Completing the data life cycle: using information management in macrosystems ecology research

Abstract

Broad-scale temporal or spatial scientific investigations, such as those represented by macrosystems ecology (MSE) projects, address very complex problems that require the collection and synthesis of data from many sources, the collaboration of people from diverse disciplines, and the application of highly complex analytical approaches (Goring et al. 2014;Heffernan et al. 2014). The thorough and transparent documentation of procedures for data collection, processing, and analysis is critical for the success of such projects, and effective information management strategies are required. A wide range of approaches to information management are currently in use, from modest informal information management by individual investigators, to one or more information managers supporting a multi-investigator project (eg a Long Term Ecological Research [LTER] site), to an entire information technology department supporting research platforms (eg National Ecological Observatory Network [NEON]). Most MSE projects fall somewhere on the continuum between the extremes of a single investigator and a NEON-type platform in their information management needs, protocols, and procedures.Data are valuable beyond the original MSE project and should be preserved and made accessible, particularly if public funds were used in their creation (eg National Science Foundation [NSF]). Time, effort, and potentially expensive equipment are needed to collect data that, in a changing world, quickly become irreplaceable (Wolkovich et al. 2012), and many MSE projects rely on previously collected data. However, publishing data requires offering other researchers and the public unfettered and full access to those data (Molloy 2011). For the researcher this means relinquishing complete control over one's data, as well as exposing the data and research to a greater degree of scrutiny than in the past. This prospect, and the reluctance felt by some researchers regarding "open science", is as old as scientific discoveries themselves. The advent of scientific journals facilitated an openness with regard to information, as long as all the data and procedures could be published in a journal article (Nielsen 2012). Yet contemporary science has long surpassed the ability to include all the data in journal articles, and com- MACROSYSTEMS ECOLOGYCompleting the data life cycle: using information management in macrosystems ecology research An important goal of macrosystems ecology (MSE) research is to advance understanding of ecological systems at both fine and broad temporal and spatial scales. Our premise in this paper is that MSE projects require integrated information management at their inception. Such efforts will lead to improved communication and sharing of knowledge among diverse project participants, better science outcomes, and more transparent and accessible (ie "open") science. We encourage researchers to "complete the data life cycle" by publishing welldocumented datasets, thereby facilitating re-use of the data to answer new and different questions f...

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