Abstract Detail

Ecology

Yule, Kelsey [1], Steger, Laura [1].

National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Biorepository Plant and Algal Samples Available for Ecological and Evolutionary Research.

The National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Biorepository receives, archives, and makes available over 100,000 samples collected each year at 81 (47 terrestrial, 34 aquatic) sites located across the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The over 60 different collection types include environmental, microbial, plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate samples stored in conditions designed to maximize their data potential (~60% of samples stored in either ultralow or liquid nitrogen freezers). While the earliest collections began in 2012, full operation began in 2019 and is expected to continue for 30 years. The NEON Biorepository houses several plant and algal sample and specimen collections. As baseline diversity data do not exist for most of the NEON sites, the Bioreposittory is building site-level reference collections with early priorities on the most common and/or difficult to identify species. These collections include pressed herbarium vouchers of terrestrial and aquatic plants; bryophytes, lichens, and macroalgae vouchers in packets; and fluid-preserved macroalgae. In addition, multi-species bulk samples of microalgae, preserved in fluid or on slides, provide records of whole populations and communities. Several NEON environmental collections consist of plant material, as well. These collections include bulk dry and ground belowground biomass, litterfall, and canopy foliage samples to facilitate ecosystem and microbial research. Plant tissue samples, collected from plants from which individual-level phenological data is also collected, are preserved at -80 degrees Celsius to be suitable for genomic research. Extensive, cryopreserved soil and soil DNA collections are also available to complement plant-microbe interaction studies. These plant collections are unique and particularly valuable due to repeated, constrained, and consistent sampling methods and the co-location of sampling with dozens of other high-resolution data products (e.g. plant diversity, phenology, climate) collection efforts. The NEON Biorepository works closely with researchers to develop projects that use these samples to understand ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. Samples already available for use are available for exploration at https://biorepo.neonscience.org/.

1 - Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, 734 W. Alameda Drive, Tempe, AZ, 85282, US

Keywords:
natural history collection
Herbarium
algae
aquatic plant
lichen
bryophyte
microbe
canopy foliage
Foliar Chemistry
Belowground Biomass
literfall
genomics
Macroecology
Ecology
evolution
population dynamics
Plant Community
Biodiversity
bioinformatics
Ecosystem
phenology
Invasive species
climate change
global change.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Ecology Posters
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
Time: 5:00 PM Time and date to be determined
Number: PEC013
Abstract ID:213
Candidate for Awards:None