Beyond ecosystem modeling: A roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure for ecological data‐model integration

TitleBeyond ecosystem modeling: A roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure for ecological data‐model integration
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2021
AuthorsFer, Istem, Anthony K. Gardella, Alexey N. Shiklomanov, Eleanor E. Campbell, Elizabeth M. Cowdery, Martin G. De Kauwe, Ankur Desai, Matthew J. Duveneck, Joshua B. Fisher, Katherine D. Haynes, Forrest M. Hoffman, Miriam R. Johnston, Rob Kooper, David S. LeBauer, Joshua Mantooth, William J. Parton, Benjamin Poulter, Tristan Quaife, Ann Raiho, Kevin Schaefer, Shawn P. Serbin, James Simkins, Kevin R. Wilcox, Toni Viskari, and Michael C. Dietze
JournalGlobal Change Biology
Volume27
Issue1
Pagination13 - 26
Date PublishedJan-01-2021
Abstract

In an era of rapid global change, our ability to understand and predict Earth's natural systems is lagging behind our ability to monitor and measure changes in the biosphere. Bottlenecks to informing models with observations have reduced our capacity to fully exploit the growing volume and variety of available data. Here, we take a critical look at the information infrastructure that connects ecosystem modeling and measurement efforts, and propose a roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure development that can reduce the divisions between empirical research and modeling and accelerate the pace of discovery. A new era of data‐model integration requires investment in accessible, scalable, and transparent tools that integrate the expertise of the whole community, including both modelers and empiricists. This roadmap focuses on five key opportunities for community tools: the underlying foundations of community cyberinfrastructure; data ingest; calibration of models to data; model‐data benchmarking; and data assimilation and ecological forecasting. This community‐driven approach is a key to meeting the pressing needs of science and society in the 21st century.

DOI10.1111/gcb.15409