On the Ground  • Spatial data is valuable to researchers for locating studies that occur in a particular area of interest, or one with similar attributes.    • Without a standard in publishing protocol, spatial data largely goes unreported, or is difficult to find without searching the publication.   • Assigning location data and displaying points on a public web map makes locating publications based on spatial location possible

Balzotti, Christopher S.

Hedrich, Anne E.

Howell, Ryan G.

Jackson, Mark W.

Petersen, Steven L.

Rogers, Paul C.

Rangelands

English

DigitalCommons@USU

Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU Ecology Center Publications Ecology Center 11-13-2019 Using WebGIS to Develop a Spatial Bibliography for Organizing, Mapping, and Disseminating Research Information: A Case Study of Quaking Aspen Ryan G. Howell Brigham Young University Steven L. Petersen Brigham Young University Christopher S. Balzotti Carnegie Institution for Science Paul C. Rogers Utah State University Mark W. Jackson Brigham Young University Anne E. Hedrich Utah State University Follow this a d additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/eco_pubs  Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Ryan G. Howell, Steven L. Petersen, Christopher S. Balzotti, Paul C. Rogers, Mark W. Jackson, and Anne E. Hedrich, Using webgis to develop a spatial bibliography for organizing, mapping, and disseminating research information: A case study of quaking aspen, Rangelands 41 (2019), no. 6, 244 – 247. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ecology Center at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ecology Center Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. Using WebGIS to Develop aSpatial Bibliography forOrganizing, Mapping, andDisseminating Research Information:A Case Study of Quaking AspenBy Ryan G. Howell, Steven L. Petersen, Christopher S. Balzotti, Paul C. Rogers,Mark W. Jackson, and Anne E. HedrichOn the Ground• Spatial data is valuable to researchers for locatingstudies that occur in a particular area of interest, orone with similar attributes.• Without a standard in publishing protocol, spatialdata largely goes unreported, or is difficult to findwithout searching the publication.• Assigning location data and displaying points on apublic web map makes locating publications basedon spatial location possible.Keywords: aspen, spatial bibliography, webmap.Rangelands 41(6):244–247doi 10.1016/j.rala.2019.10.001© 2019 The Society for Range Management.IntroductionS patially explicit information can provide highlyvaluable information for ecosystem science researchand management such as species associations,distribution patterns, response to natural andanthropogenic disturbances, and ecological invasions.1 How-ever, when searching literature for scientific research usingstandard search engines (e.g., Google Scholar, Web ofScience), the source is typically limited to basic locationaldescriptions in the text without geographic reference on amap.2,3 The benefits of conducting research on georeferencedmedia is clearly outlined in the literature which includesaccessibility benefits,2,4 reduced redundancy,2 eliminated biastowards more represented areas and ecosystems,1 and provid-ing solid ground on which to base meta-analysis.5,6The development of a tool to geographically searchscientific literature has proven challenging. Parsing documentsfor location data is difficult due to inconsistencies in coordi-nate format (Decimal degrees, Degrees/Minutes/Seconds,UTM, etc.; this is especially true of research published beforeGPS), character encoding (such as degree symbols), wherelocation data is given in the text, and even if any location isspecified.3 Additionally, manually searching for articles togeocode is extremely time consuming and subject to error.Databases containing publications for a wide array of ecolog-ical subjects exist (e.g., the Western Aspen Alliance, AspenBibliography), but are not well known to many researchers inecological fields, and most are not displayed spatially.The existence of geospatially minded search tools (e.g.,JournalMap, Pangaea) demonstrate the practicality of suchresearch methods.2,3 These tools exhibit immense potential aspreferred search engines for performing research; however, theyadmittedly lack in content and therefore can be limited in theirability to provide a comprehensive review of the literature.2Specifically, these tools are limited in older references for sometopics (e.g., aspen from the early 1900’s) and publications notfound in a scientific journal (e.g., government documents,Master’s theses, and Ph.D. dissertations).Our objective is to provide a web-based spatially explicitcomprehensive citation database that