Wendy Gram | NEON Inc. (original) (raw)

Papers by Wendy Gram

The American Naturalist, 2012

erospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interaction... more erospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interactions among similar species in flocks, as well as ways in which competition costs are reduced. Our findings highlight the need to consider positive interactions along with competition when seeking to explain community assembly.

The Condor, 1997

... Common tree species include Bursera simaruba, Brosimum alicastrum, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, ... more ... Common tree species include Bursera simaruba, Brosimum alicastrum, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Pseudobombax ellipticum, Phoebe tampicensis, Cedrela mexicana, and Savia ses-siliflora. ... East-ern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) and Hermit Page 7. ...

Engaging undergraduate students in ecological investigations using large, public datasets: Teachi... more Engaging undergraduate students in ecological investigations using large, public datasets: Teaching landscape and latitudinal correlates of species richness using web-based data. Tom A. Langen, Biology, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Background/Question/Methods. ...

This study was designed as an experiment to test how bird populations in an extensively forested ... more This study was designed as an experiment to test how bird populations in an extensively forested landscape respond to small (group and single-tree selection) and large (clearcut) openings. Our objectives are to test the landscape-level effects of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management relative to no-harvest management on population density and reproductive success for forest-interior and early-successional bird species. Pre-treatment data were gathered during the period 1991 through 1995, treatments were applied in 1996 and early 1997, and post-treatment data have been collected \ from 1997 through the present. Immediately following treatment, populations of forest-interior species declined on all study sites. Posttreatment, forest-interior species responded both positively and negatively to the even-aged and uneven-aged treatments. For earlysuccessional species, changes in density were positive in response to both even-aged and uneven-aged treatment types. Neither nest predation rates nor nest parasitism rates increased following treatment. From a landscape-level perspective, our findings indicate that the short-term effects of even-aged management are mixed, positive and negative, for forest-interior species and that the response by early-successional species is greater for even-aged than for unevenaged management.

ABSTRACT The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecolo... more ABSTRACT The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of "human sensors." As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include "citizens" or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. Phenology was chosen as the focus of this citizen science campaign because it is a visible and comprehensible way of demonstrating the effects of climate change. In addition, plants are readily accessible in nearly every neighborhood and park, and wild area across the continent, so people can make observations whether they live near an inner city park or in the rural countryside. Recently, NEON developed data visualization tools for Project BudBurst to engage citizen science participants in "doing science" beyond data collection. By prototyping NEON citizen science through Project BudBurst, NEON is developing a better understanding of how to build a citizen science program that addresses areas of awareness, mastery, and leadership of scientific information like that which NEON will produce over the next 30 years.

Background / Purpose: NEON’s higher education program is designed to provide faculty with state-o... more Background / Purpose: NEON’s higher education program is designed to provide faculty with state-of-the-art resources and tools to facilitate integration of large datasets into university classrooms. It also provides students with real-world experiences (internship, REU) in helping build an ecological observatory and using big data to better understand ecological change over large regions. Main conclusion: NEON's undergraduate internship program expanded to seven students in 2014. NEON's higher education program also initiated a collaborative University-focused online education portal with content that includes 1) interactive, online multi-media that explain key big data concepts, and 2) packaged “lab” activities featuring NEON data and code.

Background/Question/Methods NEON’s Project BudBurst is a national citizen science initiative desi... more Background/Question/Methods NEON’s Project BudBurst is a national citizen science initiative designed to engage the public in observations of phenological (plant life cycle) events and to increase scientific literacy. Citizen science programs such as Project BudBurst provide the opportunity for students and interested laypersons to actively participate in scientific research. Such programs are touted as being of importance not only from an educational perspective, but also because they enable scientists to broaden the geographic and temporal scale of their observations. The goals of Project BudBurst reflect both scientific and educational outcomes. They are to 1) increase awareness of phenology as an area of scientific study; 2) Increase awareness of the impacts of changing climates on plants at a continental-scale; and 3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. It is important to better understand if and how Project BudBurst is meeting its goal...

