
their interactions.
The creation of a NEON observatory would likely be a multistep
process. First, open workshops and working groups should be held to
solicit ideas and approaches to a particular grand environmental chal-
lenge. The workshop would generate suggestions of potential sites,
infrastructure needs and partnerships. Second, investigators' input would
be synthesized in peer-reviewed preproposals addressing the challenge
that were submitted by different teams for work at particular sites.
Finally, there would be discussion and coordination among the chosen
teams to finalize plans for the entire observatory. Such a multistep
process, with participation of numerous scientists in the design of an
observatory, would ensure that its equipment, facilities, and core moni-
toring would meet the research needs of investigators. The finalized
plans for the entire observatory would undergo further review and
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NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
modifications. The goal of such a multistep process is to optimize both
the ability of various scientists to contribute creativity and commitment
to the observatory and the ability of the multiple teams and sites to
pursue their challenge in a coordinated manner. NSF would seek funds
from the MREFC and Research and Related Activities (R&RA)
accounts for the observatory at the appropriate time during this process.
Matters that need to be addressed in a NEON plan include site
selection, equipment acquisition, site management, core monitoring, data
management and quality assurance, and specimen banking. NEON sites
should be selected for their appropriateness for the research theme of the
observatory and likely future observatories. IdeaDy, most sites would be
able to serve several themes, but some sites could be of unique interest to
one research theme only. The latter should be kept to a minimum to
optimize the efficiency and the integration of NEON observatories.
Similarly, instrumentation and equipment at NEON observatories
should have the flexibility to incorporate advances in technology and data
analyses and to be upgraded in a cost-effective manner.
Managers and providers of basic services would be needed for each
observatory and its many sites, and mechanisms should be in place for
the selection and directions of the managers. The managers and opera-
.
tars, who would become integral parts of the infrastructure themselves,
would be responsible for putting the recommended infrastructure in
place and operating and maintaining it. Each observatory must be able
to ensure the quality of its massive datasets and to store, archive, retrieve
and integrate datasets and make them readily available to ad potential
users. Those would be the tasks of a synthesis center, or perhaps a virtual
synthesis center, which would serve as a focal point for each NEON
observatory. The synthesis center would also store data on the systematics
of the biodiversity in that network, and could develop tools to improve
the efficiency of and capacity for identifying and documenting species.
Environmental-specimen banking is critical because new and better
analytical tools will be developed to determine exposure of organisms and
the environment to anthropogenic stressors and their effects. Thus,
NEON must give careful consideration to central banking of environ-
o
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Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
mental samples in a manner that would preserve their chemical and
biological integrity. Such a banking program is already operated by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, which NEON could
partner with or emulate. Questions relative to the status and trends of
environmental systems that cannot be addressed today may be answered
in the future by using the stored samples, archived data, and new
analytical tools.
Each theme-specific NEON observatory would have to determine its
educational focus and how it would reach targeted audiences, such as
K-12 teachers and students, undergraduate and graduate students, and
the general public. Environmental-education specialists should therefore
be involved in the planning phase of each observatory. We endorse the
American Institute of Biological Sciences (AlBS) recommendation that
NEON observatories have a public outreach and information office to
communicate and disseminate their role, research, and results to the
public, and the mass media and to offer on-site tours, programs, and
volunteer opportunities (AIBS 2003~. To coordinate, facilitate, and assist
the observatories in their education function, an education and outreach
center should be considered.
The planning, implementation, and operation of each theme-driven
NEON observatory could be overseen by a university corporation consor-
tium similar to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Each university, federal agency, or institution that is part of the observa-
tory could become a member. The university consortium would provide
administrative structure and a governing council that provides oversight
and ensures that the NEON observatory serves the entire scientific
community that is addressing its theme.
