This document discusses infrastructure for ecosystem science in Australia. It begins by outlining the multi-disciplinary nature of ecosystem science and challenges in funding infrastructure to support data collection, storage, analysis and sharing across disciplines. It promotes a collaborative approach through the TERN network to establish shared infrastructure and standards. Examples are given of coordinated data collection, processing, storage and analysis projects enabled by TERN. The document argues that infrastructure like TERN improves the efficiency and effectiveness of ecosystem science in Australia.

1. Many Kinds of Infrastructure:
Resolving and Advancing Ecosystem Data
Collection and Analysis Methods Within and
Between Disciplines
By:
Stuart Phinn, Alex Held, Andrew Lowe, Nikki Thurgate, Tim
Clancy, Mike Grundy, Helen Cleugh Mike Liddell, and Eva van
Gorsel

2. Presentation Aim
To demonstrate how shared national research
infrastructure, such as TERN, enables the development
of a consensus on methods and products.

3. Contents
1. The realities of funding and supporting ecosystem science
2. Whose science is it anyway?
3. A framework for cooperation and collaboration
4. Examples of coordinated ecosystem science

4. 1. The realities of funding and supporting
ecosystem science
• The Scope of Ecosystem Science
• Ecosystem Science Infrastructure
• Funding Ecosystem Science Infrastructure

5. • The Scope of Ecosystem Science ?
• Multi-disciplinary and multiple agencies
• Ecological to bio-geophysical
Source: www.fas.org
• Data collection, storage , analysis,
modelling and visualisation
• Science to policy, management
and industry

6. • Ecosystem science research infrastructure
Collection Data Data Policy +
Methods Storage Sharing Modelling Management
Instruments Processing Data Curation Data Analysis
+ Sensors + Analysis + Publishing Searching + Synthesis

7. • Funding Ecosystem Science Infrastructure – Funding Sources
• Australian Government – NCRIS and EIF
• Australian Research Council - Linkage Infrastructure
Collection Data Data Policy +
Methods Storage Sharing Modelling Management
Instruments Processing Data Curation Data Analysis
+ Sensors + Analysis + Publishing Searching + Synthesis
• State Governments
• Agency/Organisation • Australian Research Council
• Professional Societies • Australian Government
• Private Industry Partnerships
• Philanthropic Donations

8. • Funding Ecosystem Science Infrastructure – Funding Sources
• Current competitive funding levels and process for ecosystem
research in Australia are inefficient and un-sustainable for
engaging the ecosystem science communities.
Development of ideas
Compile funding Proposal
Project funded Project not funded
20-30 %
Data processing and analysis
80-70 %
???????
Interpretation of results, specification of findings]
applications applications
Publishing of papers Publishing data
Body of knowledge for
UNDERSTANDING + MANAGING AUSTRALIAN ECOSYSTEMS?

9. 2. Whose science is it anyway?
• Science and Research
• Data to Research to Publication
• Licences – Why and How?

10. • Science and Research Domains

11. • Data to Research to Publication
Development of ideas
Funding
Design of project and data collection-analysis
Data collection
Data processing and analysis
Interpretation of results, specification of findings]
Writing, revision and publishing of paper and data

12. • Licences – Why ?
• To make sure that:
- Data are use for purpose(s) intended
- Data provider is not liable
- Data are cited correctly
0 2500

13. • Licences – How?
• TERN licensing implementation process
• TERN data providers Deed
“ensures that both the data provider and
subsequent users have a clear understanding of
the basis upon which data has been provided, and
upon which TERN and its Facilities can hold, use
and disseminate data.”

14. • Every scientist should be publishing their data?
• What I do is no one else’s business
• I couldn’t be bothered; it’s too much work
• No one reads it anyway

15. 3. A Framework for
cooperation and collaboration
• Ecosystem Science Research Cycle
• Ecosystem Science Activities
(collection, processing, analysis and storage)
• Types and Levels of Cooperation and Collaboration

16. • Ecosystem Science Research Data Cycle
Ecosystem Science
Enhanced ability to
Research output: revise, question and Knowledge gap:
new data and expand knowledge research
publications questions
r
Data analysis,
Proposal and
integration and
planning
synthesis
Storage, Data
preservation and collection, verifica
Enables large scale and
discoverability tion, quality
coordinated data
of data assurance and
collection, sharing and
multiple re-uses control
Data + meta-data,
licensing

