Resource Discovery Initiative

for Field Stations

William Michener

LTER Network Office

October/November 2003

Research Coordination Networking – Resource Discovery Initiative for Field

Stations (RDIFS)

NSF project “to facilitate storage, discovery, and access to the strategic environmental information resources that are collectively held at North American biological field stations.”

RDIFS Activities for North American Field Stations

Database DevelopmentData Registry and RepositoryThesaurus for Field BiologySite Characteristics DatabaseBibliography of Field Station PublicationsDatabase of Field Station QA/QC and Standard Methods

Training

Organization of Biological Field Stations

www.obfs.org

240 Member Stations

Long Term Ecological Research Network

www.lternet.edu

24 sites

Project Results

Searchable Data Registry(81 Entries)

Data Registry Interface* Search data* Register data

Searchable Data Registry

Data search resultsEntering a new data set

Field Station & Site Characteristics Database

(240 Field Stations)

Field Stations by StateCoweeta Hydrologic Laboratory

(LTER & OBFS) Site Characteristics

Personnel Database(288 Personnel)

Search Personnel

Search Results & Personnel Access

Personnel Database(288 Personnel)

13 (OK) University of Oklahoma Biological Station11 (AK) Toolik LTER Arctic Lake Site5 (MN) St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Science Museum of MN5 Individual Member of OBFS5 (MT) Flathead Lake Biological Station5 (NM) LTER Network Office4 (NY) Adirondack Ecological Center4 (AZ) Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research3 (CO) Short Grass Steppe Field Station2 (FL) Archbold Biological Station2 (FL) Katharine Ordway Preserve2 (CA) Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary2 (CA) Teakettle Experimental Forest2 (CA) Hastings Natural History Reservation2 (CA) James San Jacinto Mountains2 (CA) Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve2 (MO) Bull Shoals Field Station2 (MI) University of Michigan Biological Station (Douglas Lake)2 (CO) Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory2 (MN) MSUM [Minn. St. Univ. Moorhead] Regional Science Center2 (ID) Taylor Ranch Wilderness Field Station2 (NC) Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (University of Georgia USDA Forest Service)2 (NE) Cedar Point Biological Station2 (PA) Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation2 (PA) Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology2 (PA) Raystown Field Station2 (OH) Lake Erie Research and Education Center2 [Canada] Kananaskis Field Stations

Field Courses

Searchable Field Course Database

(276 Courses Posted)

Course Information

Current Field Classes By Site28 (ME) Humboldt Field Research Institute (was, Eagle Hill Wildlife Research Statio26 (OH) Stone (F.T.) Laboratory22 (IA) Iowa Lakeside Laboratory16 (OR) Oregon Institute of Marine Biology13 (MI) University of Michigan Biological Station (Douglas Lake)13 (MT) Flathead Lake Biological Station12 [Canada] Huntsman Marine Science Centre11 (SC) Savannah River Environmental Field Station11 (MN) Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station10 (MI) Kellogg (W.K.) Biological Station10 (KY) Hancock Biological Station10 (PA) Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology9 (OK) University of Oklahoma Biological Station9 (NE) Cedar Point Biological Station9 (CO) Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory7 (VA) Mountain Lake Biological Station7 (WI) University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) Field Station6 [Bermuda] Biological Station for Research Inc.6 (NC) Highlands Biological Station5 (NC) Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (University of Georgia USDA Forest Service)5 (ME) Shoals Marine Laboratory (Cornell5 (LA) LUMCON Marine Center4 (MA) Nantucket Field Station University of Massachusetts4 (MI) Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies3 (FL) TNC Disney Wilderness Preserve3 (AZ) Southwestern Research Station1 (AZ) Sierra Ancha Station1 [Costa Rica] Quetzal Education Research Center1 [Dominica] Archbold Tropical Research and Education Center1 To Be Entered...1 (NY) Adirondack Ecological Center1 (NY) Institute of Ecosystem Studies1 (VA) Anheuser Busch Coastal Research Center1 (PA) Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation

Standard Field MethodsSearchable Database

(1551 References)