A permanent coordinating body independent of NSF should be
established to oversee the NEON network. The coordinating body
would ensure integration and coordination across the network, oversee
the network's facility infrastructure, and coordinate establishment of
standard procedures for data collection and policies for access to NEON
sites, data, and specimens. The NEON program would also need the
advice and oversight of an independent body of scientific experts to
53
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NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
ensure that the observatories remain focused on their missions and that
potential synergies gained by collaborations between and among different
observatories are realized. Such a standing scientific coordinating
committee could be organized by a consortium of multiple universities.
EXAMPLES OF NEON OBSERVATORIES AND THEIR
INTEGRATION
On the basis of the six research themes, the committee outlines here
some of the major infrastructure necessary to conduct large-scale research.
The brief lists given below are by no means exhaustive or all-inclusive.
Rather, they illustrate some of the possible infrastructure and research
needs of the NEON observatory that focuses on each theme. More
appropriate and complete designs would be generated through open
workshops and discussions, the ideas generated in preproposals, and the
synthesis of the preproposals chosen for further consideration. Although
a
the construction, implementation, and maintenance costs of NEON
observatories could be determined only after comprehensive plans have
been drawn for the observatories, they are likely to vary between observa-
tories depending on their focus and plans. Costs may substantially
exceed the $20 and $3 million that NSF proposed for the construction
and maintenance of each observatory. But the costs of six theme-driven
observatories might be comparable to, if not less, than 17 regional
observatories proposed by NSF. Program funds, in addition to MREFC
and R&RA funds, should be made available for the conduct of research
so that NEON facilities could be fully exploited.
Biodiversity and Composition
All the lands of the nation are deliberately or inadvertently managed
by their owners. Such management has led to dramatic shifts in the
abundances of species in the nation's ecosystems and equally dramatic
decreases in biodiversity. The shifts in composition and diversity could
strongly influence many processes, including disease dynamics, ecosystem
54
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Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
productivity and stability, nutrient dynamics, and water quality. They
may also influence human welfare by affecting the services that eco-
systems provide to society. To understand better the effects of shifts in
biodiversity and ecosystem services, improved monitoring programs must
be established to document how various management practices influence
composition and biodiversity in the varied terrestrial, aquatic, and marine
ecosystems of the nation and how shifts in composition and diversity
influence their dynamics, stability, and functioning. The major infra-
structure and investments needed to achieve those goals could include
.
A network of sites with environmental chambers and field
experiments in perhaps 20 ecosystem types representing the diversity of
the nation's ecosystems. The sites and chambers could be used to
perform experiments designed to determine how and why various aspects
of human-driven environmental change affect biodiversity and species
composition. Other experiments could focus on the functional ecology
of the species to determine how changes in biodiversity and composition
affect major aspects of ecosystem stability and functioning.
.
Facilities, and equipment for detailed monitoring of species
abundances and biodiversity in relation to various perturbations and
management practices in sites representing the nation's whole array of
terrestrial, freshwater, and marine communities and ecosystem types
from across the nation. Although biodiversity and composition monitor-
ing may seem to be a daunting task that requires data collection at 1,000
sites or more, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service,
the US Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service, NSF, and
various other national, state, and regional agencies already have programs
in place. Detailed monitoring could be achieved once those efforts were
coordinated and expanded.
.
A national program for archiving type specimens and samples of
each species in soils, of water and so on, for future analysis.
.
A national data and synthesis center to collate, store, and allow
analysis of biodiversity and composition data and related data on site and
management practices.
55
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
environmental challenges
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
.
. ,.
genetic studies.
Sequencing facilities and microscopes for taxonomic and phylo-
A biodiversity observatory could collaborate or integrate with existing
biodiversity programs to expand the scope and depth of biodiversity
research. Examples include
.
BioMER GE. An NSF-funded research coordinating network
dedicated to fostering integration of the study of biodiversity with the
study of ecosystem processes (
Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
and temporal environmental changes. The infrastructure required for
large-scale biotic and biogeochemical studies could include
.
