August 2025
NEON'S NARRATIVE
Dear NEON Community
Thank you to everyone who joined NEON at this year’s Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting, held August 10-15, 2025 in Baltimore!
We’re still energized from a fantastic meeting, where we connected with both long-standing NEON users, as well as potential new members of the NEON community. NEON staff participated in over 15 conference events and activities showcasing the Observatory’s work and impact! Catch up on NEON’s presence at ESA 2025 via our blog.
NEON values our active partnership with ESA. Leadership from both programs connected during the Annual Meeting to celebrate recent successes and explore future collaborative activities. We look forward to engaging with the community at ESA 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah!
Sincerely,
Tanya Maslak
NEON Engagement Lead
Thank you to everyone who joined NEON at this year’s Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting, held August 10-15, 2025 in Baltimore!
We’re still energized from a fantastic meeting, where we connected with both long-standing NEON users, as well as potential new members of the NEON community. NEON staff participated in over 15 conference events and activities showcasing the Observatory’s work and impact! Catch up on NEON’s presence at ESA 2025 via our blog.
NEON values our active partnership with ESA. Leadership from both programs connected during the Annual Meeting to celebrate recent successes and explore future collaborative activities. We look forward to engaging with the community at ESA 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah!
Sincerely,
Tanya Maslak
NEON Engagement Lead
NEON played a central role at the 2025 Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, showcasing how open, long-term, continental-scale ecological data can fuel collaboration and innovation across the scientific community. With 15+ presentations, workshops, and exhibits, NEON connected researchers at all levels to the tools and expertise needed to turn vast datasets into real-world ecological insights.
Eric Sokol
Staff Scientist, Quantitative Ecology
Bridget Hass
Data Scientist, Remote Sensing
Data Scientist, Remote Sensing
Fine root and soil carbon stocks are positively related in grasslands but not in forests
- Researchers compared fine root carbon to the total soil organic carbon in soils at 43 NEON sites, finding that fine root contributions in grasslands enabled a higher degree of soil organic carbon accrual, whereas in forests, it was more variable.
- Researchers evaluated how well gross primary productivity could be predicted from remotely sensed plant morphological, physical, and environmental characteristics.
Best NEON Presentation Award at ESA 2025
The Best NEON Presentation award at ESA 2025 is awarded to Corinne Vietorisz of Boston University for the presentation about her research “Soil nitrogen cycling rates are related to microbial functional guilds across the United States.” The Best NEON Presentation award at ESA 2025 recognizes an outstanding oral presentation that incorporates NEON data, samples, or NEON Research Support Services. The judges of the award recognized Corinne’s practiced delivery that clearly and thoughtfully conveyed the impact and contribution of their research to ecology, how NEON data/samples/resources were used in the research, and clearly detailed well-justified methods and objectives. Look forward to more information about Corinne’s research in future NEON communications.
The Best NEON Presentation award at ESA 2025 is awarded to Corinne Vietorisz of Boston University for the presentation about her research “Soil nitrogen cycling rates are related to microbial functional guilds across the United States.” The Best NEON Presentation award at ESA 2025 recognizes an outstanding oral presentation that incorporates NEON data, samples, or NEON Research Support Services. The judges of the award recognized Corinne’s practiced delivery that clearly and thoughtfully conveyed the impact and contribution of their research to ecology, how NEON data/samples/resources were used in the research, and clearly detailed well-justified methods and objectives. Look forward to more information about Corinne’s research in future NEON communications.
Corinne Vietorisz presenting at ESA 2025.
September 9: ATTEND
Science Seminar: "From Microbes to the Atmosphere: Research Across Scales from NEON Ambassadors"
We understand the importance of building community among researchers within fields such as ecology, environmental science, and more. Be sure to join this session to hear from leaders in the industry and learn about resources and tools to enable cross-scale ecological research. Click the link above to register.
September 23-25: ATTEND
2025 Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) Innovation Summit
This is a collaborative opportunity to explore big data, discuss best practices in ethical, open science to better understand environmental tipping points and drive impactful, interdisciplinary solutions. Please note, this is a reminder to attend for applicants who have previously applied and been accepted.
September 25: ATTEND
Center for Conservation Initiatives (CCI) Science Seminar: The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
The Center for Conservation Initiatives, a program of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Florida Chapter, provides a seminar series in support of advancing conservation knowledge and action and inspiring future conservation leaders. NEON will be giving a seminar in Sept from 1-2:30 pm ET via Zoom. Register to attend.
Science Seminar: "From Microbes to the Atmosphere: Research Across Scales from NEON Ambassadors"
We understand the importance of building community among researchers within fields such as ecology, environmental science, and more. Be sure to join this session to hear from leaders in the industry and learn about resources and tools to enable cross-scale ecological research. Click the link above to register.
September 23-25: ATTEND
2025 Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) Innovation Summit
This is a collaborative opportunity to explore big data, discuss best practices in ethical, open science to better understand environmental tipping points and drive impactful, interdisciplinary solutions. Please note, this is a reminder to attend for applicants who have previously applied and been accepted.
September 25: ATTEND
Center for Conservation Initiatives (CCI) Science Seminar: The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
The Center for Conservation Initiatives, a program of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Florida Chapter, provides a seminar series in support of advancing conservation knowledge and action and inspiring future conservation leaders. NEON will be giving a seminar in Sept from 1-2:30 pm ET via Zoom. Register to attend.
To view additional events, visit NEON’s event calendar.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, July 29, 2025
Leaf year: PACE satellite data reveals global plant health
Springer Nature, Aug 6, 2025
Springer Nature, Aug 6, 2025
Getting to the root of soil carbon cycling
Nature.com, Aug. 25, 2025
Nature.com, Aug. 25, 2025
To read more news from the year, visit NEON's website.
• NEON Field Ecologist, Botany, Jamestown, ND
Data Skills Tutorial
Access NEON Data for Geolocation
Ensuring Accuracy Aloft: Calibrating NEON's Imaging Spectrometers
Access NEON Data for Geolocation
- This tutorial will be useful for those interested in using NEON tools to connect remote sensing with ground-based measurements.
Ensuring Accuracy Aloft: Calibrating NEON's Imaging Spectrometers
- Take a flight with the Airborne Observation Platform to learn about NEON Imaging Spectrometers and data the instruments collect.
Track weekly Observatory status updates.
Are you using NEON in your research?
Stay on top of NEON Data Notifications for relevant data products.
Visit the Learning Hub for new data skills tutorials and code packages to help work with NEON data.
Subscribe to Flight Reports from NEON’s Airborne Observation Platform (AOP).
Learn more about NEON data collection methods.
Visit the Learning Hub for new data skills tutorials and code packages to help work with NEON data.
Subscribe to Flight Reports from NEON’s Airborne Observation Platform (AOP).
Learn more about NEON data collection methods.
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