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  ASM 2003

2003 LTER Site Byte

LTER Site: Shortgrass Steppe

Contributor: Nicole Kaplan and Bob Flynn (Sep 12, 2003)

Site Byte:

The SGS-LTER Information Management (IM) team accomplished their goals to focus more resources on information management. As a result, SGS-LTER now has the equivalent of a full time IM, the flow of data and metadata were streamlined from the field to release on the web site, there has been more participation in Network wide IM activities, and more opportunities sought for professional development.

The IM Team has implemented Windows 2000 server with RAID disk storage technologies to administer the SGS-LTER Information Network. An external 250 GB hard drive was purchased and implemented for back-up. The new server replaces a distributed network of Unix servers that existed within one college of the university. Information on the new server is centrally stored, is easier to maintain and is available across the university domain, so anyone affiliated with the university community and with the proper permissions can reach the server remotely. This is a new, more efficient way to immediately capture, organize, and back up SGS-LTER data that are generated across campus departments or out at the field station. The SGS-LTER website also is in the process of being redesigned. The design allows for different images of the shortgrass steppe to be displayed, growth and flexibility as content increases and changes over time, a more cohesive organization of research summaries and objectives, redesign of data and metadata structure, and easier navigation and query tools. Historical information from International Biome Project technical reports are currently being scanned and will be published on the new web site.

SGS-LTER continues to participate in cross site and other community driven IM activities. Nicole Kaplan, Information Manager, participated in a DataBank workshop at The Evergreen State College in May 2003 (http://canopy.evergreen.edu/bcd/home.asp). At the workshop, IMs developed templates for database designs, statistical analysis and visualization tools for data collected on the different kinds of data collected at various LTER sites. Additional workshops are planned for ASM and in the near future. Nicole also attended a SEEK (http://seek.ecoinformatics.org/) workshop where IMs for LTER sites located in grasslands discussed the steps needed to synthesize net primary productivity data that were collected using different methods. In addition, SGS-LTER has contributed to a “data cooperative” to accelerate the sharing, standardization, completeness, and accessibility of data on the distribution and abundance of non-native plants, animals, and diseases across the United States. This project, which is part of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (http://www.nbii.gov/issues/invasive/home.html), will be discussed at a data synthesis workshop at ASM that was organized by Todd Ackerman (NWT).

Nicole and John Norman, GIS Technician continue to pursue professional development opportunities through classes offered at Colorado State University. Nicole completed coursework in advanced database management and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, while John completed coursework in soil sciences, geology, and remote sensing,. Both continue to enhance the skills and knowledge of the SGS-LTER IM team. John and Bob Flynn, Information Technology Manager, continue to explore new GIS and GPS technologies, participate in Visual Basic training and conduct GIS programming lectures, labs, and workshops in the college community. The IM team continues to collect spatial data from our field site to build the SGS-LTER GIS and update and publish data sets on the web site. Five new data sets were published on the SGS-LTER web site for public access.

Our GIS managers have organized a library of study site locations at the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) and Pawnee National Grassland (PNG): natural vegetation communities, watersheds, soils, human structures, disturbances such as prairie dog town areas, and different land uses. Over the past few years, we have created an historical spatial data set over several spatial scales. Some data sets include historical pasture information or herbicide applications that are related to ARS or PNG management of the land. Metadata for these data sets have been collected and standardized and are complete. Updates are made as spatial characteristics change over time.

Spatial data and information can be distributed in several hard media formats (CD, floppy, zip disk) or may be downloaded.. Maps also are served on ArcIMS allowing users to view data for the CPER and PNG in the form of shape files, coverages and image formats. Maps served on ArcIMS may be viewed via internet browser or GIS tool, like ArcExplorer or ArcMap. This capability now gives our users tremendous power in gaining an understanding of spatial information from our research sites.