A nationwide network of experimental nitrogen-deposition
accelerators and controDed-environmental soil-warming chambers for
studying the effects of major environmental stressors on ecosystems.
.
Nested arrays of eddy covariance towers across important envi-
ronmental and stressor gradients for studying atmosphere-biosphere
interactions and net carbon storage with increased spatial intensity.
.
Advance remote sensing and geographic information systems to
support investigations into previous patterns of land use, to extrapolate
site and gradient studies across the region, and to measure spatial and
temporal changes in the concentrations and ratios of nutrients in the
foliage of forest canopies.
.
soil and water.
.
Instruments designed for monitoring chemical composition in
A mass spectrometer and sequencing center to study the effect of
altered biogeochemical cycles on isotopic signatures of nationwide soil and
water samples and on the diversity of plants and animals, respectively.
.
Nested arrays of eddy covariance towers across important envi-
ronmental and stressor gradients to study atmosphere-biosphere inter-
actions and net carbon storage with increased spatial intensity and to
monitor and assess physiological capacity of plants.
.
meets.
.
Automated chambers or CO2 soil probes for respiration measure-
A central facility for standardized equipment calibration.
A biogeochemistry observatory would benefit from partnerships with
agencies and programs such as the following:
.
Flu~cnet. A global network of micrometeorological tower sites
that use eddy covariance methods to measure the exchanges of carbon
dioxide, water vapor, and energy between terrestrial ecosystem and
atmosphere. Over 200 sites are used for continual long-term monitoring.
57
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It has an
. · .
extensive remote sensing network.
· National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network
(NADP/NTNJ. A nationwide network of precipitation monitoring sites.
NADP data products include weekly and daily precipitation-chemistry
data, annual and seasonal wet-deposition data, and mercury-deposition
data.
Climate Change
The central missions of a climate change observatory would be to
facilitate research on the effects of different scenarios of climate change
on the nation's natural and managed ecosystems and research on how
functioning and status of the nation's ecosystems might affect regional
and global climate change by influencing greenhouse gases, albedo,
evapotranspiration, and so on. To achieve those missions, assessment
and experimentation need to be conducted simultaneously and replicated
across species' functional groups and ecosystem types. The climate-
change observatory might require
· Facilities and equipment for detailed, long-term observations of
species dynamics of locally important or interesting species and their
relations to climate variability.
0 1
· Instruments for the automated collection of detailed physical
information, including climate data, dynamics of soil moisture and soil
nutrient chemistry, groundwater chemistry, soil and plant respiration,
photosynthesis, and release of greenhouse gases.
.
Experimental climate accelerators to determine the effects of
possible future scenarios of climate change on the composition, dynamics,
stability, and productivity of the major ecosystems of the nation. Each
accelerator could comprise a set of large experimental units.
.
A nationwide network of eddy flux towers to locate and under-
stand the "missing carbon sink" of terrestrial North America and to
determine how and why land and habitat use and management practices
58
Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
in different ecosystems influence carbon storage and release. The eddy
flux towers should be at sites in each region that have varied land and
habitat uses, and should be calibrated and validated with detailed site data.
.
A nationwide network of experimental climate accelerators to
determine the effects of likely scenarios of climate change on the compo-
sition, dynamics, stability, and productivity of major ecosystems. The
climate accelerators could be at a number of different sites, each site
having large experimental units.
.
A cTimate-change observatory could partner with agencies and
Integrate with programs and existing monitoring schemes, such as
.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOBLE.
It has the Climate Prediction Center, the Climate Monitoring Diag-
nostics Laboratory, and the National Climatic Data Center.
.
US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). It supports
research and observational activities on the interactions of natural and
human-induced changes in the global environment and their implica-
. .
Ions for society.
.
Global Climate Observing System (GCOSJ. This was established
to ensure that the observations and information needed to address
cTimate-related issues are obtained and made available to all potential
users.
