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Dr. Michael Auerbach |
It’s a small world, after all.
So small, in fact, that the zebra mussel, native to the Caspian Sea region of Asia, is now wreaking havoc on water systems from the Great Lakes to New Orleans. So small, that the West Nile virus has spread to nearly every state in the union since first appearing in North America just six years ago. So small, that dust blown from African deserts has been linked to a dramatic rise in childhood asthma in the Caribbean.
Invasive species, emerging diseases, and the often-unexpected consequences of land-use and climate change are just a few of the less positive aspects of a rapidly changing and increasingly connected world. Recognizing that these and related environmental issues will pose some of the greatest challenges of the new century—and that technological advances are offering unprecedented opportunities to address them—the National Science Foundation has initiated the creation of the National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON.
“This is an attempt for the first time ever in the United States,” explains Dr. Michael Auerbach, Executive Director of DRI’s Division of Earth and Ecosystem Science and subcommittee member of the NEON Design Consortium, “to have the capability to assess ecosystem health and change in all the diverse regions and ecosystems across the country. We don’t have that capability right now and it’s increasingly vital that we do. . . We can’t assess how much is changing, or predict how those changes will affect us, until we have a continuous and coordinated monitoring system in place.”
NEON—a collection of geographically distributed sites connected via state-of-the-art communications and computational networks—will be that system, transforming ecological research by enabling large-scale, standardized and shared assessment and monitoring of important environmental indicators. “In the way that the National Weather Service tracks meteorological conditions,” explains Auerbach, “NEON would track ecological conditions.”
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This map represents a proposed regional breakdown of the NEON Observatory Network. DRI would be active in the IRON (Intermountain) and SWEON (Southwest) regions. –Figure provided by the Consortium of Regional Ecological Observatories, http://www.neoncoreo.org/ |
Key among those are six “grand challenges” identified by a National Research Council committee as the nation’s most pressing environmental issues: biodiversity, species composition and ecosystem functioning; ecological aspects of biogeochemical cycle; ecological implications of climate change; ecology and evolution of infectious diseases; invasive species; and land-use and habitat alteration. “These are things,” says Auerbach, “that are pretty important to keeping what we like to call life going on this planet.”
While an extensive consortium plans the overall design—core locations, infrastructure needs, etc.—academic, research and land management entities have organized regionally in anticipation of becoming part of NEON. Auerbach has been part of that process, serving on the steering committee for the Intermountain Regional Observatory Network, or IRON, that represents the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau and parts of Oregon and Washington, as well as on the executive committee for Southwest Ecological Observatory Network, or SWEON, covering the southwest deserts.
He’s not alone in his participation. “DRI scientists from all three divisions have been very involved in the IRON meetings,” he says. No surprise considering that DRI researchers are already investigating many of the issues NEON will address regionally and continentally. “There’s no doubt that with our faculty know-how and facilities like the EcoCELLs, Western Regional Climate Center and southern Nevada FACE facility, DRI will play a leading role in the final form of NEON.”
Auerbach also feels that DRI’s location in the Great Basin will make it a valuable player on the national team. “First, the Great Basin is unique in terms of what it can tell us about global change; it’s certainly changed dramatically since being inundated by water. Second, it’s been relatively neglected in terms of the gross amount of research done. Between that neglect and that relevance, we’ve got a nice little guinea pig of an area to work with.”
One task of the regional groups is to assess what they already have—labs, storage facilities and numerous disparate research stations, for instance—and then determine what more they need. “Take carbon flux,” says Auerbach. “We need good regional measurements. Are we getting adequate coverage with the facilities we have? Or rivers and streams. Some are gauged, others are not. It would be nice to know after a weather event or spring melt-off, exactly how much water is coming into the Great Basin. That’s not happening.” Making it happen means “filling in the gaps with not only what we have available now, but with new technologies on the horizon.” Nanotechnology, sniffer technology, dedicated satellites and robotics, he says, are all among the tools that will help make NEON effective.
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The Nevada Desert Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment, or FACE, Facility is the first and only FACE facility in the world that is located in a desert ecosystem. Here, researchers from DRI, UNLV and UNR are investigating the effects of elevated CO2 levels on the Mojave Desert ecosystem. Facilities like this are likely to become key components in the National Ecological Observatory Network being proposed by the National Science Foundation. |
And even though a completed NEON is some years away, the regional planning process has been valuable. “There have been tangible benefits already. . . It has allowed new networking, new exchange, new sources for programs and ideas.”
All of which is a hopeful model for what the larger NEON network will be. Because while everyone involved realizes they’ve bitten off a huge proverbial mouthful, they also know that it’s crucial to keep on chewing. “Yes it’s incredibly ambitious, but also timely. The planet is changing in unprecedented ways. Forget whether it’s human-caused or not, it’s going on. . . Greenhouse gases are rising, nitrogen deposition is increasing in many areas, invasive species are a worldwide problem. The question is, when does it take us to a different world?”
–Jackie Allen
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