National Science Foundation Website, 10/1/2013 USDA website, Oct. 1 2013 Science360 Website, Accessed 10/1/2013 data.gov is the public repository for federal datasets. Accessed 10/1/2013

The problem with science–and in particular science involving living ecosystems–is that you can't just unplug everything and go home. If you've set up an experiment with specific schedules for data collection, or living organisms of any kind, anything from weeks to years of work could be interrupted or lost during a shutdown.

A reddit discussion about how scientists expect to be affected by the 2013 Federal Shutdown gives a great example of this:

"I have 2 ongoing federal grants. One has already been delayed for months by sequestration, and due to that we already had to completely scrap the entire 2013 field season. (The animals are only study-able in August & September; the funding was delayed 6 mos but you can't just go tell the animals "could you please postpone your breeding season till February? thanks.". And you can't always just bump things to next year - maybe the boats aren't available, your lead grad student or postdoc will have left already, etc.)."

When you work with a living system, you have to follow the rhythms of your system. Corn harvests and neotropical songbird migration can't be studied in January for most of the US. As I put together this post, I found the parts of the shutdown hardest to convey were the intangible effects on scientists.

I know quite a few people that work for or are funded by USDA, NSF, and other federal agencies. None of them were willing to talk to me on the record, which isn't surprising. What was unusual is a sort of hopeless despair combined with a determined refusal to not give up on their science. I felt like I was trying to interview Monty Python's Black Knight.

When federal employees are furloughed, that doesn't just mean federal scientific work stops. It means federal scientists can't take phone calls or answer emails. They are not available for scientific collaboration or consultation with non-federal peers. It is illegal for them to do public business when on furlough. Really. This phrase was in a furlough letter shared with me, as well as one shown to Politico:

“Due to legal requirements, working in any way during a period of furlough is grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment...”

Most major federal science websites went dark yesterday in part because of this rule. Putting up a "Gone for Federal Shutdown" placeholder page effectively freezes out both employees and constituents. In a comment on Reddit, a federal employee said:

"If those sites go down, expect them to stay down. We aren't even allowed to troubleshoot or restart anything. They made us lock our BlackBerries in our desks when we left."

Two main groups of researchers are affected by the shutdown–"intramural" federal researchers (federal employees) and "extramural" researchers, scientists and staff funded via the federal grant award system. For federal intramural researchers that work with livestock, animal care is deemed to be an "essential service." Federal research cows will still be milked and veterinary patients will still receive care. Things in culture that don't have a backbone–including plants, bacteria, and insects–receive more variable treatment during a shutdown. Sometimes care is deemed essential, sometimes not.

For extramural researchers, the shutdown means that doing any scientific work just got a lot harder.

The USDA is closed. If you want to import something plant- or animal-related into or out of the US for your research, you can't look up the regulations or apply for a permit. If you want to learn more about USDA bee research...you can't look it up. In addition, nearly all USDA bee researchers (as well as other Ag researchers) are furloughed, so you can't call and ask.

The National Science Foundation funds basic research in the US; this includes atmospheric science, geology, biological systems, and engineering. It has furloughed 95% of it's employees. No grant panels will convene for review; all new awards are likely to be significantly delayed for months. NSF Federal grant payments are issued yearly, even for multi-year awards. (That's fair; you have to show good progress to keep getting the money.) Because October is a major month in the grant cycle, some investigators and their students will be unpaid for at least one month; longer depending on how long the shutdown drags on.

The Department of Interior is closed. You can't go to a National Park. You can't go to any National Wildlife Reserves. You can't get bird banding permits or look up banding info from USGS. No endangered species actions will be conducted by US Fish and Wildlife. The Bureau of Land Management oversees many federal lands, as well as permitting processes both for researchers and ranchers. But not this week.

Hey, maybe now is a good time to work on publishing that research you were working on! Nope. Maybe you're a graduate student working on your NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), which is due next week. It's not looking good. You can't go to the Smithsonian and look at their insect collections either.

I think you are getting the general idea.

When a lot of scientists are sent home, and this follows on the heels of many scientists loosing their jobs via sequester or budget cuts–it's hard not to get a little despondent. Results of a survey of scientists conducted by sixteen scientific societies were released last month:

Private investment in academic research has been feeble. Only 2 percent of survey respondents have been able to find private funds to make up for those lost from federal grants.

More than two thirds of survey respondents do not have the funds to expand their research operations, postponing important scientific advances in all fields.

Research jobs have been lost. Nearly half of survey respondents have laid off researchers and 55 percent have a colleague who has lost his/her job.

When you are then told that science is a "non-essential function", that's a bit hard to take. I thought about ending this piece with a sad panda...but the National Panda Cam is also offline.

The cams (incl. the panda cams) require federal resources, especially staff, to run. They have not been deemed essential during a #shutdown. — National Zoo (@NationalZoo) September 30, 2013

Homepage image: Courtney Potter