Biodiversity science USA: the National Ecological Observatory Network

Article in Nature on the launch of NEON in the USA - The National Ecological Observatory Network, funded by NSF. Only just starting, but worth looking at the site and their science strategy.  /....More

Number of Grand Challenges identified:

• Climate Change: Understanding and predicting climate variability, including directional climate change and its impacts on natural and human systems
• Land Use: Understanding and predicting changes in land use and land cover that are critical to biogeochemical cycling, ecosystem functioning and services, and human welfare.Invasive Species: Understanding and forecasting the distribution of biological invasions and their impacts on ecological processes and ecosystem services.
• Biogeochemistry: Understanding and predicting the impacts of human activities on the Earth’s major biogeochemical cycles.
• Biodiversity: Understanding the regulation of biological diversity and its functional consequences for ecosystems.Ecohydrology: Understanding and predicting changes in freshwater resources and the environment.
• Infectious Diseases: Understanding and predicting the ecological and evolutionary aspects of infectious diseases and of the interactions among pathogens, hosts/receptors, and ecosystems.