A Biological Survey for the Nation (1994) / Chapter Skim
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3 MEETING THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF NPBS CLIENTS
3 MEETING THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF NPBS CLIENTS
Pages 93-122
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From page 93... ...
The research activities outlined in Chapter 2 are essential for gathering scientifically reliable information on which credible and reliable decisions can be made with a high level of confidence. Decisions based on inadequate, unreliable or incorrect information might be unwise and costly.
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From page 94... ...
This chapter highlights some central issues for lining scientific information to decision-making and offers recommendations on the quality, availability, and dissemination of information. INFORMATION NEEDS The National Partnership will have to provide information on biological resources in an easily interpretable form and in a timely manner to a wide array of resource managers, city planners, conservationists, scientists, and others.
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From page 95... ...
Resource-management decisions are themselves sources of information about biological processes, and data accumulated from them should be incorporated in databases and made available to be used in future decision-making. Some specific needs for NPBS data are the following: · Public agencies need better biological data to guide acquisilion of land and water rights for reserves; set priorities for research, management, and restoration programs; zone local land use and regulate use of public and private lands; locate and design public-works projects; and coordinate resource management both domestically and across international borders.
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From page 96... ...
Rather, they are modeled by integrating information from such widely disparate sources as biogeographic atlases, museum collections, habitat-relationship information, and habitat maps derived from environmental data and remote sensing imagery Users of distribution information must be clearly informed as to who produced it, how the results were obtained, the information scale, potential biases, and inaccuracies. This knowledge of information quality is needed to ensure appropriate use of the information.
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From page 97... ...
Existing data are unevenly documented and do not constitute a representative sample of all the nation's biological resources. Despite the size of the task, a national biological information system is clearly attainable.
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From page 98... ...
; museum collection data and sightings spanning the past century (Panel C) ; and maps of suitable habitats as defined by vegetation in the WHR System and mapped at two different scales with 1990 Thematic Mapper satellite imagery (map boundaries from the California Gap Analysis)
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From page 99... ...
In this instance, we have highlighted areas within the range limits of the species that support vegetation classified as suitable habitat by a statewide habitat relationships system. The potential distribution is somewhat different, depending on whether 1:24,000 or 1:100,000 scale vegetation maps are used.
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From page 100... ...
100 A BIOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR THE NATION r...,-.,..~,., Museum records as 7.5' quads · NDDB and MSCP Sightings .
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From page 101... ...
HEFTING 1~ION HEMS 0E ~ Pubbc ~ / / / I\ Act.
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From page 102... ...
102 A BIOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR THE NATION Processing Flow in Species Distribution Mapping | Landsat TM Imagery Aerial Photography Prior Vegetation Maps Field Observations _ ~ Vegetation Map Museum Recent Field CoR=~= Sun_ 1 Georeferencing I Modern and Historical Localities Map Natural History of Species 1 Habitat Relationships Model Habitat Suitability Map Land Ownership Management Classification 1:100,000 Scale Map Distribution and Protection Status , 1:24~0C 10 Scale M ap
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From page 103... ...
Recommendation 3-~: Uncler the leadership of the NBS, the National Partnership should develop a National Biotic Resource Information System. This should be a distributed federation of databases designed to make existing information more accessible and to establish mechanisms for efficient, coordinated collection and dissemination of new data and information.
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From page 104... ...
Those scientific and technological advances have led to rapid growth and evolution of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) that is leading to a far more accurate and detailed representation of earth features and phenomena (NRC, 1993a)
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From page 105... ...
· Increased standardization of collection and documentation of spatial biological data, including development of a detailed model for biodiversity data (i.e., defining biodiversity variables and their possible transformations, functional relationships, computer representations, and documentation) and then establishment, adopi~on, and implementation of data and metadata standards for descnbing, classifying, and mapping biological features, as described by the Interior Geographic Data Committee (19921.
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From page 106... ...
Collectively, this is a vast effort, and no organization or centralized facility could effectively compile, maintain, and distribute all relevant information. A more realistic goal is to link existing and new biological databases into a distributed federation of NPBS databases.
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From page 107... ...
They have developed independently of most biological databases, notably the museum collections and state biological surveys. Recommendation 3-4: The NPBS should develop its databases In conjunction with the major federal environmental and socioeconomic databases to minimize redundancy, to avoid conflicting terminology and classification systems, and to maintain consistent data standards and formals.
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From page 108... ...
Conventions and protocols for sharing of primary data should be developed cooperatively among NPBS participants. Under NBS leadership, the NPBS should move quickly to produce a data and information policy for establishment, maintenance, and distribution of long-tenn national and international biological dlata and derived infonnation.
