PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #15: Vegetation Analysis.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
20
An information infrastructure for vegetation science: A model and prototype database for storing and integrating vegetation data.
Harris, John1, Walker, Marilyn2,3, Peet, Robert4, Grossman, Dennis5, Jennings, Michael1, 1 2 3 4 5
ABSTRACT- North American ecologists, including government agencies, academics, and private organizations, have collected an enormous legacy of vegetation data over the past century. The value of these data increases greatly over time, and an emerging classification requires combining new data with existing data and using "legacy data" in new ways. The ESA panel on North American Vegetation Classification has been developing standards for collecting, analyzing, and classifying vegetation data that will meet a variety of needs and will be compliant with federal standards. A critical need identified by this panel is a set of electronic tools for storing, managing, and updating data. This represents a significant technological challenge because of the continuous updating of taxonomic and syntaxonomic elements central to it. We are developing a prototype database system that is both perfectly archived (data can be retrieved as they were at any point in time) and continuously updated (data can be retrieved to be consistent with new concepts and changes). The model is based on three linked databases: one containing the plot data, one containing the taxonomic information that is the basis of the plots, and one containing the vegetation classification based on the plots. We present the data model for the entire system and a working prototype plots database.
KEY WORDS: vegetation analysis, bioinformatics, database development, vegetation classification