Meeting Abstract

P3-6   -   Integrating Organismal Biology into NEON Mabry, KE*; Dantzer, B; Martin II, LB; Buck, L; New Mexico State University; University of Michigan; University of South Florida; Northern Arizona University kmabry@nmsu.edu

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a National Science Foundation-supported observatory documenting environmental change through 30 years of consistent data collection at research sites across the United States. NEON presents a unique opportunity to produce novel insights into fundamental biological questions, but the potential of NEON and its associated infrastructure have not yet been fully realized by organismal biologists. However, NEON is well-suited for answering some major questions in organismal biology, which uses diverse and integrative approaches to understand variation in the behavior, physiology, and life histories of organisms and how these multiple traits interact across environmental gradients and produce population differentiation. Through NEON, there is great potential for organismal biologists to help reveal how genotypes become phenotypes and discover new patterns at spatiotemporal scales that have not previously been possible. We are organizing a Research Collaboration Network (RCN) that will develop a professional network of organismal biologists who are diverse in background, expertise, and career stage, host workshops and symposia that focus on the potential of NEON to answer key questions in organismal biology and provide training experiences for the next generation of researchers through research exchanges. This RCN will diversify and strengthen NEON usage by incorporating organismal biologists into the community of NEON users and by promoting interactions between ecologists and organismal biologists.