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Goal 1) Leadership in biodiversity data science

By Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program

Continue to be an authoritative source for data (e.g., occurrence, abundance, distributions, movement, taxonomy) on species and plant and animal communities to guide conservation and resource management decisions. CSAS&L is committed to continue leading data integration and dissemination efforts based on high quality data standards, domain-specific standards, and protocols (e.g., quality assurance, metadata creation, applying standard classifications and terms) to facilitate understanding, interoperability, and synthesis of national data assets in support of Department of the Interior (DOI) mission and priorities. 


Research Ouestions

  1. How can biodiversity data be synthesized effectively at relevant (e.g. national, regionalj scales to create policy-relevant knowledge products?
  2. What advances in data management practices are needed to improve access to, and the quality and application of, biodiversity data developed or aggregated by CSAS&L? How can "data" understanding be improved by modeling, field data collection, metadata, use of consistent standards, or web-based tools?

Sub-questions

  1. How can biological and abiotic data be combined to allow for increased interoperability?
  2. Is the terminology in current biological domain data standards sufficient to be used in semantic applications? If not, what glossaries need to be strengthened/built?

Strategic Actions

  1. Maintain and strengthen partnerships with bureau, departmental, national and international science committees (e.g., Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Research, Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the Federal Geographic Data Committee, National Wild/and Fire Cohesive Strategy).
  2. Represent USGS in appropriate DOI initiatives to ensure that USGS capabilities serve Departmental needs and that the Department's policies and decisions consider USGS science needs.
  3. Continue to formalize current relationships within departmental, national and international organizations (Memorandums of Understanding, lnteragency Agreements and plans).
  4. Determine data flow processes that can better serve bureau data management needs in the areas supporting biodiversity science (e.g., species observations, monitoring).
  5. Develop and strengthen the biodiversity informatics research and development capacity of CSAS&L.