PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 27: Emerging ecoinformatic tools and accomplishments for synthetic ecological research across scales
Organizer(s): JA Dunne, ND Martinez, and T Romanuk
Wednesday, August 10, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 510b, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
The Forest Canopy database and Database Tools: Branching out to ecological synthesis.
Cushing, Judith*,1, Nadkarni, Nalini1, 1 The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA
ABSTRACT- The Canopy Database Project (CDP), a collaborative eco-informatics project among computer scientists and forest canopy researchers, recognizes that: 1) Ecological synthesis requires multiple investigators from different disciplines who work at various temporal and spatial scales. 2) The collective analysis of individual datasets can yield insights beyond inquiry on a single dataset. 3) Metadata and validation requirements can prevent data publication, and statistical aggregation errors can preclude data integration. Database technology can help, but must be intuitive to use and offer productivity to the individual as well as benefit to future investigations. We see forest canopy studies as a good test bed to model eco-informatics solutions to these issues because of its interdisciplinarity and structurally diverse data. CDP has produced five prototypes: 1) A database generator uses canopy-specific components to generate customized databases that include data input forms, in one case for a PDA. 2) CanopyView, a data visualization tool understands the database components and generates images to aid validation and analysis. 3) DataBank, a data warehouse, makes documented canopy data sets web-accessible to promote data sharing and synthesis. 4) Modifications to KNB Morpho aid transfer and maintenance of metadata from the generated database to DataBank. 5) The Big Canopy Database (BCD) supports research with online citations, images, etc. These tools are enhancing specific research projects as follows: 1) Articulating software components led to developing a conceptual framework to categorize canopy space. 2) Direct digital data capture by a PDA improved field researcher productivity, and improved data validity. 3) CanopyView visualizations of: a) individual trees replaced tedious Excel spreadsheet computations; b) grid-type height and elevation data for Luquillo Puerto Rico showed an unexpected decrease in canopy height; and c) mistletoe infestations at Wind River Canopy provided clear results presentation. 4) Modifications to Morpho are under test in a tree physiology lab to maintain a lab data store. Future objectives include parameterized statistical scripts and ecological synthesis studies. See http://www.evergreen.edu/canopydb.
Key words: ecoinformatics, forest canopy, scientific visualization, ecological synthesis