AG真人百家乐官方网站

Skip to main content
NSF NEON, Operated by Battelle

Main navigation

  • AG真人百家乐官方网站 Us
    • Overview
      • Spatial and Temporal Design
      • History
    • Vision and Management
    • Advisory Groups
      • Science, Technology & Education Advisory Committee
      • Technical Working Groups (TWGs)
    • FAQ
    • Contact Us
      • Contact NEON Biorepository
      • Field Offices
    • User Accounts
    • Staff
    • Code of Conduct

    AG真人百家乐官方网站 Us

  • Data & Samples
    • Data Portal
      • Spatial Data & Maps
    • Data Themes
      • Biogeochemistry
      • Ecohydrology
      • Land Cover and Processes
      • Organisms, Populations, and Communities
    • Samples & Specimens
      • Discover and Use NEON Samples
        • Sample Types
        • Sample Repositories
        • Megapit and Distributed Initial Characterization Soil Archives
      • Sample Processing
      • Sample Quality
    • Collection Methods
      • Protocols & Standardized Methods
      • Airborne Remote Sensing
        • Flight Box Design
        • Flight Schedules and Coverage
        • Daily Flight Reports
          • AOP Flight Report Sign Up
        • Camera
        • Imaging Spectrometer
        • Lidar
      • Automated Instruments
        • Site Level Sampling Design
        • Sensor Collection Frequency
        • Instrumented Collection Types
          • Meteorology
          • Phenocams
          • Soil Sensors
          • Ground Water
          • Surface Water
      • Observational Sampling
        • Site Level Sampling Design
        • Sampling Schedules
        • Observation Types
          • Aquatic Organisms
            • Aquatic Microbes
            • Fish
            • Macroinvertebrates & Zooplankton
            • Periphyton, Phytoplankton, and Aquatic Plants
          • Terrestrial Organisms
            • Birds
            • Ground Beetles
            • Mosquitoes
            • Small Mammals
            • Soil Microbes
            • Terrestrial Plants
            • Ticks
          • Hydrology & Geomorphology
            • Discharge
            • Geomorphology
          • Biogeochemistry
          • DNA Sequences
          • Pathogens
          • Sediments
          • Soils
            • Soil Descriptions
        • Optimizing the Observational Sampling Designs
    • Data Notifications
    • Data Guidelines and Policies
      • Acknowledging and Citing NEON
      • Publishing Research Outputs
      • Usage Policies
    • Data Management
      • Data Availability
      • Data Formats and Conventions
      • Data Processing
      • Data Quality
      • Data Product Bundles
      • Data Product Revisions and Releases
        • Release 2021
        • Release 2022
        • Release 2023
        • Release 2024
        • Release-2025
      • NEON and Google
      • Externally Hosted Data

    Data & Samples

  • Field Sites
    • AG真人百家乐官方网站 Field Sites and Domains
    • Explore Field Sites

    Field Sites

  • Impact
    • Observatory Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Papers & Publications
    • Newsroom
      • NEON in the News
      • Newsletter Archive
      • Newsletter Sign Up

    Impact

  • Resources
    • Getting Started with NEON Data & Resources
    • Documents and Communication Resources
      • Papers & Publications
      • Outreach Materials
    • Code Hub
      • Code Resources Guidelines
      • Code Resources Submission
    • Learning Hub
      • Science Videos
      • Tutorials
      • Workshops & Courses
      • Teaching Modules
    • Research Support Services
      • Field Site Coordination
      • Letters of Support
      • Mobile Deployment Platforms
      • Permits and Permissions
      • AOP Flight Campaigns
      • Research Support FAQs
      • Research Support Projects
    • Funding Opportunities

    Resources

  • Get Involved
    • Advisory Groups
      • Science, Technology & Education Advisory Committee
      • Technical Working Groups
    • Upcoming Events
    • NEON Ambassador Program
      • Exploring NEON-Derived Data Products Workshop Series
    • Research and Collaborations
      • Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab
      • Collaboration with DOE BER User Facilities and Programs
      • EFI-NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge
      • NEON Great Lakes User Group
      • NEON Science Summit
      • NCAR-NEON-Community Collaborations
        • NCAR-NEON Community Steering Committee
    • Community Engagement
      • How Community Feedback Impacts NEON Operations
    • Science Seminars and Data Skills Webinars
      • Past Years
    • Work Opportunities
      • Careers
      • Seasonal Fieldwork
      • Internships
        • Intern Alumni
    • Partners

