Synergies Among Environmental Science Research and Monitoring Networks: A Research Agenda

Abstract

Many research and monitoring networks in recent decades have provided publicly available data documenting environmental and ecological change, but little is known about the status of efforts to synthesize this information across networks. We convened a working group to assess ongoing and potential cross-network synthesis research and outline opportunities and challenges for the future, focusing on the US-based research network (the US Long-Term Ecological Research network, LTER) and monitoring network (the National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON). LTER-NEON crossnetwork research synergies arise from the potentials for LTER measurements, experiments, models, and observational studies to provide context and mechanisms for interpreting NEON data, and for NEON measurements to provide standardization and broad scale coverage that complement LTER studies. Initial cross-network syntheses at co-located sites in the LTER and NEON networks are addressing six broad topics: how long-term vegetation change influences C fluxes; how detailed remotely sensed data reveal vegetation structure and function; aquatic-terrestrial connections of nutrient cycling; ecosystem response to soil biogeochemistry and microbial processes; population and species responses to environmental change; and disturbance, stability and resilience. This initial study offers exciting potentials for expanded cross-network syntheses involving multiple long-term ecosystem processes at regional or continental scales. These potential syntheses could provide a pathway for the broader scientific community, beyond LTER and NEON, to engage in cross-network science. These examples also apply to many other research and monitoring networks in the US and globally, and can guide scientists and research administrators in promoting broad-scale research that supports resource management and environmental policy. Plain Language Summary Today many research networks and monitoring networks exist in ecology and environmental science. Their complementary designs and publicly available results and data can create powerful synergies. Long-term, hypothesis-based mechanistic research can provide context and JONES ET AL.

Standardized NEON organismal data for biodiversity research

“…With the expected long‐term investment to maintain NEON over the next 30 years, NEON organismal data will be an invaluable tool for understanding and tracking biodiversity change. NEON data are unique relative to data collected by other similar networks (e.g., LTER, CZO) because observation collection protocols are standardized across sites, enabling researchers to address macroscale questions in environmental science without having to synthesize disparate datasets that differ in collection methods (Jones et al, 2021). The data package presented in this paper holds great potential in making NEON data easier to use and more comparable across studies.…”

“…NEON organismal data hold enormous potential to understand biodiversity change across space and time (Balch et al, 2019; Jones et al, 2021). Multiple biodiversity research and education programs have used NEON data even before NEON became fully operational in May 2019 (e.g., Farrell & Carey, 2018; Read et al, 2018).…”

“…The standardized observational sampling of woody trees by the US Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis and of birds by the US Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey has been ongoing across the United States since 2001 and 1966, respectively (Bechtold & Patterson, 2005; Sauer et al, 2017), but covers few taxonomic groups. The Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) and Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) both are hypothesis‐driven research efforts built on decades of previous work (Jones et al, 2021). While both provide considerable observational and experimental datasets for diverse ecosystems and taxa, their sampling and dataset design are tailored to their specific research questions and a priori standardization is not possible.…”

Harnessing the NEON data revolution to advance open environmental science with a diverse and data‐capable community

“…Existing long-term (i.e., decadal) ecological networks (e.g., CZO, LTER) at co-located sites provide inferential power and historical context for contemporary patterns observed by NEON (Hinckley et al 2016b). For example, long-term experiments at LTER sites manipulate some of the drivers observed by NEON, contextualizing patterns observed at NEON sites (Jones et al 2021). Other continental-scale monitoring efforts (e.g., community or citizen science data, North American Breeding Bird Survey, eBird) can fill in gaps between NEON sites and expand the spatial reach of NEON data.…”

From DNA sequences to microbial ecology: Wrangling NEON soil microbe data with the neonMicrobe R package

“…As a nationwide monitoring network, NEON provides broad coverage for the collection of ecological and environmental data; however, it is limited in its ability to provide sites for field experiments. The US Long-Term Ecological Research network (LTER) provides complementary infrastructure for experimental studies in a variety of ecosystems and may help to elucidate the processes driving patterns observed in NEON data (Jones et al 2020) Ecosystem processes…”