A Better Blue Economy

“For 20 years, I’ve studied how uses of the ocean cumulatively damage marine ecosystems, but also support vibrant human communities. From this work, I’ve come to feel there needs to be a collective deal to ensure that the economic benefits of the blue economy outweigh the ecological costs. I propose that any new ocean activities should be sustainable and also contribute to reduce pressure on the land.”

NCEAS director Ben Halpern shares his personal take in a Nature World View.

Stereotypes in STEM

“I started Women Doing Science because social media, unlike regular media, can show so many versions of what a scientist looks like, highlighting many potential role models for women in STEM that they may lack in their everyday lives or professional institutions.”

NCEAS Science Communication and Policy Officer Alex Phillips published her team’s data analysis on representation and stereotypes of the social media platform Women Doing Science.

Reef Runoff Risks

“Tropical coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs, are oligotrophic, meaning they are located in nutrient-poor waters and have therefore adapted to these conditions… An increased influx of nutrients can therefore disrupt ecosystem functioning.”

NCEAS researcher Madeline Berger led a case study on Mesoamerican Reefs, finding agricultural runoff the biggest contributor in tropical nitrogen pollution.

DEIJ Resource of the Month

Ten Simple Rules to Host an Inclusive Conference
Journal article in PLOS Computational Biology
Conferences are not equal opportunities for career growth, but with the right planning they can be. This international group lays out ten simple rules for improving conference climates.

SciComm Resource of the Month

The Noun Project
Free icons for graphic design
Speed up infographic or logo creation for science communication with this impressive collection of icons in the creative commons - free for personal or commercial use!

Data Science Resource of the Month

Building Websites with Quarto
Tutorial by Sam Csik
Interested in building or refreshing your data science website? Check out this easy to follow step-by-step guide on Quarto websites from our NCEAS data training coordinator.

Scientist Spotlight:
Peter Menzies,
Ocean Health Index Fellow

“With an affinity for the mountains and a background in terrestrial ecology, I was a bit surprised to find myself as an OHI fellow—but living a short walk from the beach has ignited a passion for the ocean. As part of the OHI, I’ve been thrilled to learn more about ocean ecosystems, how humans can sustainably benefit from their myriad resources, and the pivotal role that data science plays in informing conservation.”

Synthesis Spotlight:
Plant Reproduction across LTER Sites

Reproduction is a key component of plant life cycles and is crucial for dispersal. However, we know surprisingly little about its environmental drivers. This is especially true for species with highly variable reproduction over time called “mast seeding.” By bringing together experts across ecology and modeling, this synthesis group hopes to leverage LTER data sets to deeply test proposed environmental links.

Opportunities at NCEAS

Job | NCEAS Assistant Data Scientist
Apply by September 9, 2022
NCEAS and the NSF Arctic Data Center are seeking a full time assistant data scientist. If you are passionate about data analysis, cloud computing, data management, and visualization, come join our team! UCSB is an AA/EOE, including disability/vets.

Course | Data Management for Qualitative and Quantitative Arctic Research
Apply by October 10th
This five day short course at NCEAS in downtown Santa Barbara will cover an intro to programming in R, steps for data documentation, and ethical research practices. There will be special attention towards qualitative, sensitive data.

RFP | LTER Working Group Request for Proposals
Apply by October 12, 2022
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network office at NCEAS is seeking proposals to fund 2-4 working groups to synthesize over 40 years of time-resolved ecological and environmental data across a range of ecosystem types!

RFP | MEDS Capstone Request for Proposals
Apply by October 14, 2022
The Bren School at UCSB is looking for agencies, companies, individuals, or organizations facing environmental challenges to submit projects for the next cohort in our Masters of Environmental Data Science program.

Papers We’re Reading

The science of climate change: a love story
BioScience Special Section on LTER and Climate Change
This opinion piece discusses the tendency to fall in love with your field sites and introduces the five articles in the special issue celebrating 40 years of LTER climate change research.

The impact of excessive protein consumption on human wastewater nitrogen loading of US waters
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Did you know that the US eats more protein than almost every other country? This NCEAS working group calculated the positive impact if diets were better matched to protein needs.

Can we increase the impacts from payments for ecosystem services? Impact rose over time in Costa Rica, yet spatial variation indicates more potential
Forest Policy and Economics
This Costa Rica case study from an NCEAS working group evaluated the impact of paying individuals to combat deforestation in the Pagos por Servicios Ambientales program.

Evidence gaps and diversity among potential win-win solutions for conservation and human infectious disease control
The Lancet Planetary Health
There are 46 proposed solutions to reduce infectious disease while advancing conservation - but which is the best? This NCEAS working group examines each for scale, cost, and impact.

Convolutional neural networks for automated built infrastructure detection in the Arctic using sub-meter spatial resolution satellite imagery
Remote Sensing
Satellite images are key for monitoring Arctic climate change, but data is rarely accessible. The permafrost discovery gateway transformed this big data into science ready information.