17. • Types and Levels of Cooperation and Collaboration
A circle indicates a researcher engaged in the research cycle
TERN –
A collaborative approach to ecosystem establishing
Pre-TERN
networks through shared infrastructure and
Different colours indicated different
data, and new opportunities for collaboration and
fields/specialities. synthesis

18. • Types and Levels of Cooperation and Collaboration
• Methods
• Share data
• Data collection together
• Analysis together
• Meta- analysis
• Workshops

19. 4. Examples of coordinated
ecosystem science
• From TERN 2013 Symposium Abstracts and “TERN Delivers”
• Data Collection
• Data Processing
• Data Storage
• Modelling
• Integration, Analysis and Synthesis

20. • Data Collection
• Selection of appropriate measurements
• Standard protocols for measurement
• Development + assessment of data collection tools
• Apps, open data forms and processing
• Quality assurance and checking
• Crowd sourcing /citizen science

21. • Data Collection

22. • Data Collection

23. • Data Sets
• Database of long term survey sites
• Continental vegetation structure and physiology
• Continental soils and topography
• Continental gas/energy/water fluxes
• Regional vegetation structure and physiology

24. • Data Sets

25. • Data Processing
• Standardised data correction techniques
• Improved interpolation techniques - continental
• Improved data integration techniques – regional
• Collaborative approaches (collection +processing)
to continental products
• Improved uncertainty and error analyses

26. • Data Processing
max
min
Non-per
mask

27. • Data Storage, Discovery and Sharing
• Data submission systems
• Meta-data generation
• Data license selection
• Enabling data submission across multiple disciplines
• Enabling mode effective data search and retrieval
• Whole of portal system development

28. • Data Storage, Discovery and Sharing

29. • Data Storage, Discovery and Sharing

30. SHaRED
Submission, Harmonisation and Retrieval of Ecological Data
 An intuitive, online tool for ecological data submission
 Controlled, consistent metadata to describe submitted data
 Builds on the existing ÆKOS data framework
 Integrates with ÆKOS repository and portal
 Enables citation and encourages collaboration
 Modelled on the TERN Multi-Scale Plots Network (MSPN)
research community

31. • Monitoring
• Importance of networks for covering spatial and temporal variability
• Identification of trends and changes in desert, forest and grassland
ecosystems
• Improved continental water, and energy flux budgets
• Accurate and extensive continental scale phenology
• Identifying human induced changes
• Evaluation of monitoring programs

32. • Monitoring - Multi-scale Plot Network Book
Title TBA –
…long term ecological monitoring/research and its value
• Section 1 - Introductory Chapters
Ch 2 - Value of Long-term Research & How to Design Effective Ecological Monitoring
Ch 3 – Our Capacity To Tell An Australian Ecological Story
Ch 4 - The Cultural Imperative
• Section 2 – 9 x Ecosystem Data Chapters
Ch’s 5- 13 - Tropical Rainforest to Desert Complex
• Section 3 - Closing Chapter
Ch 14 - The Synopsis

33. • Science – Knowledge Generation
• New understanding of spatial and temporal variability of
desert, forest and savannah ecosystems
• Separation of natural and human induced changes in specific
ecosystems
• How to link long term survey data sets across multiple scales
and observations
• 64 papers for 2011-12

34. • Science – to Management :
Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
• 20 working groups, 13 workshops
• Extinctions + Population Dynamics
• Fire management
• Production landscape management
• Aboriginal bio-cultural knowledge for science
and management
• Linking field to remote and modelled data sets for policy support.

35. • TERN’s impact on ecosystem science and management?
TERN infrastructure use for 2011-2012:
Members of the community > 5000
Newsletters Subscribers 1500
International collaborations 53
Universities involved 17
State and Federal agencies 25
Commercial engagement 3
International Partners 3
Peer reviewed publications - journal articles 64
Conference papers/presentations 112

36. • Examples of increasing efficiency and effectiveness

37. International Partners
TERN is supported by the Australian Government through
the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy
and the Super Science Initiative

38. Questions?
Professor Stuart Phinn
s.phinn@uq.edu.au
Professor Andy Lowe
a.lowe@adelaide.edu.au
www.tern.org.au