1. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 1 Challenges in Integrating Diverse Data for Ecological Synthesis Special Roles & Responsibilities for Information Managers Judy Cushing The Evergreen State College Olympia WA judyc@evergreen.edu www.evergreen.edu/bdeiwww.evergreen.edu/bdei NSF EIA-0310659, EIA-0131952 http://canopy.evergreen.edu/canopydbhttp://canopy.evergreen.edu/canopydb NSF DBI-0417311, DBI-0319309, … www2.evergreen.edu/quantecology

2. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 2 Challenges in Integrating Diverse Data Lessons Learned from the Grasslands Data Integration (GDI) Project* Integrate Above-Ground Net Primary Productivity (ANPP) data, with its drivers (contextual data) for cross-site comparisons (Ecological Synthesis), past and future (come visit our poster!) Ecologists Christine Laney (JRN), Alan Knapp (SGS), Daniel Milchunas (SGS), Esteban Muldavin (SEV) Christine Laney (JRN), Alan Knapp (SGS), Daniel Milchunas (SGS), Esteban Muldavin (SEV) LTER Ecologists Jincheng Gao (KNZ), Nicole Kaplan (SGS), Ken Ramsey (JRN), Mark Servilla (NET), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) LTER Information Management Christine Laney (JRN), Alan Knapp (SGS), Daniel Milchunas (SGS), Esteban Muldavin (SEV) LTER Ecologists Jincheng Gao (KNZ), Nicole Kaplan (SGS), Ken Ramsey (JRN), Mark Servilla (NET), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) LTER Information Management Information Managers Jincheng Gao (KNZ), Nicole Kaplan (SGS), Ken Ramsey (JRN), Mark Servilla (NET), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) Computer Scientists and Data Analysts Judy Cushing, Carri LeRoy, Juli Mallett, Lee Zeman

3. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 3 What’s in the GDI Database? recorded or calculated annual aboveground NPP values from 5 LTERs: Jornada, Sevilleta,SGS, Konza, Kruger 4,126,700 grams, over 20 years in 1697 plots recorded or calculated annual aboveground NPP values from 5 LTERs: Jornada, Sevilleta,SGS, Konza, Kruger 4,126,700 grams, over 20 years in 1697 plots 19801980 19851985 19901990 19951995 20002000 20052005 KNZ KRG SGS SEV JRN

4. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 4 What’s did we Find? Christine Laney (JRN), Alan Knapp (SGS), Daniel Milchunas (SGS), Esteban Muldavin (SEV) LTER Ecologists Jincheng Gao (KNZ), Nicole Kaplan (SGS), Ken Ramsey (JRN), Mark Servilla (NET), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) LTER Information Management Christine Laney (JRN), Alan Knapp (SGS), Daniel Milchunas (SGS), Esteban Muldavin (SEV) LTER Ecologists Jincheng Gao (KNZ), Nicole Kaplan (SGS), Ken Ramsey (JRN), Mark Servilla (NET), Kristin Vanderbilt (SEV) LTER Information Management 1. Ecology Environmental drivers of ANPP ANPP-based grassland community composition. 2.Preliminary definition & provision of contextual data – Ecotrends ++…. 3.Information Management: species table fixes, ideas for better experimental design documentation, scripting for data integration…. CHANGE LOGS WERE ESSENTIAL; USDA PLANTS DB 4. CS – case study on Data Integration; need for TOOLS: PASTA-LIKE SERVICE & TAXONOMIC CONCEPT SERVICE

5. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 5 ANPP vs. Precip No climate data yet

6. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 6 r = 0.608 r = 0.631 r = 0.329 r = 0.196

7. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 7 CART Model: Classification and Regression Tree Model, R 2 = 0.642!! Variables included in model: LTER, year, PDSI, NH4, NO3, absTmax, asbTmin, Tmax, Tmin, Tmean, Precip

8. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 8 Lesson 1 What you (IMs) do is important ANPP – a critical ecological measure (indicator?) You (Kristin, Ken, Nicole) made GDI happen…. It’s a collaborative & interdisciplinary project – and not a technology problem…. IMs Computer Scientists Ecologists Statistician (Data Analyst) You know the issues, physically possess the data for important ecological & scientific DB problems e.g., global climate change, resource management

9. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 9 Lesson 2 The GDI DB should be dynamic – Not Static A static data warehouse is an oxymoron as is “Museum of Innovation” More years, future years Current data – further refined More sites, different ecosystems

10. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 10 Lesson 3 Volume Matters…. More sites, more years, more trouble…. More species codes Differences in experimental design Cross-site comparison highlights data anomalies High volumes make a qualitative difference A good data structure* matters even more…. * Ask me why GIS not been a priority to illustrate my field datasets….

11. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 11 Lesson 4 Information Managers Critical Computer Science in Crisis…. There won’t be enough CS graduates … to do all the jobs … even today ….

12. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 12 NSF’S ICER (CPATH) INITIATIVE INTEGRATIVE COMPUTING EDUCATION & RESEARCH NSF 1.CS content changed (changing!) radically…. 2.No uniform agreement on the core… 3.Graduates lack a systems approach…. 4.Dwindling pipeline…. 5.US industry [& science] competitiveness threatened….

13. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 13 NSF’S ICER (CPATH) INITIATIVE NSF asked: Why is CS in crisis? What can be done? Northwest Region: http://www.evergreen.edu/icerhttp://www.evergreen.edu/icer Improve the quality of computing education …. Attract more people …. Improve retention…. Strengthen interdisciplinary connections…. Improve CS educational research …. Google asked: What can industry do? I ask: What should the LTER IMs do?

14. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 14 Lesson 4 (cont) Computer Science in Crisis…. My charge on this panel: IMs typically come from “the sciences” (essential) Yet their tasks are programming & managing software projects. What skills or tools are essential for IMs? …As an educator, which are effectively learned on-the-job, and which require formal training? Tools are learned on the job, Skills through practice. (but should be demonstrable before hiring) Concepts require (some) formal training…. (there is a handful of critical concepts?)

15. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 15 Lesson 4 (cont) What CS to do the GDI ? Concepts Formal Languages & Parsing Data Structures Abilities See patterns (and non-patterns) Learn new technology fast; see when the tools won’t do it Build new technology, services…. Skills (tools) Scripting Languages, Database tools and SQL But, CS is not enough… needed an interdisciplinary team…. historical perspective, ecology vision, statistical expertise Future tools – PASTA- like & TAXONOMIC SERVICES, Contextual data provision (ClimDB, EcoTrends)

16. LTER IM Town Hall Panel 2007 16 Questions? Judy Cushing judyc@evergreen.edu www.evergreen.edu/bdei http://canopy.evergreen.edu/canopydb www2.evergreen.edu/quantecology