focuses on a single species ornatural resource-related subject. The purpose of this paper is topresent the structure and application of a geospatial referencesystems using a Geographic Information System (GIS) thatincludes peer reviewed journal articles, government reports andrecords, proceedings from symposia and conferences, booksand book sections, Master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations, andreliable but unpublished research reports and documents. Thisreference system is made available using ArcGIS Online, asoftware that allows for user-friendly, world-wide access.Rangelands244MethodsWe compiled a geospatially explicit database by searchingreadily available online databases (e.g., Google Scholar, BYUHarold B. Lee Library, government websites) for publicationsand other resources (e.g., journal articles, government docu-ments, Master’s theses/Ph.D. dissertations, books and booksections) related to subjects in rangeland ecology and man-agement. The compilation extends from the earliest periodsavailable in the literature to present day. With each citation,we attempted to locate explicit coordinates correlating to thestudy area, typically in the methods section of the publication.If no coordinates were given, we located the general area usingGoogle Earth in order to provide an estimated study location.In turn, each record was assigned one of three coordinatetypes: Provided (the coordinates were explicitly stated inthe publication), Estimated (the coordinates of the study areawere not explicitly given, but a locational description wasgiven on which coordinates were assigned, e.g., FishlakeNational Forest, Utah) or Generalized (no coordinates weregiven and the coordinates assigned cover a large, general area,e.g., Central Utah). Fields containing the publication’s title,author, year, journal, volume, issue, pages, DOI, location,latitude (in decimal degrees), longitude (in decimal degrees),coordinate type, abstract, and keywords were created andpopulated using an Endnote database.The Endnote database was formatted to export to a commadelimited .txt file for clean import into a Microsoft Exceldocument, then exported as a .csv file. We then created a heatmap with the publication coordinates displayed as points tovisually display hotspots, or locations with higher concentra-tions of ecological research. However, this method was timeconsuming to continuously edit and export into ArcGISsoftware. After the creation of the initial database usingEndnote, records were stored on ArcGIS Online as a hostedweb layer and edited using ArcGIS Pro (ESRI 2011),bypassing the need to continuously export an Endnotedatabase and allowing editing access to be granted to anyonewith a free account by the database managers. This allows foreasier updating and editing than Endnote, which is essentialfor maintaining the accuracy of displayed publications. A mapdisplay has been created for subjects including Aspen Ecologyand Management, Wild Horse Behavior and Habitat Use,Greater Sage-Grouse Ecology, Bristlecone Pine Forest Ecol-ogy, and Sagebrush Ecology andManagement (ghal.byu.edu).These databases are at various stages of “completion” (forexample, the relatively small physical range of bristlecone pinelimits the research that has been done, making it more realisticto “complete” the database, while sagebrush ecosystems covera much larger area and have an ecological impact on manyspecies of concern, increasing the amount of researchperformed annually).Aspen Case StudyAspen (Populus sp.) has experienced a rich history ofapplied and basic science inquiry world-wide. These speciesare valued globally for their biodiversity, forage quality, woodproducts, water retention, recreational use, and aesthetics.7–9In North America, quaking aspen (P. tremuloides) is the mostwidespread and broadly adapted tree species. European aspen(P. tremula) has a similar, though even broader, ecologicalamplitude across Eurasia. These trees are both consideredkeystone species where they occur, indicating that theecosystem as a whole would change in areas if it wereremoved.10–14 Due to its ecological importance, aspen hasbeen a focus for numerous studies in the past and the object ofintensified research in recent years.15,16We partnered with the Western Aspen Alliance (https://western-aspen-alliance.org/) and Utah State University’sMerrill-Cazier Library to access their complete aspen publi-cation database. We located all publications available between1911 and 2019. Our online map can be found at https://goo.gl/hyT6QR (Figure 1). At the time of this writing, the mapcontains a total of 1536 publications: 488 with “Provided”coordinates, 823 with “Estimated” coordinates, and 225 with“Generalized” coordinates. The online map