Executive Summary

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Executive Summary

• As the global footprint of human activity
  continues to expand, environmental science and
  engineering problems will provide great
  challenges and opportunities in the next decade.
  Because of the complex relationships among
  people, ecosystems, and the biosphere, human
  health and well-being are closely linked to the
  integrity of local, regional, and global
  ecosystems. Therefore, environmental research and
  education are central elements of local,
  national, and global security, health, and
  prosperity.

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• New instrumentation, data-handling, and
  methodological capabilities have expanded the
  horizons of what we can study and understand
  about the environment. These advances create the
  demand for collaborative teams of engineers and
  natural and social scientists that go beyond
  current disciplinary research and educational
  frameworks.

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• To meet these complex challenges as well as
  urgent human needs, we need to develop
  environmental synthesis to frame integrated
  transdisciplinary research questions and
  activities and to merge data, approaches, and
  ideas across spatial, temporal, and societal
  scales.

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• Fundamental research on the environment includes,
  integrates, and builds on the physical, chemical,
  biological, and social sciences, mathematics, and
  engineering. The present and future challenges
  include connecting across disciplines and scales,
  supporting synthesis studies and activities, more
  tightly linking science, technology, and decision
  making, and achieving predictive capability where
  possible. Many of these issues go beyond current
  disciplinary research and educational frameworks
  and will require new funding and institutional
  approaches.

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NEON
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What is it ?
NEON will be a continental scale research
instrument consisting of geographically
distributed infrastructure, networked via
state-of-the-art communications. Cutting-edge lab
and field instrumentation, site-based
experimental infrastructure, natural history
archive facilities and/or computational,
analytical and modeling capabilities, linked via
a computational network will comprise NEON. NEON
will transform ecological research by enabling
studies on major environmental challenges at
regional to continental scales. Scientists and
engineers will use NEON to conduct real-time
ecological studies spanning all levels of
biological organization and temporal and
geographical scales. NSF disciplinary and
multi-disciplinary programs will support NEON
research projects and educational activities.
Data from standard measurements made using NEON
will be publicly available. NSF 2003
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What is NEON?

• National network of spatially distributed and
  high integrated observatories National
  Ecological Observatory Network
• Each site would contain a core, virtual
  laboratory for comprehensive synthetic research
  on biological systems.
• GOAL help scientists develop a predictive
  understanding of the nature and pace of
  biological change.

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NEON
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So, what is NEON ?

• 500M continental-scale research platform
• NSFs MREFC Account
• Multi-year build-out phase
• 30-year life span
• 2-year design phase, 6M

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Project Overview
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Science and Human Dimensions Subcommittees
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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Biodiversity
• 1) Assessment of current biodiversity, ecosystem
  function, and human activities at the levels of
  genes, individuals, populations, species, species
  assemblages, and landscapes.
• 2) Understanding of ecological and evolutionary
  processes that determine current patterns of
  biological diversity.
• 3) Forecasting
• a) change in ecological and evolutionary
  processes in response to climate variability and
  human activities,
• b) impacts of changes in biodiversity (from
  genes to landscapes) and human activities on
  ecosystem function/services (across space and
  time).

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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Climate Change
• 1) How will variations in climate influence
  ecosystem structure and function at landscape to
  continental scales? What are the consequences of
  these variations for society?
• 2) How will these ecosystem variations feed back
  to the atmosphere, and to hydrological and
  biogeochemical cycles?

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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Infectious Disease
• 1) Forecast which organisms or types of organisms
  are most likely to become health risks or
  transmit pathogens to humans, non-human animals,
  and plants.
• 2) Forecast where and when infectious diseases of
  humans, non-human animals, and plants will
  emerge.

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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Invasive Species
• 1) What species are most likely to become
  invasive, and how can we manage them?
• 2) What are the species and ecosystems at
  greatest risk from invasive species, and how can
  they be effectively protected?

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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Land Use
• 1) What are the dynamics and consequences of land
  changes, which are coupled human-environment
  systems, at regional and continental scales?

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BROAD SCIENCE QUESTIONS

• Higher Education
• Campus Ecological Observatory Network
• Learning Through Authentic Data
• Open-Door NEON
• Informal Education
• Center for Ecological Lifelong Learning
• K-12 Education
• NEON K-12 Educational Research Agenda
• K-12 Educational Interface
• Learning Communities Initiative

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Invasive Species
NEON Grand Challenges
Trajectories
Biogeochemical Cycles
Economics
Biodiversity Studies
Political Issues
Climate Change
Cultural Issues

Social System
Ecological System
Local Communities
Hydroecology
(Learning Communities)
(Learning Communities)
Public Health
Land Use
Cyber-Infrastructure (Data Into Knowledge Systems)
Infectious Disease
Other Social Issues
Education
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The Challenge Ahead

• Great expectations All things to all people?
• Genes to biosphere, a variety of scientific
  disciplines, all scales
• High technology
• Human dimensions
• Education
• Diversity
• Stakeholders academics, government, NGOs,
  resource managers, policymakers
• 5B and counting

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Pacific NEON
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
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Pacific Basin Information Node (PBIN)
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Webpages

• www.neoninc.org
• www.pacificneon.hawaii.edu