Standardized NEON organismal data for biodiversity research

Understanding patterns and drivers of species distribution and abundance, and thus biodiversity, is a core goal of ecology. Despite advances in recent decades, research into these patterns and processes is currently limited by a lack of standardized, high-quality, empirical data that span large spatial scales and long time periods. The NEON fills this gap by providing freely available observational data that are generated during robust and consistent organismal sampling of several sentinel taxonomic groups within 81 sites distributed across the United States and will be collected for at least 30&thinsp;years. The breadth and scope of these data provide a unique resource for advancing biodiversity research. To maximize the potential of this opportunity, however, it is critical that NEON data be maximally accessible and easily integrated into investigators' workflows and analyses. To facilitate its use for biodiversity research and synthesis, we created a workflow to process and format NEON organismal data into the ecocomDP (ecological community data design pattern) format that were available through the ecocomDP R package; we then provided the standardized data as an R data package (neonDivData). We briefly summarize sampling designs and data wrangling decisions for the major taxonomic groups included in this effort. Our workflows are open-source so the biodiversity community may: add additional taxonomic groups; modify the workflow to produce datasets appropriate for their own analytical needs; and regularly update the data packages as more observations become available. Finally, we provide two simple examples of how the standardized data may be used for biodiversity research. By providing a standardized data package, we hope to enhance the utility of NEON organismal data in advancing biodiversity research and encourage the use of the harmonized ecocomDP data design pattern for community ecology data from other ecological observatory networks. &nbsp;</p

Standardized NEON organismal data for biodiversity research

Understanding patterns and drivers of species distribution and abundance, and thus biodiversity, is a core goal of ecology. Despite advances in recent decades, research into these patterns and processes is currently limited by a lack of standardized, high-quality, empirical data that span large spatial scales and long time periods. The NEON fills this gap by providing freely available observational data that are generated during robust and consistent organismal sampling of several sentinel taxonomic groups within 81 sites distributed across the United States and will be collected for at least 30 years. The breadth and scope of these data provide a unique resource for advancing biodiversity research. To maximize the potential of this opportunity, however, it is critical that NEON data be maximally accessible and easily integrated into investigators\u27 workflows and analyses. To facilitate its use for biodiversity research and synthesis, we created a workflow to process and format NEON organismal data into the ecocomDP (ecological community data design pattern) format that were available through the ecocomDP R package; we then provided the standardized data as an R data package (neonDivData). We briefly summarize sampling designs and data wrangling decisions for the major taxonomic groups included in this effort. Our workflows are open-source so the biodiversity community may: add additional taxonomic groups; modify the workflow to produce datasets appropriate for their own analytical needs; and regularly update the data packages as more observations become available. Finally, we provide two simple examples of how the standardized data may be used for biodiversity research. By providing a standardized data package, we hope to enhance the utility of NEON organismal data in advancing biodiversity research and encourage the use of the harmonized ecocomDP data design pattern for community ecology data from other ecological observatory networks

Harnessing the NEON data revolution to advance open environmental science with a diverse and data-capable community

It is a critical time to reflect on the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) science to date as well as envision what research can be done right now with NEON (and other) data and what training is needed to enable a diverse user community. NEON became fully operational in May 2019 and has pivoted from planning and construction to operation and maintenance. In this overview, the history of and foundational thinking around NEON are discussed. A framework of open science is described with a discussion of how NEON can be situated as part of a larger data constellation—across existing networks and different suites of ecological measurements and sensors. Next, a synthesis of early NEON science, based on >100 existing publications, funded proposal efforts, and emergent science at the very first NEON Science Summit (hosted by Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder in October 2019) is provided. Key questions that the ecology community will address with NEON data in the next 10 yr are outlined, from understanding drivers of biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales to defining complex feedback mechanisms in human–environmental systems. Last, the essential elements needed to engage and support a diverse and inclusive NEON user community are highlighted: training resources and tools that are openly available, funding for broad community engagement initiatives, and a mechanism to share and advertise those opportunities. NEON users require both the skills to work with NEON data and the ecological or environmental science domain knowledge to understand and interpret them. This paper synthesizes early directions in the community’s use of NEON data, and opportunities for the next 10 yr of NEON operations in emergent science themes, open science best practices, education and training, and community building

