Northeast Domain

The NEON candidate core site in the Northeast is located at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA. The domain itself encompasses all of the states in New England, as well as New York, most of Pennsylvania, and part of West Virginia. The Harvard Forest has been a Long-Term Ecological Research site since 1988 and host to atmospheric, hydrological, ecological, and biodiversity studies. It has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and NASA.

The NEON focus at Harvard Forest is on climate change and land-use change. The Northeast Domain anchors an urban-to-rural research corridor from the Harvard Forest to Boston (a characteristic it shares with its sister site in the Desert Southwest). It is also the northernmost participant in NEON nitrogen deposition research, which extends southwest from New England to Alabama.

Domain: Northeast (Domain #1)

Science Focus: Land use and climate change.

Candidate Core Site Name: Harvard Forest.

Representativeness: The site is centrally located relative to major Northeastern biotic and environmental gradients in the Transition Forest Zone, a floristic tension zone formed by the range limits of northern and southern taxa that is sensitive to future climate change.

Location: Petersham, MA; Latitude: 42.537; Longitude: ‐72.173

Existing Infrastructure: The Harvard Forest has been an LTER site since 1988, and has developed integrated facilities for atmospheric, hydrological, ecological, geographical, and biodiversity studies.

Unique Feature: The site includes the Quabbin Reservoir and watershed, the source of unfiltered water for 40 percent of the Massachusetts population in metropolitan Boston.