1. Sierra Nevada Research Institute UC Merced
The National Ecological Observatory Network is a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed under cooperative agreement by NEON Inc.
Roger Bales
Professor & Director
Sierra Nevada Research Institute
UC Merced
Thanks to Tony Beasley for the NEON slides

2. NEON in California & the CalEON network
Ecosystem services & water
Changes in native biodiversity & invasive species.
Designed with climate change as the driver
Three broad west-east transects & paired north-south transects down the coast ranges &Sierra, joining at the transverse ranges &extending to the peninsular ranges B D T V B 36 J M SC
NRS sites
Ameriflux sites
Jasper ridge
UC campuses.
San Joaquin Experimental Range SB LA I R S SD

3. San Joaquin Experimental Range, proposed NEON core site for California

4. NEON: National overview
NEON: A continental-scale ecological observatory
Four fundamental science subsystems sampling the drivers/responses of ecological change on spatial scales from microbes to land-masses
Enable forecasting the impacts of climate change, land use change & invasive species on continental-scale ecology
Infrastructure backbone for other experiments in NEON domains… GCE, STREON
Design & development phase, construction 2010

5. NEON Fundamental Science Systems
FSU:
Fundamental Sentinel Unit
Human Observers/Samplers
FIU:
Fundamental Instrument Unit
Automated Instrumentation
AOP:
Airborne Observation Package
Aircraft Remote Sensing
LUAP:
Land Use Analysis Package
Satellite Remote Sensing +
+ Education: Prepare society & the scientific community to use NEON data, information, forecasts.

6. NEON scientific deployment
20 Domains in U.S.
20 Core sites
40 Relocatable sites
18 Mobile laboratories
2 Airborne observing packages
Land use analysis package

7. NEON Domains
20 = Science + pragmatism….

8. Vegetation plot design
168 m2 plot
National Forest Service Inventory and Analysis Program (Frayer and Furnival 1999; Fig.1). These plots are faster to sample than other nested designs and therefore they can be distributed more widely within a site. This design will allow us to compare across scales at NEON sites, as well as lend our data to analyses with other datasets collected on federal lands.
Litter decomposition plot (1 m2)
Litterfall plot (1 m2)
Biomass plot (1 m2)
Soil Sampling (point sample)
National Forest Service Inventory and Analysis Program (Frayer and Furnival 1999)
Annular plot (17.95 m radius)
Downed Woody Debris (7.32 m)
Herb cover (1 m2)
Sapling/shrub biomass (2.07 m radius)

9. Towers 1 2 3 X
Advanced – Basic – Relocatable - Mobile

10. Supporting facilities for science & education
Chemical analysis facility
Isotopic analysis facility
Genomic analysis facility
BioArchive collections and curation
Calibration/Validation (cal/val) Laboratory
Training manuals and courses, colloquia
Digital field guides, keys, & manuals
Information for decision support
(longer term) Data and forecast production facility

11. NEON aquatic experiment: STREON
STREON Experiment
Stream manipulation
10 locations in U.S.
Low-order streams
Nutrient additions (5x ambient)
Top consumer removals
Conceptual design ready
Stream packages planned for KREW & Teakettle

12. Ongoing national activities
Program & preliminary design reviews ongoing
Arch/Eng – designs for 20 core sites, 40 relocatable sites, associated cost estimates
Environmental review underway, site permitting late 2009
Construction… 2010, 5-yrs, early science ops 2012
Aircraft evaluation program & instrument design studies underway
Prototyping of key technical systems, construction + M&O procedures, underway – Table Mountain

13. NEON Transect
SJER
KREW
Wishon
Soaproot
Teakettle

14. Current domain activities
Respond to information needs for design & NEPA
Forming Domain Science & Education Committee