The National Ecological Observatory Network’s (NEON) chief of science, Michael Keller, will present information about "NEON: Enabling Research and Education in Continental Scale Ecology" on Thursday, Oct. 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the NDSU Memorial Union Arikara room.
NDSU serves as lead coordinating institution in NEON Domain 9, Northern Plains, for this national observatory network that will gather long-term data to enable understanding and forecasting of the impacts of climate change, land-use change and invasive species on continental-scale ecology. Three sites will be located in each domain. The Woodworth Field Station of U.S Fish and Wildlife Service near Jamestown, N.D., serves as the Domain 9 Core Site. These sites will be part of the NEON network, which will include 60 networked observatory sites around the country.
The NEON Northern Plains Domain 9 Science and Education Coordination Committee also will meet Oct. 1-2 at NDSU and includes representatives from NDSU, North Dakota EPSCoR, Sitting Bull College, The Nature Conservancy, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, University of North Dakota, University of South Dakota, University of Wyoming, USDA Northern Great Plains Research Lab, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey and a K-12 science educator from the region. NDSU’s representatives on the committee include Wei Lin, associate professor of civil engineering and Wendy Reed, associate professor of biological sciences. NEON activities at NDSU are coordinated through the Office of the Vice President for Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer.
NEON’s goal includes constructing a continental-scale ecological observatory that, once operational, will provide critical ecological data that will help us understand how climate change, land use change and invasive species affect the nation’s ecosystems. Obtaining this kind of data over a long-term period will advance basic understanding of our effects on the natural world and contribute to environmental decision making in the future.
The Observatory will be the first of its kind to collect ecological data at continental scales over multiple decades, which will be readily available to scientists, educators, students, decision makers and the public to use to understand and address ecological questions and issues. For more information, visit www.neoninc.org.