includes functionsto filter search results by standard cataloging parameters (e.g.,author, title, year) as well as geographic location. Additionally,corrections or additions can be suggested by any user througha dedicated email address or edited directly by manager-specified users.DiscussionWe developed a user-friendly, map-based, online tool forpractitioners interested in researching the breadth of estab-lished aspen sciences. This cartographic platform, linkeddeftly to a comprehensive subject area database, allows users togeographically narrow searches with a few key strokes. Furthersearch filters may be applied to find, for example, previouswork that has been conducted on aspen stem cankers within ageographic area of interest (e.g., state, province, region).Demonstration of this tool within a richly researched subjectarea has ramifications for other topic areas, particularly thosewith explicit spatial components. In addition to the benefits ofgeographically displaying the location of published material,the data extracted from the produced coordinate data can driveanalysis of patterns in the locations of publications, showinglocations that are perhaps too lightly or heavily researched orfind completely new areas for research based on geographicalcharacteristics of hot spots. This practice can be applied to anysubject in ecology and can be compared with any geographicfeature using a GIS, greatly enhancing our understanding ofattributes of published literature currently unavailable using astandard search engine with a location-based query.Development of a spatial bibliography can be timeconsuming and expensive due to limitations in reportedcoordinates and lack of documentation in the publicationprocess. We recommend that all peer-reviewed journals andother publishers require documentation of where a study tookplace and its coordinates. In cases where sensitive cultural orenvironmental considerations are of concern, a generalizedarea can be given (for example, utilizing the “Estimated” or“Generalized” point types in our spatial bibliography). Assuggested by Karl6 and in practice by the Dublin Core2019 245(http://dublincore.org), this information can be encoded intothe article metadata (either at the publisher or database level)to facilitate automation.The strength of our particular spatial bibliography lies in itscomprehensiveness of a single topic (aspen), including allforms of publications and not only peer-reviewed journalarticles dating back to the early 20th century. Additionally,pairing it with an existing database managed by a library (orinterest group similar to the Western Aspen Alliance) reducesthe need to rely heavily on complicated search methods andarticle parsing to continually find new research, althougharticle parsing, such as outlined by Karl6 or through availablesoftware such as the LocateXT license by ESRI, does certainlyhave a role in automating the identification of coordinatesfrom newly published works to update a spatial bibliography.Ecological topics are widely represented by interest groupsand could provide a network for database population andmanagement, crowdsourcing of geocoding publications, andquality control. We recommend that all scientific literaturedatabase managers require location data be submitted witheach publication; however, until this becomes the standard, wesuggest that experts and interest groups, especially those withexisting publication databases in their area of study, partner todevelop topical spatial bibliographies to optimize geospatialsearching and meta-analysis of currently published research.Declaration of Competing InterestThe authors declare that they have no known competingfinancial interests or personal relationships that could haveappeared to influence the work reported in this paper.AcknowledgementsWe thank the Western Aspen Alliance, Utah StateUniversity, for their partnership in providing access to theirbibliography. We acknowledge the Geospatial Habitat Anal-ysis Lab at Brigham Young University for providing equip-ment. Additionally, the Merrill-Cazier Library Staff fromUtah State University provided invaluable coordination incompilation, validation, and transfer of Aspen Bibliographycitations. We also express gratitude to BYU students CaseyArnold, Ana Kokkonen, Jess Newman, Hope Carr, JessicaRobertson, and Alia Welsh for their assistance in geotaggingpublications. We also thank anonymous reviewers for theirvaluable comments.FundingThis work was supported by internal funds provided byBrigham Young University.References1. MARTIN, L.J., B. BLOSSEY, AND E. ELLIS. 2012. Mapping whereecologists work: biases in the global distribution of terrestrialecological observations. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environ-ment 10(4):195-201.2. KARL, J.W., J.K. GILLAN, AND J.E. HERRICK. 