WORKSHOP: EXPLORING NEW DIMENSIONS OF FOREST ECOSYSTEMS WITH STRUCTURAL DIVERSITY

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Scientists have long known that biodiversity and ecosystem structure are important for forests. However, these concepts are mostly studied in isolation. This has resulted in a limited understanding of how they relate to each other and to forest function. Forest physical structure can now be easily measured because of advances in remote sensing and computer science. The term 'structural diversity' describes the combination of structure and biodiversity within complex ecosystems, capitalizing on decades of ecology research. Structural diversity estimates niche space for species in ecosystems, and it may link more closely to ecosystem function than biodiversity. Funding will support a workshop designed to advance the science on structural diversity and forest ecosystem function. The group will identify urgent, new research questions and synthesize two areas of biology: biodiversity and remote sensing of ecosystem structure. The workshop will use data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). Recruitment of early career and underrepresented minority scientists will increase adoption of NEON data in scientific research. This will address a critical need from the 2018 NEON Community Engagement Assessment Report. It also responds to the NEON Strategic Plan by reaching current users and expanding future use.The application of structural diversity within ecological research is limited by its underdeveloped theoretical framework and a lack of prioritized research questions. This workshop, held in partnership with Battelle and NEON, Inc., will explore foundational questions, identify key knowledge gaps, and prioritize future directions for this new field. The goals of this workshop are to 1) establish an interdisciplinary consensus definition of 'structural diversity', 2) identify key research questions about structural diversity and its relationship to ecological processes to be addressed in the next five years and the knowledge gaps needed to be filled to answer these questions, 3) provide training for early career scientists to measure structural diversity using NEON remote sensing data products. The workshop will bring together scientists with interdisciplinary perspectives of forest ecology and from underrepresented groups to further increase its impact.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.