RCN: Integrating Organismal Biology into NEON

生命科学的一个中心目标是了解生物体如何科普环境变化。该项目资助了一个研究协调网络（RCN），该网络将汇集不同的生物学家，以确定如何最好地利用氖数据和基础设施，以解决有关生物体如何科普环境变化的紧迫问题。国家生态观测网络（氖）及其相关基础设施是国家科学基金会最大的基础设施投资之一。氖作为一个观测站，通过在美国各地的一系列研究地点收集30年的一致数据，记录生态系统的变化。RCN将建立一个专业网络，其成员在背景，专业知识和职业阶段方面各不相同，举办研讨会和专题讨论会，重点关注氖的潜力，以回答生物体生物学中的关键问题，并通过研究交流为下一代研究人员提供培训经验。作为一个整体，RCN将扩大代表性不足的群体在各个职业阶段的参与，开发播客节目，以提高对氖相关概念的科学和技术理解，并为公众开展新的参与性科学活动。最后，这个RCN将使研究，有直接关系到人类健康和美国经济，如知识的存在和驱动程序的疾病，通过动物种群的传播，以及如何环境变化可能加剧这些威胁。氖提供了一个独特的机会，产生新的见解，基本的生物学问题，但目前有差异使用氖的研究人员从不同领域的生物学。生态学家已经率先使用氖数据来调查人口，社区和生态系统对环境变化的反应。然而，氖的潜力及其相关的基础设施还没有完全实现的有机生物学家。尽管氖非常适合回答生物体生物学中的一些主要问题，但还是错过了这个机会。有机生物学家使用不同的和综合的方法来了解生物体的行为，生理和生活史的变化，以及这些多个特征如何在环境梯度中相互作用并产生种群分化。通过使用氖，生物学家有很大的潜力来帮助揭示基因型如何成为表型，并发现时空尺度上的新模式，这在以前是不可能的。由于研究人员对氖的目标、基础设施和能力缺乏认识，使用氖资源的生物学研究已经落后。该RCN将通过将有机生物学家纳入氖用户社区以及促进生态学家和有机生物学家之间的互动来多样化和加强氖的使用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A central goal in the life sciences is understanding how organisms will cope with environmental change. This project funds a Research Coordination Network (RCN) that bring will together a diverse group of biologists to identify how to best leverage NEON data and infrastructure to address pressing questions about how organisms will cope with environmental change. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and its associated infrastructure represents one of the largest infrastructure investments by the National Science Foundation. NEON serves as an observatory to document ecosystem change through 30 years of consistent data collection at a series research sites across the United States. The RCN will develop a professional network whose members 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. As a whole, the RCN will broaden participation of under-represented groups across career stages, develop podcast episodes to enhance scientific and technological understanding of concepts related to NEON, and generate new participatory science activities for the general public. Finally, this RCN will enable research that have direct relevance to human health and the US economy, such as knowledge of the presence and drivers of disease, their spread through animal populations, and how environmental change may exacerbate these threats.NEON presents a unique opportunity to produce novel insights into fundamental biological questions, yet there are currently disparities in use of NEON by researchers from different fields of biology. Ecologists have taken the lead with using NEON data to investigate the responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to environmental change. However, the potential of NEON and its associated infrastructure have not been fully realized by organismal biologists. This missed opportunity is despite the fact that NEON is well-suited for answering some major questions in organismal biology. Organismal biologists use 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 the use of 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. Organismal biology research using NEON resources has lagged behind because of a lack of awareness by researchers of NEON’s goals, infrastructure, and capacity. 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.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.