Educational Training Workshops

Wireless Sensor Networking Workshops

• Dates: April 29 - May 1, 2002 & May 2 - 4, 2002

• Location: Sevilleta Biological Research Station

• Instructors: Dave Hughes & Tom Williams

Dave Hughes provided technical expertise and experience

Tom Williams provided the theoretical background of wireless networks

Workshop Attendees

• Each workshop was attended by 23 scientists & technicians

• More than 40 biological field stations and LTER sites represented

Workshop Provided Indoor & Outdoor Technology Training Exercises

Dave Hughes and attendees establishing a radio connection to their notebook computers

Dave Hughes and attendees setting up a radio transmitter from a meteorological station

RDIFS Informatics Trainingat the Sevilleta Research Field Station

RDIFS Informatics Training

DatesOctober 20 – November 2, 2002

TopicsDBMS

• Access• SQL• Biodiversity & taxonomic databases

Metadata managementBibliographic data managementWeb development

Future Training

2003 – Sevilleta2004 – La Selva Biological Station, CR ???2005 – Sevilleta or UNM2006 – Sevilleta or UNM

Instructors

James Brunt, University of New MexicoPeter McCartney, Arizona State UniversityWilliam Michener, University of New MexicoPete Olsen, University of New Mexico Deana Pennington, University of New MexicoJohn Porter, University of VirginiaSamantha Romanello, University of VirginiaWill Shuart, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityKristin Vanderbilt, University of New Mexico Karen Weatherill, University of New Mexico  Marshall White, University of New Mexico

Module 1: Ecoinformatics

October 27 – November 2, 2003 at Sevilleta Research Station

Sunday October 26 – Travel day for Participants to Albuquerque, NM

Monday October 27 – Ecological Informatics (Brunt , Michener & Vanderbilt)Tuesday October 28 – Web Page Design (White)Wed. October 29 – Intro to Web Page Authoring (White, Vanderbilt & Olsen)Thursday October 30 – Database Design (McCartney & Porter)Friday October 31 – RDBMS (McCartney & Porter)Saturday November 1 – Integrating WWW and RDBMS (White & Olsen)

Sunday November 2 – Bibliographic DBMS (White) plus OBFS Database Work

Module 2: GIS

November 2– 7, 2003 at Sevilleta Research Station

Sunday November 2 -- Sunday November 2 – Bibliographic DBMS (White) plus OBFS Database Work

Monday November 3 – Introduction to ArcGIS (Shuart)Tuesday November 4 – Introduction to ArcGIS (Shuart)Wednesday November 5 – Spatial Data Acquisition & Integration (Pennington)Thursday November 6 – Spatial Analysis (Pennington)Friday November 7 – Advanced Concepts (Pennington, Shuart)

2004 Activities

Jan—Week-long workshop for new faculty members in ecoinformaticsFeb/March???—QA/QC workshop

Identify best practices, software tools and algorithms, and needed researchStatisticians, laboratory techs, informaticians, etc.

August—Day-long workshop on ecoinformatics and 2-3 afternoon/evening sessions on metadata management at 2004 ESA meetingOct/Nov—Training (one 2-wk or two 1-wk modules)

Other training/workshop topics ???? See me…..

2004 Activities

Database enhancementData registry – 4-12 monthsSite characteristics/capabilities – 4monthsBibliographic module – 7-8 monthsAdministrative module – 1-2 monthsCourse module – 12 months ------ need input!!!!

Prototype web implementation of operations manual

Dynamic FAQ’sPost indexed documents (e.g., site examples)Threaded thematic discussion lists

Coupling of strategic plan with web design planDesign team: Mark Stromberg, Marshall White, Eric Nagy, Brian Kloeppel, Ian Billick, Bill Michener, Dawn Wilson

Future Activities

Institute “Ecoinformatics Conference”Participants

• OBFS data managers and GIS managers• Likewise, for LTER, USGS (NBII), NERRS, CaNRS, OTS, etc. • Computer scientists (the development community)• Other informaticians (the practitioner community)

Objectives• Identify best practices, software tools and algorithms, and

needed R&D• Provide tutorials on selected software• Round-table discussions• Plenary and contributed talks • Develop a community that can enhance informatics capacity

for field biology