The Walker Branch Watershed in the Oak Ridge Reservation in Roane County will be one of 20 observatory sites across the country where researchers will collect data about plant and animal species. The information will be examined across time and geography as it is compared to the data collected at other sites.
The network of observatories is being funded through National Science Foundation grants awarded the recently formed National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON.
"Each site is doing its own specific role, but having 19 other sites around the country, you know whether what you find here is general to the rest of the world," said Nate Sanders, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, who is working on the project. "Say we find here that some invasive species like emerald ash borer, and we find the effects here are especially negative, but we don't know how bad it is unless we can compare it to something else."
The researchers will be gathering data that will be analyzed centrally at the national NEON headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and posted on the groups website. Scientists at UT, ORNL and other sites across the country will be able to do their own studies using that data.
"Anyone can analyze data, because it's public information," Sanders said. "This is taxpayer dollars paying for this so we're trying to provide information to taxpayers and policy makers to make more informed decisions."
NEON is receiving a $434 million grant for the construction of the network and the scientific equipment being used to collect the information on the climate, soil, water, biodiversity and atmosphere. There will future sites in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and another in southwest Virginia. Read the full report here.
Source: by Megan Boehnke, Knoxnews.com.
