Fig. 1.

Observatory networks such as NEON provide organismal biologists with an opportunity to quantify the drivers of variation in many different organismal traits (genetic, molecular, physiological, behavioral, morphological, life history, etc.) and also how this variation may or may not scale up to influence populations, communities, or ecosystems. In the case of NEON (and many of the other observatory networks), this is possible through spatiotemporal replication, remote sensing data or those collected through automated instruments at the specific field sites, and annual sampling by observers. These data combined with archived samples collected during the annual sampling (such as at the NEON Biorepository) provide organismal biologists with many opportunities to address outstanding questions in the field centered around the causes and consequences of individual trait variation.