Case Studies

What drives the evolution of various mosquito traits, including those which make them vectors of disease? Dr. Brian Wiegmann used samples from the NEON Biorepository at ASU and other repositories to investigate the phylogeny of mosquitoes. He and his coauthors published their results in Nature Communications.

Arvind Varsani is interested in virus diversity at many scales and across species. He collaborated with Laura Steger and Kelsey Yule at the NEON Biorepository at ASU, along with other researchers, to explore the potential of extracting viral DNA from archived rodent fecal and liver samples. Their work was published recently in Virology.

A recent study using data from NEON aquatic sites shows that across the continent, under the right conditions, freshwater lakes and streams may act as both sources of atmospheric N2O, and as sinks for the gas. This behavior may help to partially offset N2O emissions and is crucial to account for in climate modeling.

How long does it take for rainwater on land to find its way into streams and waterways? Researchers used stable water isotope data to trace the movement of water through watersheds at NEON field sites; in many cases, paired terrestrial and aquatic sites. The results are published in a recent paper in Hydrological Processes.

A recent paper in Environmental Research: Ecology explores the potential for using air- and spaceborne lidar to monitor biodiversity on a global scale. The study used NEON airborne laser scanning (ALS) data with NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) spaceborne lidar to validate a unique approach that uses "characteristic" forest structure to infer biodiversity for areas difficult to directly sample.

Can water quality be forecast just like the weather? For Dr. Quinn Thomas, that is the ultimate goal. He and fellow researchers tested a model for forecasting lake temperatures at six NEON lake sites. Their results were recently published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Thomas is also the Principal Investigator for the EFI-RCN NEON Forecasting Challenge, which seeks to create a community of ecological forecasters using NEON data to test forecasting models.

A unique and endangered ecosystem is nestled in the midst of the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Oak Ridge Barrens (The Barrens) is home to some of the few remaining pockets of natural prairie left in the state. Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP) wanted to perform a scientific inventory of the species composition in the cedar barrens. Margaret Cumberland, ecologist at NEON's Appalachians and Cumberland Plateau Domain (D07), facilitated an AGU-TEX community project to make this happen.

A recent paper in the Journal of Ecology explores correlations between tree species composition, fungal communities, and the relative abundance of different types of carbon in soil at seven NEON eastern forested field sites. Understanding these complex relationships could help researchers build better models of the carbon cycle in forested terrestrial ecosystems.

Dr. Lynn 'Marty' Martin and Dr. John Orrock are investigating the complex interactions between ticks, mice, and their habitats through a NEON Assignable Assets project. Their work could help illuminate how habitat quality and the behavioral choices of wild mice influence the spread of a dangerous pathogen.

How did the recent hurricanes in Puerto Rico impact the average body size of freshwater fish found in Puerto Rican rivers? Saniei and Crispo used data on fish body size from the two aquatic sites in the Atlantic Neotropical Domain (D04): CUPE and GUIL. They compared the data from before and after the hurricanes for four freshwater species.

Blue oaks are a keystone species in the woodlands of central California; however, temperature change and land management practices have threatened populations in many areas. NEON's Sokaina Alkhafaji partnered with the Sierra Foothill Conservancy and the University of California Cooperative Extension to develop blue oak monitoring protocols that could be used by landowners and conservation organizations across the state.

A new paper in Journal of Animal Ecology uses NEON lidar data plus observational data to explore relationships between animal species richness and various local and regional variables. The goal? To determine which variables have the best predictive power for species richness at different scales.

A recent study published in Global Ecology and Biogeography explores how lidar and hyperspectral remote sensing data could be fused to improve estimates of plant biodiversity in temperate forests.

Dozens of individuals and teams have participated in the Ecological Forecasting Initiative Research Coordination Network (EFI-RCN)’s NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge, which challenges people to create ecological forecasts using data from the NEON program. Educators across the country are using the Challenge with their undergraduate and graduate students.

Janelle Hakala, a NEON instrument technician and a NEON-TEX Community Science Fellow, worked with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers in Colorado to develop a long-term monitoring plan modeled on the NEON plant protocols.

Teams and individuals are creating ecological forecasts around five themes, including terrestrial water and carbon fluxes, beetle communities, tick populations, aquatic ecosystems, and plant phenology using NEON data.

As the Arctic warms, many areas where soils were previously frozen year-round are now experiencing cycles of freezing and thawing. Researchers set out to discover how these cycles are changing the physical structure of Arctic soils—using soil cores from NEON's Toolik Field Station (TOOL). The study is published in Geoderma.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Laura Meredith is working at NEON sites in Alaska to validate the use of carbonyl sulfide as a tracer molecule to better estimate of the amount of carbon taken up by plants. Her study was made possible through the NEON Assignable Assets Program and an NSF award.

Community members in northern Wisconsin are learning how they can help monitor and control the spread of invasive plant species in their local area. A workshop organized by Ashley Spink, a senior field ecologist for the NEON program, was supported through NEON's partnership with the Thriving Earth Exchange program.

Can machine learning be used for accurate species identification of beetles and other invertebrates? Dr. Katie Marshall and Jarrett Blair at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and collaborators sought to answer this question using carabid beetle data from the NEON program. Eventually, they hope to leverage machine learning to identify other species caught in the NEON beetle pitfall traps. Machine learning could one day be used to classify unidentified species in the NEON bycatch (species caught other than the target species) and answer new questions about invertebrate diversity and abundance across North America.

How do you collect phenology data at a large scale for an elusive species like the deer mouse? Drs. Bryan McLean and Robert Guralnick combined mammal trapping data from the NEON program with a century of museum data to find insights into the environmental drivers of reproduction for small mammals.

Dr. Jennifer Balch, a Fire Ecologist at University of Colorado Boulder, is studying wildfire-impacted areas in the western U.S. to answer burning questions about forest recovery and carbon storage potential. Her work could lead to improved models of the impact of wildfires on atmospheric carbon levels and environmental change.

An investigation into freshwater diatoms from the NEON aquatic field sites in Puerto Rico led to a reclassification of diatom taxa in the region, and the possible discovery of a new diatom species. A paper recently published in Phytotaxa details the results of the research, which was enabled by samples from the NEON Biorepository.

NASA monitors soil moisture levels and freeze/thaw conditions across the globe using a satellite orbiting 426 miles (685 km) above the Earth. To help validate and calibrate these satellite data, NASA relies on direct measurements taken by partners on the ground. Through a new collaboration with Battelle, soil moisture data collected at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) field sites will now be part of those validation efforts.

How much of the water that enters terrestrial systems is used by plants for growth, and how much simply escapes back into the atmosphere unused? Chris Adkison, a researcher at Texas A&M University, used data from the NEON program to compare the accuracy of different methods of partitioning evaporation and transpiration in a Texas oak woodland.

A new study published in Nature Geoscience uses soil from NEON field sites across the continent to look for insights into how ecosystem variables impact the formation and composition of SOM.