    Get Involved

  • My Account
  • Search

Search

Impact

  • Observatory Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Papers & Publications
  • Newsroom

Breadcrumb

  1. Impact
  2. Observatory Blog
  3. Health diagnostics for the planet

Health diagnostics for the planet

April 2, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, my wife took our daughter to the doctor. After he had heard the symptoms my daughter had been experiencing, the doctor performed a rapid strep test. Within a few minutes he had diagnosed her with strep group A infection and prescribed antibiotics (she鈥檚 feeling much better now).

Is there a diagnostic exam that can actually measure all of this? Microbes may be the answer! Okay, so maybe that isn鈥檛 such a shocking statement. After all, , the discovery that some infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms, is going on 150 years old. PR-wise, humans and germs didn鈥檛 exactly get off on the right foot; bacteria generally have a bad reputation. Sure they鈥檙e nasty creatures responsible for countless deaths over the centuries and diseases ranging from tuberculosis to halitosis, but health isn鈥檛 just the 鈥渁bsence of disease鈥�.

In the last few decades microbes have started to grow on us. Actually, they have always grown on us, and in us; but we are just now recognizing the benefits of having them around. Recent advances in technology have allowed us to explore the role of microbes in a number of different environments. Not only have we found that most bacteria aren鈥檛 harmful and that many are necessary for our health, but that our health is correlated with the community of microorganisms in and around us, known as the human microbiome. The correlation in some cases is so strong that the late Nobel Prize-winning Dr. Joshua Lederberg argued that . Others suggest that at the very least they should be considered a forgotten organ.

There was even a that suggested that our skin is like an ecosystem and that different parts of our skin (scalp, hands, feet, etc.) are habitats for different groups of bacteria. In fact, the bacterial community on my heel is more similar to your heel鈥檚 community than it is to the bacterial community on my own hand. Similarly, (even using the World Health Organization鈥檚 definition). The conclusion from many of these recent studies is that microorganisms can tell us a lot about the health of a person. But certainly there is more, after all humans (200,000-year history) are just the latest fad in the 3,500,000,000-year history of bacteria.

During their time on Earth, microbes have contributed to and maintained the conditions for life. Dr. James Lovelock that living organisms and their interaction with inorganic material form a self-regulating system or a superorganism (Gaia). I know, this sounds a bit too 鈥榟ippie-ish鈥� even for me, but let me run with it for a minute. If our Earth is a 鈥渟uper organismic system鈥� (), can we assume that the status of microbial communities throughout this superorganism can tell us a lot about the health of our planet? We are finding that just like our skin, similar ecosystems on Earth have similar microbial communities. Different biomes, such as deserts, grasslands, and forests all have different microbial communities, but .

Are microbes Gaia鈥檚 forgotten organ?

We at NEON are currently exploring how far we can take the concept of microbial diagnostics informing about ecosystem health. We're developing methods to examine all of the genes that are expressed by the microorganisms () in the forest soils to explore differences in what the microbial communities are actually doing. We just got some data back from a preliminary study of different locations in Harvard Forest that have different vegetation types and levels of disturbance. Although analyses are still underway, we already have some promising results where we can distinguish red oak from successional shrubland and disturbed sites based solely on their microbiome. As NEON expands to multiple biomes throughout the US to monitor ecosystem health, we will be able to see how microbial communities change. and how microbes regulate ecosystem health. It's exciting to think that NEON will have enough microbial data and information on the environment to actually map the interaction of microbial communities, environment, and plant diversity across an ecosystem.

Share

Related Posts:

NEON Data Release 2025 is available

January 29, 2025

New code release: neonutilities package available in Python

September 24, 2024

NEON at ESA 2024: Forecasting, Partnerships, Samples, and More

August 16, 2024

Ryan McClure behind the NEON exhibit booth at ESA 2024
NSF NEON, Operated by Battelle

Follow Us:

Join Our Newsletter

Get updates on events, opportunities, and how NEON is being used today.

Subscribe Now

Footer

  • AG真人百家乐官方网站 Us
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Careers
  • Code of Conduct

Copyright © Battelle, 2025

The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.