FVE project manager: gestión de procesos software y control de versiones sobre dotproject

Nuestro proyecto tiene como finalidad aportar una aplicación libre y de código abierto que permita asistir en el desarrollo de un proyecto software facilitando la elección de un proceso de desarrollo; su ejecución entendida como la obtención de los resultados esperables de un proceso de desarrollo; y el acceso al mismo por parte de los participantes elegidos. Esta aplicación se llama FVE Project Manager. Existen algunas soluciones libres, pero distan mucho de ser completas, sobre todo por no estar integradas con sistemas de control de versiones. Así, en lugar de iniciar un proyecto desde cero, decidimos modificar un gestor de proyectos existente, dotProject, ampliando sus características. Con nuestra herramienta se pueden crear nuevas definiciones de procesos o importarlas en formato XML desde EPFComposer. Se permite la creación de productos de trabajo, gestión de los roles del proceso y personalización de las tareas. Una vez instanciado el proceso, los participantes pueden empezar a trabajar en el proyecto con todos los elementos definidos en el mismo mediante una intuitiva interfaz gráfica que brinda la aplicación. Otro logro notable es el de integrar un sistema de control de cambios (SVN). Ahora mismo, no existe ninguna extensión de dotproject para soportar SVN. Este servicio se integra de tal forma que no hay necesidad de que el cliente instale ningún tipo de programa adicional en su ordenador, pudiendo además acceder a este repositorio de forma independiente a dotProject. El sistema ha sido desarrollado en los lenguajes PHP, JSP, Java y Javascript y requiere para su despliegue de un servidor con servicios web compatibles con PHP, un servidor de base de datos MySQL, un servidor de aplicaciones para J2EE y la instalación de los servicios de Subversion en el servidor. Todas las herramientas utilizadas para el desarrollo son Open Source, por lo que podemos devolver a la comunidad de desarrolladores el beneficio de poder usar estas herramientas con una aplicación libre que ofrece servicios disponibles generalmente bajo pago. La agrupación de todas estas características sobre un gestor de proyectos libre como dotProject supone la creación de una funcionalidad no existente en aplicaciones libres y da respuesta a un gran número de solicitudes por parte de la comunidad de usuarios. [ABSTRACT] The purpose of our project is contributing a free and Open Source application that allows the administration of a project management entire cycle by the supplying of new functionalities that provide more power and flexibility to the execution of these projects. The name of this application is FVE Project Manager. There are several free solutions, but they are far from being complete, especially for not being integrated with version control systems. So, instead of starting a project from scratch, we decided to modify an existing project manager, dotproject, expanding its features. With our tool it is possible to create new process definitions or import them in XML format from EPFComposer. It allows the creation of workproducts, process roles management and personalization of the process of tasks. Once the process is instantiated, the participants may start working on it with all the defined elements in it through an intuitive graphical interface that the application provides. Another remarkable achievement is integrating a version control system (SVN). Right now, there is no extension of dotproject that works with SVN. This service is integrated so that there is no need for the customer to install any additional software on his computer. He can also access this repository independently from dotproject. The system has been developed in PHP, JSP, Java and Javascript languages. It requires for its deployment a PHP compatible web services server, a MySQL database server, a J2EE application server and the installation of the Subversion services in the server. All the tools that we used in the development are Open Source, so we can return to the developer community the benefit of being able to use these tools with a free application that provides non-free services. The grouping of all these features on a free project manager as dotproject involves creating a non-existent feature in free applications and responded to numerous requests by the user community

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in Amazonia. Over large areas across Amazonia, residuals of this relationship are small and poorly spatially structured, suggesting that much of the residual variation may be local. The Guyana Shield area has consistently negative residuals, showing that this area has lower tree species-richness than expected by our models. We provide extensive plot meta-data, including tree density, tree alpha-diversity and tree species-richness results and gridded maps at 0.1-degree resolution

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

Author correction: One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

In the version of the article initially published, the affiliation of Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse was incorrect and has now been amended to Environmental Sciences Graduate Program-CIAMB, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil in the HTML and PDF versions of the article

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in Amazonia. Over large areas across Amazonia, residuals of this relationship are small and poorly spatially structured, suggesting that much of the residual variation may be local. The Guyana Shield area has consistently negative residuals, showing that this area has lower tree species-richness than expected by our models. We provide extensive plot meta-data, including tree density, tree alpha-diversity and tree species-richness results and gridded maps at 0.1-degree resolution

One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

Amazonia’s floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region’s floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. Our results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon’s tree diversity and its function

The Maximum Entropy Formalism of statistical mechanics in a biological application: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain almost ten times more of local relative abundances then constraints based on either directional or stabilizing selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

Amazonia’s floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region’s floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. Our results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon’s tree diversity and its function