New Harvard Forest Publication: Analytic Web Modeling

Ecologists are interested in synthesizing a diverse array of complex datasets to address novel ecological questions, but actually synthesizing datasets to produce reliable and reproducible results is a challenging task. A team of ecologists from the Harvard Forest and computer scientists from the University of Massachusetts have developed formal representations, known as analytic webs, that provide both producers and consumers of datasets complete and precise definitions of the scientific processes that are used to process scientific datasets. Analytic webs are created and data can be synthesized with a prototype software tool called SciWalker. We have successfully applied analytic webs to the analysis and synthesis of forest CO2 exchange data from eddy flux towers located on Prospect Hill. This work was supported by NSF grant CCR-0205575.

A.M. Ellison, L.J. Osterweil, L. Clarke, J.L. Hadley, A. Wise, E. Boose, D.R. Foster, A. Hanson, D. Jensen, P. Kuzeja, E. Riseman, and H. Schultz. 2006. Analytic webs support the synthesis of ecological data sets. Ecology 87(6): 1345-1358.