Abstract
Long‐term ecological data are crucial in helping ecologists understand ecosystem function and environmental change. Nevertheless, these kinds of data sets are difficult to analyze because they are usually large, multivariate, and spatiotemporal. Although existing analysis tools such as statistical methods and spreadsheet software permit rigorous tests of pre‐conceived hypotheses and static charts for simple data exploration, they have limited capacity to provide an overview of the data and to enable ecologists to explore data iteratively, and interactively, before committing to statistical analysis. These issues hinder how ecologists gain knowledge and generate hypotheses from long‐term data. We present Ecological Distributions and Trends Explorer (EcoDATE), a web‐based, visual‐analysis tool that facilitates exploratory analysis of long‐term ecological data (i.e., generating hypotheses as opposed to confirming hypotheses). The tool, which is publicly available online, was created and refined through a user‐centered design process in which our team of ecologists and visualization researchers collaborated closely. The results of our collaboration were (1) a set of visual representation and interaction techniques well suited to communicating distribution patterns and temporal trends in ecological data sets, and (2) an understanding of processes ecologists use to explore data and generate and test hypotheses. We present three case studies to demonstrate the utility of EcoDATE and the exploratory analysis processes using long‐term data on cone production, stream chemistry, and forest structure collected as part of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA), Long Term Ecological Research (LTER), and US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station programs. We also present results from a survey of 15 participants of a working group at the 2012 LTER All Scientists Meeting that showed that users appreciated the tool for its ease of use, holistic access to large data sets, and interactivity.
Highlights
Facilitated by technological advances, recent decades have witnessed the proliferation of complex and large data sets within many fields of science
We evaluate Ecological Distributions and Trends Explorer (EcoDATE) by three case studies, one for each of the three data sets: cone production, stream chemistry, and forest structure
In this work, we describe the design, implementation, deployment, and evaluation of EcoDATE, an interactive web-based visual-analysis tool designed for the analysis of long-term ecological data with a focus on distribution patterns and temporal trends
Summary
Facilitated by technological advances, recent decades have witnessed the proliferation of complex and large data sets within many fields of science. Long-term ecological studies commonly involve a variety of data sets and hypotheses, but the analysis usually follows three main steps: (1) collect ecological and hopefully relevant environmental data; (2) plot and observe overall distributions, temporal trends, and correlation of variables in typical charts such as static histograms, line charts, and scatter plots; and (3) use statistical tests to confirm or refute the initial hypotheses. This approach may work well when the number of variables is small and interesting hypotheses can be preconceived. The exploration process usually involves hypothesis generation as opposed to hypothesis testing, decision-making, scientific modeling, or theory development
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