2013. Geographicsearching for ecological studies: a new frontier. Trends in Ecology& Evolution 28(7):383-384.3. KARL, J.W., et al 2013. Discovering ecologically relevantknowledge from published studies through geosemantic search-ing. BioScience 63(8):674-682.Figure 1. Screenshot of Aspen Spatial Bibliography hosted on ArcGIS online (https://goo.gl/hyT6QR). A greater number of entries in the spatialbibliography are indcated by brighter colors.Rangelands2464. WALLIS PHILIP, J., M.A.C. NALLY RALPH, AND J. LANGFORD.2011. Mapping local-scale ecological research to aid manage-ment at landscape scales.Geographical Research 49(2):203-216.5. HUGHES, T.P., et al 2002. Detecting regional variation usingmeta-analysis and large-scale sampling: latitudinal patterns inrecruitment. Ecology 83(2):436-451.6. KARL, J.W. 2018. Mining location information from life- andearth-sciences studies to facilitate knowledge discovery. Journalof Librarianship and Information Science 0961000618759413.7. DEBYLE, N.V. and R.P. WINOKUR. 1985. Aspen: ecology andmanagement in the western United States. USDA Forest ServiceGeneral Technical Report RM-119. Rocky Mountain Forestand Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colo. 283 p. 119.8. PETERSON, E. and N.M. PETERSON. 1992. Ecology, mana-gement, and use of aspen and balsam poplar in the prairieprovinces. In: Forestry Canada Northwest Region, NorthernForestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.9. ROGERS, P.C., et al 2014. A functional framework for improvedmanagement of Western North American Aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.). Forest Science 60(2):345-359.10. BARTOS, D.L., AND R.B. CAMPBELL. 1998. Decline of quakingaspen in the interior west-examples from Utah. Rangelands 20(1):17-24.11. BRETFELD, M., B. FRANKLIN SCOTT, AND K. PEET ROBERT.2016. A multiple-scale assessment of long-term aspen persis-tence and elevational range shifts in the Colorado Front Range.Ecological Monographs 86(2):244-260.12. BUCK, J.R., AND S.B. ST CLAIR. 2012. Aspen increase soilmoisture, nutrients, organic matter and respiration in rockymountain forest communities. PLoS ONE 7(12)e52369.13. MYKING, T., et al 2011. Life history strategies of aspen (Populustremula L.) and browsing effects: a literature review. Forestry: AnInternational Journal of Forest Research 84(1):61-71.14. VEHMAS, M., J. KOUKI, AND K. EERIKINEN. 2009. Long-termspatio-temporal dynamics and historical continuity of Europeanaspen (Populus tremula L.) stands in the Koli National Park,eastern Finland. Forestry: An International Journal of ForestResearch 82(2):135-148.15. HOGG, E.H., J.P. BRANDT, AND B. KOCHTUBAJDA. 2002. Growthand dieback of aspen forests in northwestern Alberta, Canada, inrelation to climate and insects. Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 32(5):823-832.16. HOGG, E.H., J.P. BRANDT, AND M. MICHAELIAN. 2008. Impactsof a regional drought on the productivity, dieback, and biomassof western Canadian aspen forests. Canadian Journal of ForestResearch 38(6):1373-1384.Authors are Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Plant andWildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA;Professor, Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, BrighamYoung University, Provo, UT, USA; Spatial Ecologist, CarnegieInstitution for Science, Standford, CA, USA; Director, WesternAspen Alliance, Wildland Resources Dept. and Ecology Center, UtahState University, Logan, UT, USA; Associate Librarian, Harold B.Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA;Reference Librarian, Merrill- Cazier Library, Utah StateUniversity, Logan, UT, USA2019 247

Using WebGIS to Develop a Spatial Bibliography for Organizing, Mapping, and Disseminating Research Information: A Case Study of Quaking Aspen

Spatial data is valuable to researchers for locating studies that occur in a particular area of interest, or one with similar attributes. Without a standard in publishing protocol, spatial data largely goes unreported, or is difficult to find without searching the publication. Assigning location data and displaying points on a public web map makes locating publications based on spatial location possible.The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information

Howell, R.G.

Petersen, S.L.

Balzotti, C.S.

Rogers, P.C.

Jackson, M.W.

Hedrich, A.E.

The University of Arizona

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1099&amp;context=eco_pubs

Using WebGIS to Develop a Spatial Bibliography for Organizing, Mapping, and Disseminating Research Information: A Case Study of Quaking Aspen

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

DigitalCommons@USU

The University of Arizona