TY - JOUR
T1 - Completing the data life cycle
T2 - Using information management in macrosystems ecology research
AU - Rüegg, Janine
AU - Gries, Corinna
AU - Bond-Lamberty, Ben
AU - Bowen, Gabriel J.
AU - Felzer, Benjamin S.
AU - McIntyre, Nancy E.
AU - Soranno, Patricia A.
AU - Vanderbilt, Kristin L.
AU - Weathers, Kathleen C.
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - 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 from the ones conceived by those involved in the original projects. The practice of documenting and submitting datasets to data repositories that are publicly accessible ensures that research results and data are available to and useable by other researchers, thus fostering open science. However, ecologists are often unfamiliar with the requirements and information management tools for effectively preserving data and receive little institutional or professional incentive to do so. Here, we provide recommendations for achieving these ends and give examples from current MSE projects to demonstrate why information management is critical for ensuring that scientific results can be reproduced and that data can be shared for future use.
AB - 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 from the ones conceived by those involved in the original projects. The practice of documenting and submitting datasets to data repositories that are publicly accessible ensures that research results and data are available to and useable by other researchers, thus fostering open science. However, ecologists are often unfamiliar with the requirements and information management tools for effectively preserving data and receive little institutional or professional incentive to do so. Here, we provide recommendations for achieving these ends and give examples from current MSE projects to demonstrate why information management is critical for ensuring that scientific results can be reproduced and that data can be shared for future use.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84894256046&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1890/120375
DO - 10.1890/120375
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84894256046
VL - 12
SP - 24
EP - 30
JO - Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
JF - Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
SN - 1540-9295
IS - 1
ER -