National Ecological Observatory Network

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The NSF's NEON, operated by Battelle, provides open access data and infrastructure to study how our nation's ecosystems change over time.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale ecological observation system, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by Battelle, that provides free and open data. Standardized data collection methods are used at all of NEON's field sites which are strategically located in a variety of ecosystems across the U.S. Data are collected using automated instruments, airborne remote sensing equipment and on the ground observational sampling by field scientists. Data will be collected over the course of 30 years. The data and resources that NEON provides will help scientists and decision makers integrate and use ecological observations across multiple scales, detect changes to our nation's ecosystems and enable environmental forecasting.

10/12/2026

It's not too late to register for the Oct. 13 NEON Science Seminar!
Tomorrow: Zhongqi Miao from the Microsoft AI for Good Lab presents "Project Sparrow: From the field to the lab – A full AI solution for biodiversity" from 12-1 p.m. MDT via Zoom.
Seminars are free and open to all, register to attend: https://buff.ly/tkz0qlz

10/08/2026

NEON data and samples come from 20 ecoclimatic Domains, but each Domain is unique. 🌿

In Domain 05: Great Lakes, field ecologists work across forests, wetlands, and lakes to collect the ecological data researchers rely on.

Meet Field Operations Manager Ashley Spink and go behind the data and samples to explore some of the people, places, and partnerships that make NEON possible.
Read the blog: https://buff.ly/QdaLVXT

Photos: Domain 05 Field Operations Manager Ashley Spink. The forest at Domain 05 University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center NEON (UNDE) field site. Domain 05 botanist Sierra Schaff-Sattler measures the angle of a leaning tree while collecting vegetation structure data.

10/06/2026

🌱 NEON plant foliar trait data are now available in Version 7 of the TRY Plant Trait Database!

The TRY database integrates plant trait data from hundreds of trait datasets from all over the world in one consistent format, and, in the latest release, taxonomy is harmonized with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). NEON data are identified as Dataset 981 and can be downloaded alongside other records from TRY using the TRY data request page: https://buff.ly/bM3GVvv

NEON's plant foliar trait data product (DP1.10026.001) includes leaf mass per area, leaf water content, chlorophyll, carbon and nitrogen concentrations and stable isotopes, major and minor elements, and ‘lignin’ (as quantified by the acid detergent method). Learn more about the data product: https://buff.ly/g18am1r

Image: University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center NEON (UNDE) site in the morning (Domain 05, WI). Photo by Melanie Alvarez.

10/05/2026

NEON Science Seminar next week! Join in virtually Tuesday, September 13 at 12 p.m. MDT to hear Zhongqi Miao from Microsoft, AI for Good Lab present “Project Sparrow: From the field to the lab – A full AI solution for biodiversity." Register to attend: https://buff.ly/rofgz4c.

Seminars are free and open to all! Each seminar in the series provides 0.25 continuing education units from the Ecological Society of America's Board of Professional Certification. Visit https://buff.ly/XmVtVDi to learn more about the certification program.

10/03/2026

This impressive group of nine early-career scientists are taking on a unique role in the NEON community: Meet the 2026-2028 NEON Ambassador Cohort! Read more about the incoming cohort in the blog: https://buff.ly/PcquvG8

The NEON Ambassador Program empowers and connects a cohort of early-career researchers and educators eager to augment NEON’s engagement with a breadth of scientific communities of practice. NEON Ambassadors are passionate about understanding and addressing environmental challenges, excited about NEON data and resources and their potential, and innovative, with a drive to collaborate with and foster the NEON community.

10/01/2026

Behind every NEON data product and Biorepository sample is a team of people on the ground ensuring quality data and samples are available for all. In the Great Lakes Domain, Domain 05, that means plenty of time in the field in forests, wetlands, and lakes.

Field Operations Manager Ashley Spink introduces some of the people, places, and partners that keep Domain 05 running and help connect NEON data and samples to the researchers who use them. Read the conversation with Ashley Spink: https://buff.ly/QdaLVXT

Photos: Ashley Spink, Domain 05 Field Operations Manager. Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Autumn at the Domain 05 Steigerwaldt-Chequamegon NEON (STEI) field site. D05 staff work on the Aquatic Observation System buoy at Little Rock Lake NEON (LIRO) field site. University of Notre Dame Students visiting the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center pose for a photo with NEON ecologist Caleb Slemmons after a week of instruction learning about NEON sampling and data.

09/05/2026

From specimen trays to continental-scale ecology: Alyson East and an interdisciplinary team are combining NEON Biorepository specimens, standardized imaging, and AI-enabled analysis to extract biological traits from ground beetles at a scale that would be difficult to achieve by hand. See what they are learning and where the approach could lead next. Read more in the blog: https://buff.ly/6ezW1jJ

Photo: Alyson East and Dr. Sydne Record hold beetle collection trays at the NEON Biorepository. Photo by Isabelle Betancourt, NEON Biorepository Invertebrate Collections Manager.

09/04/2026

Scientists studying ecological drought can now access the world's first globally-harmonized environmental datasets! The datasets are thanks to a major milestone achieved by the Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI):

In a landmark proof‑of‑concept project, NEON and other GERI members, TERN, SAEON, ICOS, and eLTER, have successfully developed scalable data‑sharing workflows and used them to harmonize drought‑related datasets from across multiple continents. The drought datasets are available on the GERI DataONE portal: https://buff.ly/CNjOzBB. The datasets focus on variables measured consistently across GERI like air temperature, precipitation, soil temperature, soil moisture, and soil texture.

Learn more in the August NEON newsletter: https://buff.ly/ERacSj2

Photo: Sensor-based soil sampling plot at the Moab NEON field site (MOAB).

09/02/2026

The first seminar in the 2026-2027 NEON Science Seminar series is next week! Join in virtually Tuesday, September 8 at 12 p.m. MDT to hear Dr. Megan Seeley of Arizona State University present "Spectral landscape ecology as a tool for inferring the spatial organization of intraspecific variation: Insights from NEON imaging spectroscopy." Register to attend: https://buff.ly/mSRLKhT

Seminars are free and open to all! Each seminar in the series provides 0.25 continuing education units from the Ecological Society of America's Board of Professional Certification (https://buff.ly/fs6T07x).

See all upcoming seminars on the NEON Science Seminars web page: https://buff.ly/ebwj82i

08/07/2026

It's the last day of NEON Ambassador Week! Meet Dr. Alexi Besser, NEON Ambassador in the 2024-2026 cohort:

Dr. Alexi Besser is a postdoctoral research scholar in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She uses field and lab-based approaches to study how energy and nutrients move through ecosystems. Through the mentorship component of the NEON Ambassador program, Besser designed a Capstone project for IsoCamp, a training program for stable isotope ecology.

The application period for the 2026-2028 cohort has now closed. Look forward to meeting the next cohort of NEON Ambassadors soon!

Learn more about Dr. Besser's research and her experience as a NEON Ambassador in the Observatory blog: https://buff.ly/bgllVgE

Address

1685 38th Street Ste 100
Boulder, CO
80301

Telephone

+17207464844

Website

http://www.neonscience.org/

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