Infectious Diseases
An observatory for the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases
could focus on some of the important and pressing disease issues in
plants, wildlife and zoonotic diseases (infectious diseases shared between
wildlife and humans). An observatory on infectious diseases could seek
to predict the conditions that would increase risk and spread of those
diseases, identifying hot spots and the nodes of infection where diseases
must pass through for an epidemic to become important. An infectious-
disease observatory would aim to facilitate interdisciplinary research to
59
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
identify the ecological causes of emergence and the changes in evolution-
ary pressures that can lead to the emergence of virulent strains.
Specific infrastructure needs could include
· Detailed field sites recording seasonal and inert annual variations
in disease prevalence and experimental sites coupled with containment
facilities. Sites should be distributed in different regions to allow com-
parisons and replicated within regions.
.
Disease-monitoring centers with sequencers. 1mmuno~o~v and
.
1 , OF
virology laboratories, and biosecure handling facilities for small-scale
experiments (for example, experiments on host dynamics). Sites would
require large computational power for running simulation models of the
of
· . . ~ .- . - · . . · .- A.
spatial spread ot diseases and 1ntegranng phylogenetlc studies ot hosts,
parasites, and environmental pressures.
.
Vector screening sites related to emergence of disease, such as West
of
Nile virus, with central identification and molecular screening laboratories.
· Epidemiological warehouses for monitoring transmission
patterns and routes at the mesoscale where ecosystems level factors could
be manipulated. Similar holding systems would be needed to identify
selective pressures leading to evolution of new strains.
.
PCR-sequencing laboratory for diagnosis of infectious agents.
Potential collaborators of an emerging-disease observatory
.
include
The National Wildlife Health Center (NWHCJ. A science center
of the Biological Resources Discipline of the United States Geological
Survey. NWHC is a biomedical laboratory dedicated to assessing the
effects of disease on wildlife and to identifying the role of various patho-
gens in contributing to wildlife losses.
.
Forest Service Forest Health Protection Program. A program of the
US Department of Agriculture Forest Service that conducts annual aerial
and ground surveys to monitor the status of destructive insect and disease
pests on Forest Service lands.
60
Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
.
National Institute of Allergy and In Sections Diseases. This sunnorts
1 1
basic research on West Nile and related viruses to understand factors
associated with the animal or human hosts, the microorganisms, and the
environment that influence disease emergence.
.
Centersfor Disease ControlandPrevention. This maintains human
epidemiological data on vector-borne infectious diseases.
Invasive Species
Research at an observatory for invasive species would have a primary
mission of predicting and monitoring the occurrences, spread, and
environmental consequences of invasive species. Those species would
include microorganisms, insects and other animals, plants, and genetically
altered organisms. Achieving the mission would require a mechanistic
knowledge of the invasion process and information about species traits
and ecosystem states that influence invasions. The observatory's major
infrastructure might be expected to include
.
Major physical sites, each with containment facilities appropriate
for experimental introduction of invasive species into contained commu-
nities. Experiments would be designed to determine the mechanisms of
interaction among native and invasive species and to enhance our capa-
bilities to assess an ecosystem's vulnerability to species invasion.
.
Control hardware and software to monitor environmental
alterations and to adjust local conditions.
.
A major site serving as a central sequencing center, which could
include an existing sequencing center and be equipped with molecular
genetic instrumentation and such equipment as sequencers, cloning
facilities, chip printers, and microarray readers.
.
Facilities at each site to house local synoptic collections. Micro-
scopes, digital photographic tools, microarray readers and gene specific
probes would likely be needed.
.
Experimental plots at some or ad major sites outfitted with
equipment needed to alter local environments, such as carbon dioxide
61
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
addition rings or soil warmers, so as to determine the possible selective
advantages that climate change or environmental change may confer on
. . .
Invasive species.
.
PCR-sequencing facilities to determine origin and genetic
structure of invasive populations.
The invasive species observatory could establish linkages to such
agencies and programs as
.