Background/Question/Methods The collection of data by citizen scientists has been going on for ce... more Background/Question/Methods The collection of data by citizen scientists has been going on for centuries. These data have been analyzed and visualized by scientists for publications and the visualizations have often been shared with participants. For example, data collected by scientists in the Chicago area have been combined with Project BudBurst data to draw inferences about changes in flowering times of plants. However, the ability of the public to visualize and analyze citizen science datasets on their own is all too often out of reach either because the data or the tools to visualize and analyze the data are “available” but not “accessible” to a general audience. This poster will demonstrate how accessible data visualization/analysis tools can be used by general audiences to better understand freely available, citizen science data from NEON’s Project BudBurst to better understand changes in plant phenology across the United States. Project BudBurst (budburst.org) is a national ...

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological res... more The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed popula...

Background/Question/Methods During year one of construction, NEON (the National Ecological Observ... more Background/Question/Methods During year one of construction, NEON (the National Ecological Observatory Network) Education and Public Engagement staff are focused on developing three areas of the educational program, including (1) the first phase of the NEON web portal, (2) an online Citizen Science Academy, and (3) an undergraduate internship program. In addition, we are actively engaging scientific audiences in the early phases of site construction using a variety of tactics including launching an online NEON Community of Practice, celebrating construction activities at NEON sites, and redesigning the NEON web site to provide a window into NEON construction activities. Results/Conclusions Developing the first phase of the NEON web portal includes identifying potential use cases and “requirements” for our general and citizen science areas of the web portal. With this initial launch of the NEON web portal during 2013, users will be able to participate in a variety of Project BudBurst...

Background/Question/Methods NEON is an NSF-funded distributed observatory that represents the age... more Background/Question/Methods NEON is an NSF-funded distributed observatory that represents the agency’s first major facilities investment in biology. The vision of NEON arose from the ecological community as a means of answering some of the most exciting and challenging questions in continental-scale ecology. Designed with a 30-year time horizon and an open-access data policy, NEON’s mission is to enable understanding and forecasting of the impacts of climate change, land-use change and invasive species at regional to continental-scales. To fulfill that mission, NEON will provide data and information to scientists, educators, decision makers and the general public on biological processes and their responses to multiple stressors, and to make infrastructure assets available to support research, education and environmental management. NEON is now in its second full year of construction, and initial deployment of instrumentation is proceeding at numerous sites across the US. By the end ...

Background/Question/Methods This presentation will overview the National Ecological Observatory N... more Background/Question/Methods This presentation will overview the National Ecological Observatory Network's (NEON) collaborative University-focused education program that utilizes interactive, online multi-media content to disseminate key concepts (understanding the data) and data considerations (i.e. error/ uncertainty, metadata, etc) related to NEON’s data products. It will highlight modules related to the use of NEON’s lidar remote sensing data in ecological analysis. Modules utilize free and open source tools to teach key remote sensing concepts and analysis techniques and include hands on activities with pre-packed NEON data that could be incorporated into the classroom. Developed in collaboration with labs and organizations across the globe, this effort will become an integral component of the online NEON education and data portal. Consistent, standardized and freely available remote sensing datasets, such as lidar data, are becoming increasingly available across the United ...

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2014

Journal of Wildlife Management, 2007

We evaluated changes in breeding bird density and shifts in territory distribution with respect t... more We evaluated changes in breeding bird density and shifts in territory distribution with respect to clear cutting and timber stand improvement (TSI) of even-aged stands on .300 ha experimental management units as part of the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project. After one harvest entry, clear cutting had positive effects on density of indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor),

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2013

I n the 21st century, biology is running full tilt into the information age ; leaders in many fie... more I n the 21st century, biology is running full tilt into the information age ; leaders in many fields of the life sciences, including genomics, nanobiology, and medicine, have embraced the new opportunities presented by unprecedented access to digital information. Global-scale environmental issues, from climate change and food security to the spread of disease and the availability of clean water, are creating pressure for ecologists to collectively step forward into this new age. Society is asking ecologists for information that is both specific to particular problems, places, and times, and also predictive, prescriptive, and scalable. This is a challenge ecologists cannot meet individually.

