OOS 25 - The importance of understanding the historical context of long-term data sets in ecology: Learning from site history and local knowledge

Organizer(s)

• ES

  Eric Sokol, n/a

  Quantitative Ecologist
  INSTAAR, University of Colorado Boulder
  Boulder, Colorado, United States

Co-Organizer(s)

• CG

  Corinna Gries

  Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin Madison
  Madison, WI, United States

Moderator(s)

• ES

  Eric Sokol, n/a

  Quantitative Ecologist
  INSTAAR, University of Colorado Boulder
  Boulder, Colorado, United States

The growing availability of open access ecological data that follow FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) have the potential to advance the democratization of ecology and the environmental sciences. Many coordinated research and observation networks that provide open data, such as the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON), the US Critical Zone Observatories (CZO), and others, are adopting FAIR data principles. These organizations play a critical role by providing a wealth of high-quality data spanning broad spatial and temporal extents used in cross-cutting interdisciplinary synthesis projects (e.g., US LTER Network Office and the 2019 NEON Science Summit synthesis working groups) and as resources for open educational material (e.g., lessons developed by Faculty Mentoring Networks on QUBES Hub). However, increasingly open and FAIR data also present the challenge of separating the ecologist from the place. Knowledge of a study site’s historical context is crucial for shaping and prioritizing relevant research questions, designing a study, and interpreting data. For example, investigators at each of the US LTER sites have an intimate knowledge of place (e.g., disturbance history, land use history, socioeconomic motivations for conservation and management decisions) that is required to successfully design long-term studies to collect and interpret ecological data relevant to important questions at their respective sites.

The overall goal of this session is to bring together ecologists and environmental scientists with different perspectives on how historical context and local knowledge are necessary for (1) designing data collection strategies, (2) interpreting ecological data, and/or (3) predicting how ecosystems will respond in future climate and land use scenarios. These considerations are especially important now with the growing (re)use of open data in ecological research. The speakers will address questions, such as: What are sources of historical context and local knowledge that ecologists should consider—that are often missed? What are success stories where historical context and/or local knowledge have provided crucial pieces of information necessary for interpreting ecological data? What resources are available that synthesize site histories, land use histories, or local knowledge to provide context for open data? Where can we prioritize efforts to make ecology and environmental science more inclusive to people from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds who can provide diverse contexts and lenses through which ecological data can be interpreted?

Presentations:

• 8:00 AM – 8:15 AM EDT

  A forthcoming database of past and current land use data for the National Ecological Observatory Network
  

  Presenting Author: Sydne Record – Bryn Mawr College

  Co-author: Samantha Olivares-Mejia – Haverford College

  Co-author: Frances Romero – Bryn Mawr College

  Co-author: Danaiijah Vilsaint – Bryn Mawr College

  Co-author: Kyra Hoerr – University of Pittsburgh

  Co-author: Cameo Chilcutt – Michigan State University

  Co-author: Huijie Wei – University of Florida Gainesville

  Co-author: Joseph Toman – UC Berkeley

  Co-author: Tatiana Perez – Bryn Mawr College

  Co-author: Benjamin Baiser – University of Florida

  Co-author: Phoebe Zarnetske – Michigan State University
• 8:15 AM – 8:30 AM EDT

  Ecological sensitivities to pulse dynamics and antecedent climate: insights from
  across US LTER sites
  

  Presenting Author: John Kominoski – Florida International University

  Co-author: Becky A. Ball – Arizona State University

  Co-author: Tom W. Bell – Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543

  Co-author: Gretchen Gerrish – University of Wisconsin - Madison

  Co-author: Pablo Gutierrez Fonseca – University of Vermont

  Co-author: Kristofer Hall – University of New Mexico

  Co-author: Patricia Medeiros – University of Georgia

  Co-author: Jennifer A. Rudgers – University of New Mexico
• 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM EDT

  Uncovering high resolution disturbance history across the United States
  

  Presenting Author: Jasper Van doninck – Michigan State University Michigan State University

  Co-author: Annie Smith – Washington State Department of Natural Resources

  Co-author: Sydne Record – Bryn Mawr College

  Co-author: Patrick Bills – Michigan State University

  Co-author: Chakata Hart – Michigan State University

  Co-Author: Phoebe Zarnetske – Michigan State University
• 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM EDT

  Historical data from heroic age explorers provides context for interpreting present-day diatom biodiversity
  

  Presenting Author: Diane McKnight – University of Colorado

  Co-author: Eric R. Sokol, n/a – INSTAAR, University of Colorado Boulder

  Co-author: Howkins Adrian – Bristol University

  Co-author: Tyler Kohler – Faculty of Science, Department of Ecology, Charles University, Prague 2, Czech Republic
• 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM EDT

  Reimagining our relation to land and knowledge through meaningful collaborations with local Indigenous communities
  

  Presenting Author: Danielle Ignace – The University of British Columbia

  Co-author: Meghan MacLean – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  Co-author: Rafael Viana Furer – Macalester College

  Co-author: Lehua Blalock – Brown University

  Co-author: Clarisse Hart – Harvard Forest
• 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM EDT

  Modern attempts to remedy previous environmental injustice patterns structures urban street tree biodiversity
  

  Presenting Author: Christopher Swan – University of Maryland Baltimore County

  Co-author: Karin Burghardt – University of Maryland College Park

  Co-author: Meghan L. Avolio – Johns Hopkins University

  Co-author: Dexter Locke – US Forest Service

  Co-author: J Morgan Grove – US Forest Service

  Co-author: Nancy Sonti – USDA Forest Service