US launches eco-network

Nature : Traditionally, environmental monitoring has been a small-scale local science, but now the US is moving it toward a continental-scale group enterprise. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will comprise 20 core observatories, each representing a distinct eco-region throughout the US, and a number of temporary stations that can be relocated wherever needed. The result will be a vast database that scientists can mine to tackle broad questions such as how global warming, pollution, and land-use change are affecting ecosystems across the country, writes Jeff Tollefson for Nature. On 28 July NSF awarded NEON $434 million over the next decade. The money could jump-start site preparation and construction as early as this year, probably starting near its home base in Boulder, Colorado, and in the Northeast, then expanding from there, according to David Schimel, the project’s chief science officer.