The American Naturalist, 2012

erospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interaction... more erospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interactions among similar species in flocks, as well as ways in which competition costs are reduced. Our findings highlight the need to consider positive interactions along with competition when seeking to explain community assembly.

The Condor, 1997

... Common tree species include Bursera simaruba, Brosimum alicastrum, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, ... more ... Common tree species include Bursera simaruba, Brosimum alicastrum, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Pseudobombax ellipticum, Phoebe tampicensis, Cedrela mexicana, and Savia ses-siliflora. ... East-ern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) and Hermit Page 7. ...

Engaging undergraduate students in ecological investigations using large, public datasets: Teachi... more Engaging undergraduate students in ecological investigations using large, public datasets: Teaching landscape and latitudinal correlates of species richness using web-based data. Tom A. Langen, Biology, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Background/Question/Methods. ...

This study was designed as an experiment to test how bird populations in an extensively forested ... more This study was designed as an experiment to test how bird populations in an extensively forested landscape respond to small (group and single-tree selection) and large (clearcut) openings. Our objectives are to test the landscape-level effects of even-aged and uneven-aged forest management relative to no-harvest management on population density and reproductive success for forest-interior and early-successional bird species. Pre-treatment data were gathered during the period 1991 through 1995, treatments were applied in 1996 and early 1997, and post-treatment data have been collected \ from 1997 through the present. Immediately following treatment, populations of forest-interior species declined on all study sites. Posttreatment, forest-interior species responded both positively and negatively to the even-aged and uneven-aged treatments. For earlysuccessional species, changes in density were positive in response to both even-aged and uneven-aged treatment types. Neither nest predation rates nor nest parasitism rates increased following treatment. From a landscape-level perspective, our findings indicate that the short-term effects of even-aged management are mixed, positive and negative, for forest-interior species and that the response by early-successional species is greater for even-aged than for unevenaged management.

ABSTRACT The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecolo... more ABSTRACT The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of "human sensors." As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include "citizens" or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. Phenology was chosen as the focus of this citizen science campaign because it is a visible and comprehensible way of demonstrating the effects of climate change. In addition, plants are readily accessible in nearly every neighborhood and park, and wild area across the continent, so people can make observations whether they live near an inner city park or in the rural countryside. Recently, NEON developed data visualization tools for Project BudBurst to engage citizen science participants in "doing science" beyond data collection. By prototyping NEON citizen science through Project BudBurst, NEON is developing a better understanding of how to build a citizen science program that addresses areas of awareness, mastery, and leadership of scientific information like that which NEON will produce over the next 30 years.

Background / Purpose: NEON’s higher education program is designed to provide faculty with state-o... more Background / Purpose: NEON’s higher education program is designed to provide faculty with state-of-the-art resources and tools to facilitate integration of large datasets into university classrooms. It also provides students with real-world experiences (internship, REU) in helping build an ecological observatory and using big data to better understand ecological change over large regions. Main conclusion: NEON's undergraduate internship program expanded to seven students in 2014. NEON's higher education program also initiated a collaborative University-focused online education portal with content that includes 1) interactive, online multi-media that explain key big data concepts, and 2) packaged “lab” activities featuring NEON data and code.

Background/Question/Methods NEON’s Project BudBurst is a national citizen science initiative desi... more Background/Question/Methods NEON’s Project BudBurst is a national citizen science initiative designed to engage the public in observations of phenological (plant life cycle) events and to increase scientific literacy. Citizen science programs such as Project BudBurst provide the opportunity for students and interested laypersons to actively participate in scientific research. Such programs are touted as being of importance not only from an educational perspective, but also because they enable scientists to broaden the geographic and temporal scale of their observations. The goals of Project BudBurst reflect both scientific and educational outcomes. They are to 1) increase awareness of phenology as an area of scientific study; 2) Increase awareness of the impacts of changing climates on plants at a continental-scale; and 3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. It is important to better understand if and how Project BudBurst is meeting its goal...

