Iterative ecological forecasting is an emergent research area with the potential to accelerate research while informing decision making. This workshop will describe (~30 min) the NEON forecasting challenge organized by the Ecological Forecasting Initiative RCN, including: how to participate in the five themes (terrestrial carbon, aquatic oxygen, ticks, beetle diversity, leaf phenology), scoring, resources available to support teams (edu. materials, data processing, cyberinfrastructure), efforts to diversify the forecasting community, and lessons learned from the initial rounds of the challenge (>1500 forecasts submitted by >50 teams, including 5 courses). This will be followed by a ~60 min discussion about how LTER data streams might inform forecast development, new forecast challenges in existing or new domains (e.g. urban, coastal, marine, polar), and the potential of ecological forecasts at LTER sites to inform research, decision making, outreach, DEI, and education.
Slides and Notes