The National Invasive Species Council. An interdepartmental
council that helps to coordinate and ensure complementary, cost-efficient,
and effective federal activities regarding invasive species.
.
NBII invasive species information node (ISINJ. With its partners,
this is involved in research projects to understand, document, monitor,
predict, and control invasive species.
.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHISJ.
This has an invasive species program. USDA also has an invasive-
species Web site with links to a number of databases (
Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
A wide array of automated sensors would need to be spread across this
network of sites, such as
.
.
Instruments designed to monitor concentrations of nitrate,
.
phosphate, and other chemicals in soils of pastures, croplands, forests,
and urban and suburban areas.
.
.
Instruments that measure rates of water and material movement
into surface water and groundwater; from groundwater to ponds, lakes,
streams, and rivers; and from the aforementioned aquatic ecosystems into
estuaries, nearshore marine ecosystems, and the open oceans.
.
Instruments that measure atmospheric transports that link sites
and regions.
· A central facility for data acquisition and informatics that could
also serve as a synthesis center.
Some examples of agencies and programs that could collaborate with
a land use and habitat management observatory are
.
USED. Willis agency makes estimates for major land use classes
across the United States.
.
NOA~'s Coastal Change Analysis Program. A national effort to
foster development and distribution of regional landscape cover/chan~e
data in the coastal zone through remote sensing technology.
INTEGRATION OF NEON OBSERVATORIES
Each of the six research themes outlined in Chapter 2 addresses a
a
major driver of environmental change. Because these human-driven
environmental changes are occurring simultaneously, it is important to
understand both the direct effects of each type of environmental change
and the interactions among them. That necessitates careful integration of
the research among the theme-based NEON observatories. Each of the
theme-based observatories should be planned to allow for research focusing
on the interactive effects of multiple drivers of environmental change.
63
NEON: ADDRESSING THE NATION'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
With six major challenges, many combinations of drivers could be
studied indeed, too many to study ad combinations. For illustrative
purposes only, we provide a few examples of cross-cutting research
among the six themes. For instance, biodiversity, climate change, and
nitrogen deposition may ad affect an ecosystem's resistance to biological
invasions. Experiments could be designed to assess the interactive effects
of these three drivers and test to see whether the interactions were
general or differed among regions or ecosystem types. Similarly, land-
scape changes and climate change might be a driving force for emerging
diseases. For example, in the Central Valley of California, about 90% of
the wetlands have been converted to agricultural lands and other uses,
channeling waterfowis into remaining wetlands. Such mass concentra-
tion of birds for prolonged periods facilitates exposure of many birds to
disease agents and promotes outbreaks. Research could be conducted to
assess the effect of land-use changes on spread of infectious diseases.
The six research themes share some common infrastructure needs.
For example, studies of biodiversity, infectious diseases, and invasive
species all require sequencing facilities, so that one central sequencing
center could be established to serve ad observatories. Climate accelera-
tors could serve biogeochemists and climate change scientists and give
insights into how climate change would affect the biodiversity and
species composition of ecosystems. Eddy flux towers at some sites could
be used for both cTimate-change and biogeochemical research.
Given the overlap between research themes and the shared equipment
needs, sites of one theme-based NEON observatory would probably be
part of and provide services for several other observatories. Hence, one
cost-saving strategy would be to initiate the NEON network with one
theme-based observatory and phase in observatories one at a time.
When the first national observatory becomes operational, establishment
of the second observatory can begin, taking advantage of and leveraging
existing facilities in the first observatory. Interdiscinlinarv research. such
1 J
as research on the effects of altered carbon or nitrogen availability on
shifts in biodiversity, could be pursued in overlapping sites. In addition,
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Concept and Implementation of the National Ecological Observatory Network
the NEON sites with overlapping themes would provide opportunities
for scientists from various disciplines to work at the same location and
generate synergies of effort. The sequential establishment of theme-
based national NEON observatories would facilitate network integration
and cross-cutting research.
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