National Ecological Observatory Network
JANUARY 2026
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Greetings,
As we move into 2026, I’d like to share an update on several important steps we’re taking to keep NEON strong and positioned for long-term scientific impact. Each year, as part of our planning process, and in close coordination with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), we review our activities to ensure we are using resources responsibly while continuing to deliver the high-quality data the community relies on.
This year, we are focusing on two key priorities that strengthen the foundation of the Observatory:
- Expanding NEON Biorepository capacity.
We are investing in additional storage and preservation capability for NEON’s biological and environmental samples. These materials are deeply interconnected with the more than 180 NEON data products, forming an archive that grows more valuable with every field season. Expanding capacity ensures these collections remain available for long- term ecological research and future discovery.
- Instrumentation hardware and software upgrades.
We are continuing to invest in significant upgrades to the sensors, infrastructure and associated data pipelines to enhance data quality, improve information security, and address technological obsolescence. These efforts are multi-faceted, including new hardware and software for logging sensor data, transmitting the data to the cloud, and processing the data using algorithms that are being made open to the user community. Sensors require replacement, which also comes with design modifications to associated hardware and software. Of note, in 2026, we are initiating the replacement of two critical sensor suites, soil temperature and moisture, and weighing gauge precipitation, across the Observatory.
To support these efforts, NEON will discontinue nine data products and modify 14 others (see here and here). These decisions followed a careful evaluation of data use, scientific value, and operational cost. Informed through consultations with the STEAC, and discussions and concurrence with the NSF, these changes are being implemented to help ensure the updates reflect both community needs and program priorities.
NEON continues to provide the highest quality open and accessible ecological data for the community. This year’s data release, RELEASE-2026 is now available for download, accompanied by updated versions of the neonUtilities R and Python packages. RELEASE-2026 includes 169 data products annotated by 136 DOIs. You can find the link to the Release 2026 web page by visiting neonscience.org. When you visit, you’ll also notice a banner that mentions updates are coming to neonscience.org to offer a more streamlined navigation process and a seamless integration of the NEON Biorepository portal for the community.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement. I look forward to sharing more progress as we move through the year.
Sincerely,
Paula Mabee, Chief Scientist and Observatory Director at NEON, Battelle
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Featured Expert
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Soil microbes may be tiny, but they play an outsized role in ecosystems. These microscopic powerhouses release small molecules (secondary metabolites) that support nutrient uptake by plants and other critical ecosystem functions. It is hard to detect these small molecules directly in soils. Yet, when microbes are brought into the lab, it can also be difficult to stimulate them to make secondary metabolites.
Darcy McRose’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a novel method to stimulate and test for the redox-active metabolites (RAMs) produced by bacteria isolated from soil at NEON field sites. This research opens the door to a better understanding of how soil microbes support plant growth—and what that could mean for agriculture, ecology and even medicine.
The study, The phospho-ferrozine assay: A tool to study bacterial redox-active metabolites produced at the plant root, was co-authored by David Giacalone, Emilly Schutt and Darcy McRose and published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
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NEON Data in Action
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| Parsing the relative contributions of leaf and canopy traits in airborne spectrometer measurements |
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| A tale of two towers: comparing NEON and Ameriflux data streams at Bartlett Experimental Forest |
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| The National Ecological Observatory Network’s Domain 03 Manager, Guy Fausnaught, hosted a collaborative meeting with the Domain’s site host organizations in Florida: The University of Florida, Jones Center at Ichauway, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Florida. During discussions about potential cross-host research and current needs and opportunities, an example of the valuable application of NEON data was surfaced. As a part of NEON protocols, the presence, percent cover, and other data from invasive species are recorded from plant diversity plots or other areas of the NEON sites. Guy communicates information about new invasive patches or outbreaks his field team observes directly to the site hosts along with GPS location and description of invasives, typically within the week. For example, the team discovered the invasive Cogon grass, Imperata cylindrica, at DSNY in the NEON tower airshed; TNC invasive species technicians responded by documenting, spraying the patches, and continuing to follow up. A similar event recently occurred at OSBS with the invasive camphor tree, Camphora officinarum, that NEON field scientists discovered while walking transects for another protocol. They flagged it, reported the location to NEON’s OSBS site host, whose invasive species expert then documented and removed it. With invasive species causing over $120 billion each year in U.S. damages and losses, most heavily affecting agriculture, NEON’s national-scale data are critical. |
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
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| From Data to Decisions: Strategies for Translational Communication of Complex Data to Decision Makers |
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| Science Seminar: "Towards Natural Language-based AI Agents for Environmental Data Exploration and Analysis Workflows" |
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| Virtual Hackathon: Harnessing the Data Revolution ML Challenge |
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| Data Skills Webinar: Download & Explore NEON Data |
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Are you submitting an oral talk for ESA 2026?
NEON is hosting the second year of the Best NEON Presentation Award and you may be eligible. The award recognizes an outstanding oral presentation featuring research that incorporates NEON data, samples, specimens, or NEON Research Support Services. If your research uses NEON data, samples, and/or infrastructure and the accepted talk acknowledges NEON, complete the interest form before June 22 to be considered for this award of up to $1,000. |
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NEON in the News
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| Notre Dame University, January 8, 2026 |
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| How light reflects on leaves may help researchers identify dying forests |
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| Quantum Zeitgeist, January 19, 2026 |
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| Ground beetle dataset of 13,200 specimens advances biodiversity research across the US |
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Featured NEON Resources
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| Understanding Releases and Provisional Data |
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| Understanding AOP Data Releases and Best Practices for AOP Data Management |
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Stay in the Loop
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| Track Observatory status here for weekly updates. |
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| How are you using NEON in your research? |
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Read about updated data products and subscribe to Data Notifications
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LEARN MORE → |
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Learn more about NEON Code packages on the NEON Github repository
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LEARN MORE → |
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Explore the NEON Field Sites & Domains to find field sites near you
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EXPLORE → |
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| Were you forwarded this newsletter? |
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To stay up to date with all things NEON,
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1685 38th St., Suite 100,
Boulder, CO 80301 |
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