Factors and Effects of Permanent Deformation in Printing Media

While laser jet printing technology has been used for decades, there remain issues with consistent media output; media deformation, such as curl, is often introduced during the printing process. This deformation can be affected by factors external to the printer, such as the two-sidedness of media properties and the environmental conditions under which the printer is operated, as well as factors related to the internal processes and configuration of the printer. The purpose of this project is to provide Hewlett-Packard (HP) with a quantitative study on the effects of media fiber orientation, filler content, and moisture loss on curl generated during the printing process. Several brands of paper were characterized and compared. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed a quantifiable difference in filler content between each side of a sheet, leading to contrasting curl behaviors. Tensile testing was performed to determine sample fiber orientation, showing a predominant machine direction bias. A hot bend test was used to observe the variance in curl seen between the two sides of a sheet, while samples were fed through a laser jet printer to observe in situ deformation to validate observations from hot bend testing. These tests indicated significantly different media properties based on sidedness and orientation, which can be correlated to resultant curl. This work will allow HP to engineer printers that counteract curl and produce consistent, high quality output using a variety of media types

Mechanical Degradation of Commercial Fish Hooks using a Novel Approach

The degradation of coated, steel fish hooks exposed to simulated and actual sturgeon body fluid was evaluated using the mechanical methods of several grades of commercial fish hooks were examined using characteristic deformation and fracture strength through stress-strain curves. Most current research on fish hooks is done in tension. We developed a novel approach which involved designing a mounting method to better simulate the mechanical forces expected in a sturgeon gizzard. The mechanical properties are correlated with the degradation exposure and the nature of the coating materials

Corrosion Rates and Compression Strength of White Sturgeon‐Sized Fishing Hooks Exposed to Simulated Stomach Conditions

Field reports indicate that many White Sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus ingest hooks internally, but the length of time required for hooks to corrode, facilitating passage through their digestive system, is not well understood. Using a buffered acidic solution to simulate stomach conditions, a laboratory experiment was used to estimate the speed at which sturgeon-sized hooks (2.0-mm wire diameter) lost weight and compression strength and to evaluate whether loss of hook weight and compression strength was affected by hook abrasion, such as may occur when baited hooks are ground between hard food items in the gizzard of a sturgeon. After 399 d, hooks lost an estimated 34% of their weight and 70% of their compression strength. Abrading the hooks with stones before and throughout the study accelerated weight loss by 34% (after 399 d) compared with nonabraded hooks but did not accelerate the loss of compression strength. Abrasion increased the variability between hooks in weight loss but not in compression strength. Regardless of hook abrasion, the compression strength of some hooks was reduced essentially to 0 N within 1 year of constant exposure to stomach-like acidic conditions

Mechanical Strength of SiC Fibers

Silicon carbide (SiC) coated carbon fibers, with diameters on the order of 1/10th those of a human hair, are being developed for energy and defense applications due to their low density, high elastic modulus, and excellent high temperature mechanical properties. In order to determine the effects of processing on mechanical properties, the tensile properties were measured on both individual fibers and fiber bundles. Fiber diameters were measured by a laser diffraction method. The thickness and composition of the SiC conversion layer were evaluated by electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The statistics of fracture were analyzed and correlated with conversion layer thickness

Analysis of Biotinylated Generation 4 Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) Dendrimer Distribution in the Rat Brain and Toxicity in a Cellular Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier

Dendrimers are highly customizable nanopolymers with qualities that make them ideal for drug delivery. The high binding affinity of biotin/avidin provides a useful approach to fluorescently label synthesized dendrimer-conjugates in cells and tissues. In addition, biotin may facilitate delivery of dendrimers through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) via carrier-mediated endocytosis. The purpose of this research was to: (1) measure toxicity using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays of generation (G)4 biotinylated and non-biotinylated poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers in a co-culture model of the BBB, (2) determine distribution of dendrimers in the rat brain, kidney, and liver following systemic administration of dendrimers, and (3) conduct atomic force microscopy (AFM) on rat brain sections following systemic administration of dendrimers. LDH measurements showed that biotinylated dendrimers were toxic to cell co-culture after 48 h of treatment. Distribution studies showed evidence of biotinylated and non-biotinylated PAMAM dendrimers in brain. AFM studies showed evidence of dendrimers only in brain tissue of treated rats. These results indicate that biotinylation does not decrease toxicity associated with PAMAM dendrimers and that biotinylated PAMAM dendrimers distribute in the brain. Furthermore, this article provides evidence of nanoparticles in brain tissue following systemic administration of nanoparticles supported by both fluorescence microscopy and AFM