Thursday, September 23, 2010

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and El Morro National Monument

USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and El Morro National Monument has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Products include aerial photography - flight line, graphic of orthophoto mosaic, and spatial orthophoto data; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, field plots database, physical descriptive for plots, and species list for plots; geospatial vegetation information - graphics of vegetation communities, geodatabase, and plot and AA photos; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, and contingency matrix; metadata, and a link to NPS information about  Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and El Morro National Monument.

The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for sixty-one park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

(Photos: Top left - Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, lower right - El Morro National Monument.  Credit: USGS Vegetation Characterization website.)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Products include aerial photography - flight line; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, field plots database, physical descriptive for plots, and species list for plots; geospatial vegetation information - graphics of vegetation communities, geodatabase, and plot and AA photos; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, and contingency matrix; metadata, and a link to NPS information about  Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for sixty-one park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

Monday, September 13, 2010

The NBII Library of Images From the Environment was rated Best of the Web

The NBII Library of Images from the Environment, or NBII LIFE (http://life.nbii.gov), was listed as Best of the Web in the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News opinion section by columnist Taralyn Tan, in the September 2010 issue.


The LIFE Web site was rated as 4 out of 4 stars, due in part to its navigation structure that organizes photos into categories such as animals, fungi and lichens, plants, environmental topics, interactions among species, landscapes, research, management and more.  Also receiving praise were the LIFE name itself and the NBII Kids page, which is accessed via LIFE.  In presenting photographs of the biological world, the NBII LIFE was considered "an excellent library" and "a wonderful window to the world around us, highlighting plants, animals, and well, LIFE in general." 

(Photos: Top image:The LIFE Homepage; Right image:  Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas) Credit: John Mosesso/LIFE.nbii.gov)

Friday, September 10, 2010

Discover Life’s Video of Bee Hunt Project Data Collection Protocol


There’s a new five-minute online video describing how to take scientifically useful photographs of insects. Whether for invasive species data collection or pollinator studies, Discover Life’s video shows how to take more effective photographs in the field. Thanks to their partnership with the NBII’s Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN), all of Discover Life’s tools are free via the Web. They are rallying citizen scientists to monitor bees, fungi, lichens, ladybugs, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, and goldenrods. The video can be viewed online at the Discover Life Web site.

(Photo: Honey bee (Apis mellifera) on a daisy in Africa.  Credit: Elizabeth A. Sellers /life.nbii.gov)

NBII Acting in Cupid’s Service

The NBII is typically presented as a broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources. We often add that resource managers, scientists, educators, and the general public use the NBII to answer a wide range of questions related to the management, use, or conservation of this nation’s biological resources.

True enough. But when we talk about the general public using the NBII, occasionally the motivation has more to do with biological drives than biological resources (which is maybe not so surprising since without bio­logical drives there wouldn’t be any biological resources).

That said, consider two perspec­tives on the topic of butterflies, one of many NBII specialties:

  • The first is from our NBII Pollina­tors Web site, which features a focus on North American butterflies and moths, members of the order Lepidoptera.
  • The second is from country music legend and poet Dolly Parton, who wrote: “Love is like a butterfly, as soft and gentle as a sigh, the multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings.”

So where’s the connection? Actu­ally, it was brought to our attention by an alert aunt and wedding planner who was cruising our butterflies and moths site not so long ago and recalled to us that she wanted to have a butterfly-themed wedding for her niece. She and her niece were planning the details and scouring the net for resources that would ensure this theme was (I) do-able. It seems they needed reliable information on a wide variety of but­terfly species, and the NBII site was among the most engaging they visited.

“Thanks for the [butterfly] re­sources you provided,” our supportive inquirer said. “They have really helped my niece out.”

Elizabeth Sellers, Manager of the NBII Pollinators Project, thanked the writer for her kind words and added that our site was just another example of the NBII’s longstanding theme of Building Knowledge Through Partner­ships: “Our Butterflies and Moths Web page was produced through our part­nership with the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and with input from members of the North American Pollinator Protection Cam­paign .”

Disclosures aside, while resource managers turn to our site most often seeking resources to help build and maintain healthy ecosystems, some­times we can also provide valuable assistance to those more attuned to building healthy, long-term relation­ships. In any event, we’re glad to be of service to all — including Cupid!

