Research Support Projects
Each project listed below showcases the remarkable breadth of scientific pursuits that NEON’s Research Support Services facilitates, from sensor installations providing additional measurements that complement existing NEON data, to additional field and observational sampling conducted by our professional field ecologists. The below table embodies NEON's commitment to fostering collaboration, igniting scientific breakthroughs, and empowering your own research journey. So, embark on this informative odyssey, explore the projects, and discover the transformative potential of NEON research support.
The projects listed here are led by PIs who have opted in to listing their project publicly.
| Title | RS Services | PI Name | |
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Collaborative Research: MRA: Dew impacts on ecosystem carbon, energy and water fluxes at continental scale - a synthesis across NEON sites
SI
PI Name
Lixin Wang
Address the impact dew has on ecosystem function by quantifying dew frequency and magnitude and then assessing how the presence of dew impacts water use and carbon uptake across the terrestrial ecosystems within the NEON network. PI Name
Lixin Wang
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Turbulence and Decoupling within Heterogeneous Canopies
SI
PI Name
Heping Liu
Installed instruments include four subcanopy flux towers and a profiling Doppler lidar on top of the Wind River NEON tower. Improve the understanding of interactions between below-canopy and above-canopy micrometeorological processes in the heterogeneous forest with the effects of drainage and upslope flows. PI Name
Heping Liu
Field sites
PI Affiliation
Washington State University
Start date
End date
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Extended evaluation of near-infrared digital hemispherical photography for estimating leaf and wood area index during leaf-on conditions
OSI
PI Name
Luke Brown
Provide an extended evaluation of near-infrared digital hemispherical photography (DHP) as a new means of measuring leaf area index (LAI) and wood area index (WAI) PI Name
Luke Brown
PI Affiliation
University of Salford Manchester
Start date
End date
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NASA GSFC SBG: Diurnal and seasonal variation in canopy optical properties associated with photosynthetic function and gross primary productivity (GPP) for prairie vegetation
SI
PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Examine Solar Induced Fluorescence (SIF) along with visible to near infrared reflectance of tallgrass prairie ecosystems using a FLoX (Fluorescence Box, JB Hyperspectral_ mounted on the flux tower. In addition to measurements of leaf level electron transport rate (ETR) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) from a MoniPAM Fluorometer. PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Field sites
PI Affiliation
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Start date
End date
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Leveraging proximal and in situ soil sensing to improve the prediction of keystone soil microbiome functions
OSI
PI Name
Zachary Freedman
Quantify the degree to which MIR spectroscopy alone, and in concert with other microbially-relevant sensor-derived data, can be used to predict soil microbial community composition as well as keystone functions of the soil microbial community PI Name
Zachary Freedman
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A functional model of soil organic matter composition at continental scale
OSI
PI Name
Steven Hall
Predict the abundances of different molecules in soil, their relationships with specific soil minerals, and effects on decomposition and nitrogen (N) mineralization across spatial scales PI Name
Steven Hall
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Collaborative Research: MRA: On thin ice – implications of shorter winters for the future of freshwater phytoplankton phenology and function
OSI
PI Name
Rebecca North
Study phytoplankton dynamics on a year-round scale using field observations, experiments, high-frequency environmental sensors, and employ predictive modeling to assess how changes in climate will ultimately affect basal ecosystem structure and function. PI Name
Rebecca North
Field sites
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Collaborative Research: Assessing Drivers of the Nitrogen-Fixing Symbiosis at Continental Scales
OSI
PI Name
Ryan Folk
Analyze the relationships between nitrogen-fixing plant communities, the corresponding microbial communities, and their environment to elucidate the driving evolutionary and environmental pressures that initially enabled and continues to cause changes in the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. PI Name
Ryan Folk
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Clarifying linkages between canopy SIF and physiological function for high latitude vegetation – NASA ABoVE
SI
PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Examine Solar Induced Fluorescence (SIF) along with visible to near infrared reflectance in high latitude ecosystems using a FLoX (Fluorescence Box, JB Hyperspectral) mounted on the flux tower. In addition to measurements of leaf level electron transport rate (ETR) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) were collected using MoniPAM Fluorometer. PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Field sites
PI Affiliation
University of Maryland Baltimore County
End date
Ongoing
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MSB-ECA: Ecosystems in four dimensions: Measuring changes to forest structure and function in the Anthropocene
AOP
PI Name
Kyla Dahlin
Test the hypothesis that detailed information about forest structural and functional diversity is critical to predicting key elements of forest photosynthetic production, including peak growing season and daily cycles of productivity in temperate forest ecosystems. NEON's AOP flight surveys were conducted over the University of Michigan Biological Station near Pellston, MI, in 2019. PI Name
Kyla Dahlin
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Collaborative Research: Bugs to clouds: Thawing permafrost, its microbes, and their possible role in Arctic feedbacks
SI
PI Name
Jessie Creamean
Requesting to borrow the NEON SIPRE auger and power head for permafrost samples (immediately below the active layer) for evaluation of microbial communities and ice nucleating particles (INPs; particles that facilitate cloud ice formation). PI Name
Jessie Creamean
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Does flow variability increase susceptibility to stoichiometric constraints in stream food webs?
