TERN's eco-informatics David Turner's presentation on AEKOS at EcoTas13 in November 2013.

1. ÆKOS: A new paradigm for discovery and
access to complex ecological data
David Turner and Paul Chinnick
(d.turner@adelaide.edu.au)
Logos used with
consent. Content of
this presentation
except logos is
released under TERN
Attribution Licence
Data Licence v1.0

2. Open data?

3. Typical reuse cycle
Identify problem
Conduct analysis
Draft approach
Search for and
acquire potential
data
Prepare data
Modify approach
Assess suitability

4. Regional practices

5. Diversity:
Ecological Data covers a
wide range of topics
Source:Forestcheck:
www.dec.wa.gov.au
www.nswrail.net
Fragmentation:
Many different ways of measuring/observing/
expressing similar ecological concepts
* Rapidly evolving
Dispersal:
Data is stored in many
storage locations and formats
© Alamay
Complexity:
Data usually needs
explanation and context before
it can be accurately used
www.derm.qld.gov.au
Characteristics of ecological data

6. © eResearchSA
The information landscape
© eResearchSA
Plants
Bats
Birds

7. Data entropy

8. Variable effort based on cost benefit
AEKOS approach
Data transform
tools
Diverse data sources
Indexing
tools
Description
tools
index
Portal
Data use
Data viewer &
Extract tools
AEKOS
warehouse
Model maintenance
Contribute to new research

9. Data handling
Tree height
Species
DBH
8
Tree height
E. camaldulensis
Species
45
Life stage
Mature
Condition
Condition
C: 5 - 10
E. camaldulensis
4
Good
Floristics
Shape
Age
The challenge is to integrate
the evolving diversity of data
Fruiting
C
20 - 30

10. Ontological modelling
Study location
Sampled area
Landscape features
Sampling unit
Entity
Attribute
Value
Org_gp 0001
Tree height
Org_gp 0001
Species
Org_gp 0001
DBH
Org_gp 0001
Life stage
Mature
Org_gp 0001
Condition
Good
Org_gp 0001
Floristics
Org_gp 0001
Shape
8
Organism group
(vegetation association)
E. camaldulensis
45
Flowering
C
Organism group
(individual tree)

11. Discovery

12. Site level results

13. Project context

14. Site context and data

15. Data extraction and use

16. Current status
~ 100k sites by end of 2013
SHaRED tool online May 2014

17. Thank you
Website: www.aekos.org.au
Portal:
portal.aekos.org.au
TERN booth @ EcoTas
d.turner@adelaide.edu.au

18. Concept alignment
•We integrate data from many
different sources, using different
classification systems
•All datasets indexed with common
set of search terms (vocabularies)
•Taxonomy is a good example
•Many other themes for search from
project metadata to observation
level data