Moving forward to sharing ecosystem data and sustaining long-term ecosystem research

2011 TERN Symposium

Moving forward to sharing ecosystem data and sustaining long-term ecosystem research

• TERN’s Principles and Science Questions

• Learning from other ecosystem data collection + synthesis activities

• TERN’s facilities and their collective impact

• Valuing data sharing and collaboration

• TERN’s Portals - Infrastructure for Sharing and Collaboration

• Other drivers for TERN

• Sustaining TERN?

TERN’s Principles: Updates?Understanding and advancing our understanding of Australia’s ecosystems

and the challenges they face, requires:

a. Sharing of knowledge and data in appropriate ways.

b. A “network” of like-minded scientists with common requirements for quality assured, archived long term data sets, and the capacity to act collaboratively to request research and infrastructure funding

c. Individual ecosystem scientists being willing to share their knowledge and data, based on the understanding that it is contributing to the collective benefit of the ecosystem

d. TERN is being built as a resource to be shared by the ecosystem science community;

d. TERN data sets will be shared and used under proper licensing conditions that enables free and public access, but enables the data user and contributor to advance their work.

Science questions driving TERN and its facilities:

Questions TERN Portal

ACEAS

Auscover

Ozflux

Eco-informatics

Multi scale Plot Network

Coasts

Soils

Scaling & Modelling

How are Australia’s ecosystems changing over time? X X X X X X X X X

What is the impact of management interventions on Australian ecosystems and ecosystem processes?

X X X X X X

How are the spatial distributions of Australian plant and animal species changing are some becoming extinct?

X X X X X

How are introduced plant and animal species affecting native species?

X X X X X

Are natural disturbance regimes (fire, flood, cyclones) changing over time and what is their impact?

X X X X X X

Learning from other ecosystem data collection, sharing + synthesis programs ?

• Are there existing ecosystem data collection and synthesis programs we can learn from?

• What makes these programs successful, in terms of being engaged with and used by communities?

• Are these programs sustainable?

TERN’s facilities and their collective impact:

Project Plan

Establish/Engage Community(ies)

Design infrastructure

Data portal (data, meta-data, processes)Data

Licensing

Build + Deploy Infrastructure

DeliverData on portal

Develop and im

plement long-term

sustainability plans.

TERN Portal

ACEAS

Ecoinformatics

Auscover

Ozflux

Multi-scale Plot Network

Coasts

Soils

Scaling, Integration and modelling

TERN’s facilities and their collective impact:

TERN’s facilities and their collective impact:

Valuing data sharing and collaboration

• Is the sharing of data and knowledge on the basis of “good will to improve the knowledge base of ecosystem science” in Australia sufficient to actively support TERN?

• What are the explicit returns to be made to researchers and research agencies for sharing their data sets?

– Financial– Performance and Impact Assessment

• How do we establish these new “values” for sharing and collaboration?

TERN’s Portals - Infrastructure for Sharing and Collaboration

Sustaining TERN?

• Key requirements for building a sustainable TERN:• People• Co-operation• Funding • Co-investment• Long term research

• Understanding, Monitoring and Managing Australian Ecosystems Requires Integration across Environments and Disciplines

• Integrated Ecosystem Research Networks – Marine-Terrestrial- Atmospheric-Geological

Sustaining TERN?

Core Activities

Infrastructure for Pure and Applied ResearchTERN’s focus is on understanding, monitoring and managing Australian ecosystems.

Community engagementA broad range of users will be able to access research on biophysical components of Australia’s ecosystems; to understand their composition and how they are changing over time.

Operational managementTERN Central will serve as the single entry point to TERN for the public and for key users of TERN data in the ecosystem science community in Australia and internationally and ecosystem management programs in Australia at national and state levels.

Developing and Supporting Long-term Ecosystem ResearchTo ensure its sustainability, TERN will migrate to other spheres and seek alternative funding sources and revenue streams as it works towards its vision of 2014 and beyond.

Key statement from the discussion paper:

“Long-term and standardised observations of our environment are perhaps the most important contribution research infra-structure can make to support our understanding of how our environment is changing.

This was a priority in the 2006 and 2008 Roadmaps and remains the top priority.”

(DIISR, 2011: 13)

Project Outcomes from TERN: Operational and self-sustaining network of ecosystem research scientists and infrastructure that enables storage, discovery and sharing of ecosystem research data.

Activities Used to Achieve Outcomes:• Organisational and administrative structures• Networks of personnel and data• Ecosystem Data portals and standards• Enabling data downloads and licensing• Enabling data uploads and licensing• Shifting ecosystem research to a more collaborative

paradigm that rewards sharing and cooperative use of data.

Evaluations and Questions?Professor Stuart Phinn

tern.director@uq.edu.au

Assoc. Professor Alison Spechtaceas@uq.edu.au

www.tern.org.au