Announcing the Texas Coastal Fisheries Mapping Application


Gulf of Mexico coastal fisheries populations have tremendous value in ecological, economic, and social terms. As a result, each coastal state within the NBII Central Southwest Gulf Coast Information Node (CSWGCIN) region is involved in coastal fisheries management. Each agency that collects fisheries-independent (non-harvest) data in the Gulf of Mexico coastal waters does so according to agency-specific missions and goals; this leads to differing sampling methodologies and database formats. Each separate database tells part of the story about the state of Gulf of Mexico coastal fisheries resources. Combining them into a cohesive and complete data record is a difficult, yet important, task.

The goal is to combine coastal fisheries monitoring data from multiple Gulf states into an online mapping application. As a first step, CSWGCIN has acquired fisheries-independent monitoring data from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Coastal Fisheries Division and made the data accessible through the Texas Coastal Fisheries Mapping Application. The TPWD coastal fisheries resource database dates back to 1977 and is based on a randomized sampling method. The database includes information on a host of estuarine species sampled using a variety of sampling gears: bag seine, shrimp trawl, gill net, and oyster dredge. Each gear type is used by TPWD to sample particular habitat types, species, and life history stages. Bag seines collect juveniles and small adult species that inhabit estuarine edge habitat along shoreline and marsh fringes. Shrimp trawls collect small- to medium-sized species inhabiting bottom habitat of the open bay. Gill nets capture large adult specimens that move along the shore. Oyster dredges are used to collect shellfish from oyster reef habitats.
 
Data include catch numbers, lengths of specimens captured, hydrological data (e.g., salinity, dissolved oxygen, water temperature), and metadata describing location, date/time, and other characteristics (e.g., depth, sampling effort, etc.) of the sampling event. The TPWD coastal fisheries database is unique in that it contains data for all species captured in the various sampling gears, regardless of recreational or commercial importance.


Data were analyzed to determine time series trends in relative abundance for multiple estuarine fisheries species. Indicator species for this project were chosen based on commercial, recreational, or ecological importance. The list below provides examples of species included in the mapping application:



Common Name
Latin Name
Atlantic croaker
Micropogonias undulatus
Bay anchovy
Anchoa mitchilli
Black drum
Pogonias cromis
Blue catfish
Ictalurus furcatus
Blue crab
Callinectes sapidus
Brown shrimp
Farfantepenaeus aztecus
Gafftopsail catfish
Bagre marinus
Southern flounder
Paralichthys lethostigma
“The goal is to combine coastal fisheries monitoring data from multiple Gulf states into an online mapping application.”
Abundance was reported as relative abundance (the proportion of individuals of one species relative to the total number of individuals of all species captured at one location or time). Relative abundances were displayed in an online mapping interface and made available to users via the CSWGCIN portal.


In addition to viewing the time series fisheries abundance data in an online mapping interface, users can view physical characterization data for each estuary. The mapping interface provides hydrological information detailing average salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and water temperatures for the eight major bay systems in Texas. The data portal also includes an option to download the coastal fisheries data, hydrological data, and supporting metadata.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Raptor Gains Honorable Mention in GCN Award Competition

Raptor, the new search engine of the USGS-National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), has just been recognized and honored as one of ten 2010 Honorable Mention Winners in the 23rd Annual Government Computer News (GCN) Awards for Outstanding Information Technology Achievement in Government. Winners of the prestigious GCN awards are announced annually by Government Computer News, the online authority for government IT professionals. The award recognizes outstanding government agency IT achievement. In particular, it gives visibility to agency IT teams whose innovation or achievements using technology during the past 12 months have made a significant impact on the performance of their agencies or the services they provide. The award is based on group performance rather than the accomplishment of a single individual. A distinguished panel of judges made up of current and former government IT officials also looked for innovation and technology leadership in selecting this year’s winners. All of the GCN winners will be featured in a special report in the October 18, 2010, issue of Government Computer News.

Read more in the USGS Press Release, Raptor Gains Honorable Mention in Government Computer News Award Competition.

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Grand Portage National Monument

USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Grand Portage National Monument has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Products include aerial photography - flight line, graphic of orthophoto mosaic, and spatial orthophoto data; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, field plots database, physical descriptive for plots, and species list for plots; geospatial vegetation information - graphics of vegetation communities, geodatabase, and plot and AA photos; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, and contingency matrix; metadata, and a link to NPS information about  Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Grand Portage National Monument. The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for ninety park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

(Photo: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is located in the northern-most lands of Wisconsin, on the south shore of Lake Superior, about 19 km of the northwest shores of the Bayfield Peninsula, and comprises an area of 28,074 ha.Photo courtesy of the USGS Vegetation Characterization website.)