Transforming data access and reseach cyber-infrastructure within a tropical field station network

Organization For Tropical Studies Inc

Investigators

Abstract

The role of field research stations is quickly evolving. Stations are morphing from being facilities that provided infrastructure for field-based research to proactive entities that actively direct research towards emerging areas of knowledge, generate baseline data through biophysical monitoring, and compile, archive, and facilitate synthesis and reuse of data generated in their midst. This new profile increases the effectiveness of field stations as research centers, because they: (a) provide basic long-term monitoring of biophysical data (e.g., through meteorological stations), which allows both researchers to understand their observed patterns and station staff to document any changes in their biophysical conditions, (b) focus research efforts in critical areas of knowledge and reduce duplication of efforts, and (c) act as a data repository to ensure that long-term data that is collected by the individual efforts of researchers and research teams are not only secured, but available for further reuse. This profile responds to two critical drivers: the urgent need to understand how our world is changing and the need to optimize research resources. This project provides the technological infrastructure that will allow three cutting-edge tropical field research stations to update and upgrade their biophysical monitoring equipment and to establish a Tropical node of DataONE. The upgraded biophysical monitoring equipment will allow the stations to more reliably track environmental variables, such as air and soil temperature and moisture, rainfall, solar intensity, and available water. The Tropical node of DataONE will allow the Organization for Tropical Studies to become the first tropical field station network to proactively retrieve and store data collected over 50 years so that it will be available to the whole scientific community for analyzing temporal and historical trends, measuring changes in the last half century, and projecting the fate of tropical forests. Despite the deluge of information that has accumulated among field stations, these data are not readily available (Borgman et al. 2007). Most historical ecological field data are scattered and inaccessible, unintelligible (no metadata) or dispersed across platforms and digital formats hindering their reuse and synthesis (Heidorn 2008). Such dark data are at risk of being lost forever when scientists retire or die. Also, most field stations institutionally monitor a suite of biogeophysical variables (such as meteorological data) as a reference for the research community that they serve, but often these long-term data series are inconsistently collected and maintained and hard to access. Changing norms in data sharing and an increased scientific need for historical data on natural systems impose the responsibility on field stations to recover and archive dark data from historical field studies and to standardize, update, and make available past and current biogeophysical monitoring data. This project enables the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) to establish an Institutional Data Repository for data generated at its three field stations in Costa Rica for almost 50 years. The data repository will be part of DataONE network and will archive and make available biogeophysical monitoring data collected institutionally (e.g., meteorological and hydrological data, GIS files, and digital biological collections) as well as data collected by independent researchers who have conducted field research at the stations. The project also will allow OTS to upgrade, standardize, and automate further its meteorological stations to collect climatic and hydrological data. Both components of this project will foster field research that leverages historic data as a reference for new observations and facilitate secondary e-research on historic and current trends of terrestrial tropical ecosystems. Such research will greatly expand the ability of scientists to assess impacts of global change on tropical systems and to improve the representation of key tropical terrestrial ecosystem processes in earth system models. This project will set a new standard for open access of data and expand research opportunities for the broader scientific community. Furthermore, the data will enhance the opportunities for new generations of young scientists who conduct research at the stations (as research assistants, through fellowships, or on site-based REU programs) or who participate in OTS field-courses centered at the stations (through OTS graduate and undergraduate programs) or who visit the stations independently through faculty-led educational experiences. For more information about the Organization for Tropical Studies, please see http://www.ots.ac.cr/. When available, data may be accessed through DataONE at https://www.dataone.org/.