Neon Addressing the Nation's Environmental Challenges (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-14
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
Achieving the necessary mechanistic understanding of the environment, developing predictive ability and identifying solutions would require fundamental advances in basic scientific knowledge that can only be derived from a regional- or continental-scale
|
From page 2... ...
Existing large-scale research programs, such as the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network, Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiments, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, have focused mostly on the physical and geochemical aspects of environmental change. To complement those programs, research should focus on the fundamental biological processes that underlie climate change and biogeochemical cycles and other important human-driven environmental change, such as introduction of invasive species, emerging diseases, and the loss of biodiversity.
|
From page 3... ...
The committee hosted a Web forum and a Web-casted workshop at which representatives of the Directorate for Biological Sciences, various relevant government agencies, and professional organizations spoke on NEON's potential. The broader scientific community was invited to post comments and views on the NEON Web forum.
|
From page 4... ...
The committee did not address many of the minor differences and ambiguities that unavoidably arose when seven separate groups considered the diverse issues related to a potential NEON network If NEON is implemented to fulfill that vision, the committee believes that it would be pivotal in addressing regional and continental questions of great scientific and social importance. NEON would facilitate coordinated research efforts by providing nationwide facilities for environmental biology that transcend the budget of a single university or consortium.
|
From page 5... ...
The major environmental challenges facing the nation that must be addressed by NEON result mostly from human actions that have regional, national, or global causes or effects. In the committee's view, the major ecological and environmental challenges that need to be addressed on a substantially expanded scale include the following: .
|
From page 6... ...
Invasive species affect virtually every ecosystem in the United States, and can cause substantial economic and biological damage. The identification of potentially harmful invasive species, the early detection of new species as invasion begins, and the knowledge base needed to prevent their spread require a comprehensive monitoring and experimental network and a mechanistic understanding of the interplay of invader, ecosystem traits and other factors including climate and land use that determine invasiveness.
|
From page 7... ...
However, it feels that the proposed implementation plans need modification and refinement to ensure that NEON would focus on the most important scientific issues, efficiently provide the national network of infrastructure essential for each challenge, encourage creative research, and meet the requirements of MREFC funding. First, in NSF's current plan, a NEON network would be built gradually via funding of one or two 7
|
From page 8... ...
To establish a coordinated, efficient, and truly nationwide network, the committee suggests that NSF structure NEON according to the environmental challenges to be addressed rather than by locating one site . in each ecosystem type represented in the United States.
|
From page 9... ...
Finding 1 The committee identified six critical environmental challenges that are regional, continental, or global in their extent biodiversity, species composition, and ecosystem functioning; ecological aspects of biogeochemical cycles; ecological implications of climate change; ecology and evolution of infectious diseases; invasive species; and land use and 9
|
From page 10... ...
Finding 2 An in-depth understanding of the causes and consequences of the six challenges is needed to allow assessment of potential ecosystem responses and to formulate effective environmental policy. Meeting this need would require large-scale experimentation, long-term observation, and scientific synthesis that could be carried out only using a network of nationwide infrastructure and research sites that are optimized for the purpose.
|
From page 11... ...
Recommendation 3 Each NEON observatory should be initiated as a nationwide network of facilities and infrastructure designed by a coalition of many multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary teams from across the nation to address optimally one of the six major environmental challenges. Each observatory should accommodate a combination of experimentation and observation and should comprise a collection of nationwide siteswhether terrestrial, freshwater, or marine that are most relevant to its central theme.
|
From page 12... ...
The committee offers some specific suggestions: 1 00 · NSF should encourage NEON observatories to form partnerships with existing informatics centers (for example, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, the National Biological Information Infrastructure and GenBank) or use them as models.
|
From page 13... ...
If implemented in the general format outlined above, NEON could provide the fundamental scientific advances needed to understand how human-induced environmental change influences the long-term quality of life and wealth creation for the nation. Long-term outputs would include a science-based approach to environmental policy, risk analysis for environmental threats, evaluation of potential approaches to the threats, and a venue for increasing public awareness and understanding of environmental issues.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.