Synthesis Science Priorities for the Next Decade

“We brought together a diverse community of ecologists and environmental scientists — about 120 people — to share ideas and key questions and help boil all that down into a set of priorities to guide the research community in the coming decade.”

NCEAS Director Ben Halpern leads this diverse collaboration to examine how and where synthesis can address key questions in ecology and environmental science.

First Morpho Working Groups Announced

“By bringing practitioners together with scientists, we can learn from each other and start to speak the same language while enhancing our collective knowledge.”

NCEAS project manager Heather Lahr comments on the power of trans-disciplinary collaboration with the announcement of two new synthesis groups that will investigate prescribed wildfires and grassland bird conservation.

Conservation Through
a Biocultural Lens

“The focus on ecological criteria alone has failed to halt our biodiversity crisis…Moreover, it has created unintended injustices on Indigenous peoples and local communities worldwide.”

Ecologist Victoria Reyes-García and others, including NCEAS Director Ben Halpern, introduce a new framework to combine local and scientific perspectives for conservation management.

DEIJ Resource of the Month

Lessons from Lamont-Doherty’s Earth Observatory DEI Task Force
Open Access Paper
Geosciences is the whitest field in science. This article highlights one department’s successes, challenges, and experiences while tackling DEI issues.

SciComm Resource of the Month

FontPair
Free Typography Pairing Website
Struggling to find a good set of fonts for a presentation or poster? This online resource offers graphic design tested pairings using freely available google fonts.

Data Science Resource of the Month

R Universe Package Finder
Online R Package Search Engine
This search engine by rOpenSci makes it easy to find an R package for your data science needs, with over 12,000 catalogues packages.

Scientist Spotlight:
Jake Eisaguirre, Data Manager for RIBBiTR

“I began my career in kelp forest ecology hoping to be the next Jacque Cousteau. That all changed with my introduction to data science in the MEDS program. Now at NCEAS, I manage data for RIBBiTR and get to solve data science puzzles daily.”

Synthesis Spotlight:
SASAP Indigenizing Salmon Science

“There has been a real cultural mismatch in terms of how our salmon are managed and local realities. It’s really important that western trained scientists and managers understand there is not necessarily a shared understanding of our salmon system.”

Opportunities at NCEAS

Call for Proposals | Gulf Ecosystem Initiative
Apply by January 31, 2023
The NCEAS and NOAA Restore Gulf Ecosystem Initiative is funding 2-3 working groups at 75-125k to conduct synthesis science on important ecological issues in the Gulf of Mexico.

Job | NCEAS-LTER Community Engagement Officer
Apply by February 24, 2023
NCEAS and our LTER Network Office seek a Community Engagement Officer to lead initiatives that support and expand our existing networks and create new connections across science and management groups.

Job | Arctic Data Center Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator
Apply by February 27, 2023
NCEAS’ Arctic Data Center is seeking a Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator for our open science projects, with an emphasis on community building, communications, and data science training.

Job | NCEAS and NOAA Restore Postdocs
Apply by January 31, 2023
NCEAS and NOAA are hiring two postdocs to join our Gulf Ecosystem Initiative, with room for solo and group research around Gulf of Mexico fisheries, climate change, and management.

Scholarship | Director’s Fellowship
Apply by February 13, 2023
As part of our commitment to increasing diversity and equity in data science, we offer a fully sponsored slot in our coreR course, covering travel, meals, and tuition.

Course | coreR at NCEAS
Apply by March 3, 2023
This five day crash course at NCEAS with R as the main programming language covers best data science practices in reproducibility, data visualization, collaboration, and more.

Papers We’re Reading

Priorities for synthesis research in ecology and environmental science
Ecosphere
NCEAS Director Ben Halpern leads this diverse collaboration to examine how and where synthesis can address key questions in ecology and environmental science

The role of humans in dynamic landscapes of fear
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Former NCEAS postdoc Kaitlyn Gaynor and coauthors examine how the the dynamic landscape of fear offers a useful framework for exploring the many pathways through which anthropogenic change can alter risk perception and response, with consequences for ecosystems and populations.

Biocultural vulnerability exposes threats of culturally important species
PNAS
A new study with NCEAS Director Ben Halpern and others argues for a biocultural approach to conservation, with a path to combine local and scientific perspectives.

Grassland productivity responds unexpectedly to dynamic light and soil water environments induced by photovoltaic arrays
Ecosphere
NCEAS LTER postdoc Ingrid Slette and coauthors examine the impact of soil moisture and variable sunlight on aboveground net primary production.