By Jennifer M. Bayer, Rebecca A. Scully and Jake F. Weltzin, U.S. Geological Survey
Field crews measuring a stream. Photo: Jennifer M. Bayer, USGS.
The problem
Natural resource managers need data for decisions at many scales — often across state, agency and watershed boundaries. But the data come from many agencies and programs, each with its own methods and standards, and coordinating them is often too slow and costly.
MonitoringResources.org offers tools to coordinate monitoring, plan cost-effectively and share knowledge. It was built by the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership — federal, state, tribal, local and private monitoring programs — and the USGS, with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration and the USGS.
What it does
The free, public site lets users:
- map existing and proposed monitoring projects, with their metadata;
- use a library of standard monitoring methods and protocols;
- plan new programs and share existing ones;
- see where monitoring overlaps or leaves gaps, and whether priorities are being met;
- compare protocols, and find locations and sampling plans for new or better monitoring.
It supports projects through the whole data lifecycle, from planning to implementation, and links to data repositories, GIS databases and program websites. Data documented this way are more valuable: they come with consistent, lasting records of how they were collected.
The tools
| Tool | Does |
|---|---|
| Study Design Tool | defines objectives and an overall monitoring plan |
| Method Builder and Library | documents step-by-step methods for collecting and analyzing data |
| Protocol Builder and Library | combines methods — including published ones — into a protocol |
| Master Sample Library | stores master samples: sets of possible sample locations from which sites are chosen, so data from different programs can be shared and combined |
| User Sample File | uploads planned sampling sites |
| Sample Designer Tool | builds and documents sample designs; selects spatially balanced, random sites from a master sample with the GRTS algorithm; tracks site evaluation; shares sampling details |
| Monitoring Explorer | an interactive map of where, when and how projects have collected data |
| APIs | share content automatically with other programs and databases |
Working together: the site also offers educational materials, a community forum, a glossary, and links to data repositories — helping users learn the "who, what, when, where and how" of monitoring, standardize methods within a project, and coordinate across projects for comparisons.
Who uses it
The Bonneville Power Administration invested in the site to standardize protocols for the monitoring it funds in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2017, interest from outside the Northwest has expanded it. Users include:
- the BPA Fish and Wildlife Program — protocols, designs and sites across the Columbia River Basin;
- the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program, a basin-wide, multi-agency effort;
- the Bureau of Land Management's Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Program — aquatic sites across 13 western states;
- the North American Bat Monitoring Program — continent-wide bat monitoring with many partners.
Benefits
- efficient use of funding, through collaboration;
- a view of current and planned multi-agency monitoring, to spot gaps, overlaps and partners;
- clear, consistent documentation of methods;
- easier discovery of existing data for synthesis;
- lasting records of how data were collected, for future users;
- knowledge sharing among practitioners and managers.
Sources
Based on MonitoringResources.org—Supporting Coordinated and Cost-Effective Natural Resource Monitoring Across Organizations, by Jennifer M. Bayer, Rebecca A. Scully and Jake F. Weltzin, USGS Fact Sheet 2018–3015, U.S. Geological Survey; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The photograph is taken from the fact sheet's PDF, which the import had left out.
许可协议： CC0 1.0（公有领域） · 改编自 pubs.usgs.gov
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