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Abstract It is a critical time to reflect on the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) science to date as well as envision what research can be done right now with NEON (and other) data and what training is needed to enable a diverse user community. NEON became fully operational in May 2019 and has pivoted from planning and construction to operation and maintenance. In this overview, the history of and foundational thinking around NEON are discussed. A framework of open science is described with a discussion of how NEON can be situated as part of a larger data constellation—across existing networks and different suites of ecological measurements and sensors. Next, a synthesis of early NEON science, based on >100 existing publications, funded proposal efforts, and emergent science at the very first NEON Science Summit (hosted by Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder in October 2019) is provided. Key questions that the ecology community will address with NEON data in the next 10 yr are outlined, from understanding drivers of biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales to defining complex feedback mechanisms in human–environmental systems. Last, the essential elements needed to engage and support a diverse and inclusive NEON user community are highlighted: training resources and tools that are openly available, funding for broad community engagement initiatives, and a mechanism to share and advertise those opportunities. NEON users require both the skills to work with NEON data and the ecological or environmental science domain knowledge to understand and interpret them. This paper synthesizes early directions in the community’s use of NEON data, and opportunities for the next 10 yr of NEON operations in emergent science themes, open science best practices, education and training, and community building.
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Integrating biological and environmental data to solve key scientific and societal challenges
Abstract Biodiversity collections in the United States hold over a billion specimens and are essential to understanding the history of life on Earth, as well as patterns of biodiversity in response to environmental change. Each specimen is linked by metadata to an organism's name and the place and time of its collection. Extensive data have been collected on Earth's geology, hydrology, climate, and organisms—past and present—but the data remain largely fragmented. We report in the present article on community discussions to develop a roadmap and identify action items for the Building an Integrated, Open, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (BIOFAIR) Data Network, directly linking the various types of biological and environmental data. The roadmap is organized into five themes: stocktaking and gap analysis, technological capacity building, best practices, education and training, and community building. Together, these themes chart a path from initial resource inventories and skill building to infrastructure development, cross‑disciplinary collaboration, and the establishment of FAIR‑compliant workflows and governance.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2303588
- PAR ID:
- 10642984
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- BioScience
- Volume:
- 76
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0006-3568
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 13-20
- Size(s):
- p. 13-20
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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