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Hands on Session on Biological Interactions Data
Primary data about biological interactions (e.g. predator-prey, host-parasite, pollinator-plant, frugivore-plant) are becoming increasingly available online and can be accessed from a great number of data repositories. However, the lack of a formal standard to support biological interaction data sharing and interoperability, makes data aggregation a laborious task and therefore it has hampered the development of wider, more integrative studies.
Even the terminology itself is not well established. Different terms have been used to designate different or same concepts related to biological interactions. Terms like "species interaction", "biotic interaction", "ecological interaction", "interspecific interaction" and "biological interaction" are frequently used interchangeably in the literature.
Despite the variety of methods to collect, record and store biological interaction data, there is a great need and interest in making these datasets comparable and interoperable, considering the importance of understanding such processes' role in sustaining biodiversity. Thus, the aim of this hands-on session is to gather people with different views and expertise on how biological interactions data can be organized and which are the most relevant elements for sharing biological interactions data - probably, there is a minimum set of attributes and properties common to all or most interaction data use cases. The hands-on session will be a practical exercise to guide participants on how to document biological interaction data using current biodiversity data standards (e.g., Darwin Core), and will promote discussions among the participants for the development of a best practice guide for documenting biological interactions.
Since there are many different use cases and due to time constraints, during the session we will cover a subset of use cases proposed by the participants and all the session's activities will be focused on the selected use cases. We will evaluate the suggested use cases and select a subset based on the demand, complexity and diversity. The objective is to cover the most common and yet different - in terms of type of interaction - use cases that fits the session duration. However, we will create discussion on the TDWG Species Interaction Data Interest Group GitHub repository for all use cases (including the use cases not selected to be handled during the session). In the discussions we will encourage people to provide examples of interaction data and collaboratively elaborate a standardized version of the working datasets.
Registration: deadline is 31 July.
Disclosure of the selected use cases: 6 October at this page.
Hands-on session: 13-14 October (two days sessions with duration of 2 hours each; total of 4 hours).
The session is free and open to anyone who is interested in biological interactions and who wants to participate in a practical data standardization exercise. However, pre-registration is required.
During the registration process you will have the option to suggest a use case and submit a dataset (or a subset) which you want to work on during the session. Submitting a use case is no guarantee that it will be covered during the session. However, all suggested use cases will be covered in dedicated discussion on the TDWG Species Interaction Data Interest Group.
The session will be divided into the following activities:
- Before the session (30 days before the session):
- Create an issue for each suggested use case in the TDWG Species Interaction Data Interest Group GitHub repository for community discussions.
- After some categorization of the suggested use cases (ie. interaction type, complexity, diversity, similarities) the community will be asked for voting the use cases through an online survey (which will be emailed to participants). The three most voted use cases will considered during the session.
- Review (by session organizers) of top voted use cases and selection of the use cases to be covered during the hands-on session. During the review we may ask for further clarification about a use case, using the respective issue in the GitHub repository. Email communication will also be sent to the participant who suggested the use case. During the selection we will consider:
- the completeness of the use case definition;
- the discussion activity and use case votes (demand);
- (dis)similarities within other use cases; The selection process seeks for a balance between selecting a heterogeneous subset of use cases and the interest of the community;
- Send a notification to all participants communicating the selected use cases.
- During the session (maximum of 2 use cases per day):
- Presentation of the selected use cases and related datasets to the participants: the person who suggested a selected use case will be asked to present the species interaction data history - (15 min)
- Collaborative identification of a minimum set of fields of each use case/dataset for documenting interactions: participants will be asked to identify if a dataset illustrating a specific use case has the minimum set of fields needed for documenting interactions. A checklist with the minimum set of fields/concepts will be provided by the session organizers - (15 min per use case)
- Discussions about the mappings proposed by the participants: compare and identify the advantages/disadvantages of the proposed mappings - (15 min per use case)
- Promote discussions on how other fields in each dataset can be mapped to biodiversity data standards: discussions on how fields not included in the minimum set or not covered by any data standard can be included in the standardized dataset - (10 min per use case)
- Create a Darwin Core Archive using the Integrated Publishing Toolkit from GBIF and/or Darwin Core Archive Assistant: a practical exercise of how to use IPT and DwCA-Assistant to standardize datasets - (15 min per use case)
- Final discussions and further steps: what are the next steps to engage and help the community to share standardized interaction data? - 20 min (second day only)
By registering to the Hands-on Session I agree to the following terms and conditions:
- Personal information provided in this form will only be used by the session organizers for internal registration purposes and will not be made publicly available.
- The sessions of this event may be recorded. Attendees who do not wish to share their names and/or video during the session are responsible for hiding it.
- Dataset rights: datasets shared will not be used for any purpose aside from those specifically planned for the session. In no case will datasets be published in any platform without prior consent and conforming to the conditions agreed with the dataholder.
- To participate in the session internet access is needed.
- Attendees proposing a use case are expected to attend the sessions.
- Submitting a use case or a dataset is no guarantee that it will be covered during the session.