OSI
PI Name
Jessica Corman
We examine how flow variability among NEON sites selects for functional traits in benthic invertebrates and their resultant impact on the susceptibility to stoichiometric constraints. The results are published in: Blalock A, Q Cai, JR Corman, SA Thomas, and EK Moody. 2024. Hydrology has stronger effects than periphyton stoichiometry on lotic invertebrate functional diversity across North America. Freshwater Science, 43(3), doi: 10.1086/732096 PI Name
Jessica Corman
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Collaborative Research: MSB-ENSA: Leveraging NEON to Build a Predictive Cross-scale Theory of Ecosystem Transpiration
OSI
PI Name
Gabriel Bowen
Partition evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) fluxes at most core NEON terrestrial sites. These data will be synthesized to elucidate patterns of E/T partitioning and transpiration fluxes across the continent, and used to evaluate a range of ecosystem models to assess their representation of transpiration. PI Name
Gabriel Bowen
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Collaborative Research: Thermal Controls on Ecosystem Metabolism and Function: Scaling from Leaves to Canopies to Regions
SI
PI Name
Chris Still
Improve the understanding on functions and processes of forest ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest (e.g. the link between leaf temperatures and carbon assimilation) with direct measurement of forest canopy temperatures at the NEON WREF site. PI Name
Chris Still
Field sites
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Collaborative Research: MSB-ECA: Resolving controls on lignin decomposition at the continental scale to classical and modern paradigms of soil organic matter
OSI
PI Name
Steven Hall
Assess the biogeochemical controls on the decomposition of lignin versus other litter constituents in soils spanning the NEON core terrestrial sites. PI Name
Steven Hall
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Collaborative Research: Interactions and Feedbacks between Storms and Bioaerosols
SI
PI Name
Russell Perkins
Examination of bioaerosol properties, flux, and vertical structure, with emphasis on thunderstorm and cold pool events. PI Name
Russell Perkins
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Collaborative Research: Tree crown economics: testing and scaling a functional trait-based theory
SI
PI Name
Brenden McNeil
Test how the mean leaf angle, crown density, and crown rugosity co-vary and how their covariation is predictive of ecosystem functioning at tree crown, landscape, regional, and continental scales. PI Name
Brenden McNeil
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Adaptive strategies for surviving climate change and invasive species in the Southwestern U.S.: Integrating multi-scale remote sensing and common garden experiments
AOP
PI Name
Christopher Doughty
Investigate how a foundation plant species (Fremont cottonwood) distributed across three major ecoregions in the southwestern U.S. responds to the synergistic impacts of climate-induced drought and temperature change, coupled with exotic species invasion PI Name
Christopher Doughty
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MRI Collaborative: Development of Monitors for Alaskan and Canadian Auroral Weather in Space (MACAWS)
SI
PI Name
Don Hampton
Monitor the density and fluctuation of Earth’s ionosphere using ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. Specifically we want to understand how the ionosphere changes in response to auroral energy input. Certain Alaska NEON sites would be included in a larger network (25 total in Alaska, and 10 in Canada) to monitor the density and fluctuation of Earth’s ionosphere using ground-based GNSS. PI Name
Don Hampton
Field sites
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Ribbit Network at Wind River Experimental Forest
SI
PI Name
Steven Pestana
Evaluate the performance of the Ribbit Network sensors. Comparisons of absolute and relative accuracy of CO2 concentration, temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure observations. Evaluation against NEON sensors will help us better understand how well the sensors perform in a variety of weather conditions, and learn how future work could use dense arrays of the low-cost sensors to investigate CO2 concentration heterogeneities, and potentially fluxes, in real-time. PI Name
Steven Pestana
Field sites
PI Affiliation
Ribbit Network
Start date
End date
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Uncovering the relationship between sapwood turnover and forest aboveground biomass accumulation
SI
PI Name
David Medvigy
Measure sap flow for changes over time by measuring radial and azimuthal variation in sap flow using custom built sap flow sensors. PI Name
David Medvigy
PI Affiliation
University of Notre Dame
Start date
End date
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Wind River Forest Dynamics Plot understory phenocam
SI
PI Name
Jim Lutz
Investigating forest dynamics, and the fine-scale phenology (either current year or previous year) that may be correlated with woody plant mortality or growth PI Name
Jim Lutz
Field sites
PI Affiliation
Utah State University
Start date
End date
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Two-way radio antenna installation at UNDERC
SI
PI Name
Matthew McClelland
Installation of a 2-way radio antenna on the NEON tower and repeater in the instrument hut to provide better 2-way coverage across the entire University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC) property. PI Name
Matthew McClelland
PI Affiliation
University of Notre Dame
Start date
End date
Ongoing
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Collection of high frequency time series for prototyping Surface Biology and Geology vegetation traits.
SI
PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Examine visible to shortwave infrared reflectance using a NoX (Near infrared Box, JB Hyperspectral) mounted on the NEON flux tower. PI Name
Fred Huemmrich
Field sites
PI Affiliation
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Start date
End date
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Plant microbiomes at continental scale
OSI
PI Name
Darcy McRose
Obtain bacterial isolates from plants rhizospheres to i) screen the isolates for the production of secondary metabolites, ii) understand patterns of secondary metabolite production in root microbiomes, and iii) pair information about secondary metabolite repertoires in these isolates with soil chemistry to understand the biogeography of secondary metabolite production. PI Name
Darcy McRose
PI Affiliation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Start date
End date
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