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From page 109... ...
Recommendation 3-6: NPBS data managers should consuR with the Human Genome Project, EOSDIS information scientists, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the NSF supercomputer centers, and other large database programs to {eke advantage of the lessons and products from these efforts to manage large volumes of biological and geophysical data and to expedite the development of an effective, distributed database environment. Custodianship Data quality assurance and control are best achieved through the clear assignment of custodianship for subsets of the data to appropriate experts or organizations.
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From page 110... ...
For example, regional and national sites might have to be designated as repositories for data for which custodians cease to exist. Recommendation 3-~: NPBS data managers should identify a small network of organizations to form the core of a national biological archive for data that merit preservation but have no active custodian.
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From page 111... ...
Relevant information on biological resources must flow to local and county decision-makers and resource managers. Information must also support larger-scale analyses to place local actions in perspective and to address regional and national management issues and those which span administrative boundaries.
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From page 112... ...
program at the NBS. It will be a coordinated monitoring program based on existing activities in DOl, including the National Wetlands Inventory, the Waterfowl Inventory, the Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program, the Gap Analysis Program, the Breeding Bird Survey, the Global Change Research Program, Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends, and the Great Lakes Fisheries Assessment.
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From page 113... ...
At the same time, the NBST program must be coordinated with other important monitoring programs outside DOl. Continuing efforts like the joint Fish and Wildlife Service-Smithsonian initiative, Standard Methods for Measuring Biological Diversity, should be accompanied by similar initiatives concerned with management, exchange, and integration of biological survey and monitoring data, such as The Nature Conse~vancy's Heritage Program, and broadly based projects, such as the Flora of North America.
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From page 114... ...
The state of California is now moving rapidly toward coordinated collection and management of biodiversity data. In 1991, a Biodiversity Memorandum of Understanding was signed by major federal amd state agencies, with the intent of promoting interagency cooperation in conserving biodiversity across administrative boundaries.
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From page 115... ...
It addressed six basic subjects: biogeographic inventory and mapping, monitonug of trends in selected taxa, dispersal characteristics and corridor-use patterns of target and other animal species, demography and population viability analysis, survey and autecology of sensitive plants and animals, and genetic studies. The NCCP project in southern California underscores several user needs that the NBS must meet if it is to be effective: the need for better organization of and access to highly dispersed biological data; the need for information at all levels of biological organization, ranging from genes to communities; the need for distribution and monitoring data on species and habitats at both local and regional scales; the need to account for socioeconomic pressures and trends; and the critical need for information on spatial characteristics such, as species' dispersal traits and effects of habitat patch size and arrangement on population viability.
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From page 116... ...
To facilitate the sharing of data among the databases, the NBS should: · Establish a moderat~swed facility with personnel and computing capabilities for archiving and distributing regional and national NBS data sets and for meeting the proposed goals of a National Biological Status and Trends program. · Use existing tools and develop new ones to help NPBS users locate data and information, both digital and nondigital.
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From page 117... ...
Published data sets should receive professional review before they are distributed. General guidelines for documentation and review of biological data are few, and development of such guidelines should be given high priority.
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From page 118... ...
Needs range from primary data to various kinds of derived products. Recommendation 3-12: To facilitate use of the data that it generates, the National Partnership should develop software tools for data visualization and analysis, for data reformatting and conversion, for trend analysis of monitoring data, for spatial Interpolation of sighting and collection data, and for GIS habitat modeling.
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From page 119... ...
Other possible mechanisms for providing such guidance include ensuring ready access to the scientists who produced the information, identifying other qualified scientists through directories of scientific expertise (using such institutions as State Heritage Programs and biological surveys) , and forming standing scientific councils to support local and regional planning and decisionmakers.
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From page 120... ...
These policies articulate a commitment to establishing and maintaining long-term data sets, full and open sharing of the full suite of- global data, data archiving, data standards, data access and affordability, and clear definition of the duration of the period in which scientists retain exclusive use of original data. These policies extend beyond primary data to include enhanced data products that are especially useful to users outside the scientific research community.
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From page 121... ...
The most important of those are peer-reviewed scientific articles and reports. Examples of end products in printed or electronic format that are of fundamental practical value to those who manage, use, or stucly biological resources include taxonomic monographs and revisions; regional floras; faunas; field guides and manuals; deviled range and habitat maps; atlases of the distribution and trends in regional biodiversity, ecological communities, and ecological systems; and scientific studies that interpret existing biological diversity in light of evolutionary history.
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