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Beyond ecosystem modeling: A roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure for ecological data‐model integration
Author(s) -
Fer Istem,
Gardella Anthony K.,
Shiklomanov Alexey N.,
Campbell Eleanor E.,
Cowdery Elizabeth M.,
De Kauwe Martin G.,
Desai Ankur,
Duveneck Matthew J.,
Fisher Joshua B.,
Haynes Katherine D.,
Hoffman Forrest M.,
Johnston Miriam R.,
Kooper Rob,
LeBauer David S.,
Mantooth Joshua,
Parton William J.,
Poulter Benjamin,
Quaife Tristan,
Raiho Ann,
Schaefer Kevin,
Serbin Shawn P.,
Simkins James,
Wilcox Kevin R.,
Viskari Toni,
Dietze Michael C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.15409
Subject(s) - cyberinfrastructure , computer science , data science , pace , exploit , benchmarking , geography , business , computer security , geodesy , marketing
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.