Up, up and away: Using the NEON framework for investigating distribution of airborne microbial communities

Our research focuses on the ecology of one of the least explored biological frontiers – the atmosphere. All organisms on Earth share an intimate, yet largely unconscious, relationship with the air surrounding us. Yet, the atmosphere serves as a conduit for dispersing diverse groups of microorganisms and important microbial functions to terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Through urbanization, we implement changes to the surface landscape with little consideration of the effects on airborne microbial distribution as a third dimension of ecosystem functioning.