Background/Question/Methods The collection of data by citizen scientists has been going on for ce... more Background/Question/Methods The collection of data by citizen scientists has been going on for centuries. These data have been analyzed and visualized by scientists for publications and the visualizations have often been shared with participants. For example, data collected by scientists in the Chicago area have been combined with Project BudBurst data to draw inferences about changes in flowering times of plants. However, the ability of the public to visualize and analyze citizen science datasets on their own is all too often out of reach either because the data or the tools to visualize and analyze the data are “available” but not “accessible” to a general audience. This poster will demonstrate how accessible data visualization/analysis tools can be used by general audiences to better understand freely available, citizen science data from NEON’s Project BudBurst to better understand changes in plant phenology across the United States. Project BudBurst (budburst.org) is a national ...

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological res... more The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed popula...

Background/Question/Methods During year one of construction, NEON (the National Ecological Observ... more Background/Question/Methods During year one of construction, NEON (the National Ecological Observatory Network) Education and Public Engagement staff are focused on developing three areas of the educational program, including (1) the first phase of the NEON web portal, (2) an online Citizen Science Academy, and (3) an undergraduate internship program. In addition, we are actively engaging scientific audiences in the early phases of site construction using a variety of tactics including launching an online NEON Community of Practice, celebrating construction activities at NEON sites, and redesigning the NEON web site to provide a window into NEON construction activities. Results/Conclusions Developing the first phase of the NEON web portal includes identifying potential use cases and “requirements” for our general and citizen science areas of the web portal. With this initial launch of the NEON web portal during 2013, users will be able to participate in a variety of Project BudBurst...

Background/Question/Methods NEON is an NSF-funded distributed observatory that represents the age... more Background/Question/Methods NEON is an NSF-funded distributed observatory that represents the agency’s first major facilities investment in biology. The vision of NEON arose from the ecological community as a means of answering some of the most exciting and challenging questions in continental-scale ecology. Designed with a 30-year time horizon and an open-access data policy, NEON’s mission is to enable understanding and forecasting of the impacts of climate change, land-use change and invasive species at regional to continental-scales. To fulfill that mission, NEON will provide data and information to scientists, educators, decision makers and the general public on biological processes and their responses to multiple stressors, and to make infrastructure assets available to support research, education and environmental management. NEON is now in its second full year of construction, and initial deployment of instrumentation is proceeding at numerous sites across the US. By the end ...

Background/Question/Methods This presentation will overview the National Ecological Observatory N... more Background/Question/Methods This presentation will overview the National Ecological Observatory Network's (NEON) collaborative University-focused education program that utilizes interactive, online multi-media content to disseminate key concepts (understanding the data) and data considerations (i.e. error/ uncertainty, metadata, etc) related to NEON’s data products. It will highlight modules related to the use of NEON’s lidar remote sensing data in ecological analysis. Modules utilize free and open source tools to teach key remote sensing concepts and analysis techniques and include hands on activities with pre-packed NEON data that could be incorporated into the classroom. Developed in collaboration with labs and organizations across the globe, this effort will become an integral component of the online NEON education and data portal. Consistent, standardized and freely available remote sensing datasets, such as lidar data, are becoming increasingly available across the United ...

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2014

Journal of Wildlife Management, 2007

We evaluated changes in breeding bird density and shifts in territory distribution with respect t... more We evaluated changes in breeding bird density and shifts in territory distribution with respect to clear cutting and timber stand improvement (TSI) of even-aged stands on .300 ha experimental management units as part of the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project. After one harvest entry, clear cutting had positive effects on density of indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor),

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2013

I n the 21st century, biology is running full tilt into the information age ; leaders in many fie... more I n the 21st century, biology is running full tilt into the information age ; leaders in many fields of the life sciences, including genomics, nanobiology, and medicine, have embraced the new opportunities presented by unprecedented access to digital information. Global-scale environmental issues, from climate change and food security to the spread of disease and the availability of clean water, are creating pressure for ecologists to collectively step forward into this new age. Society is asking ecologists for information that is both specific to particular problems, places, and times, and also predictive, prescriptive, and scalable. This is a challenge ecologists cannot meet individually.