British Columbia s Species Inventory Information System

Transcription

1 British Columbia s pecies Inventory Information ystem Gerhardt Lepp Resources Inventory Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks P.O. Box 9344, TN PROV GOVT, Victoria BC, V8W 9M1, Canada Gerhardt.Lepp@gems8.gov.bc.ca ABTRACT The Resources Inventory Committee (RIC) was established in 1991, with the primary task of establishing data collection standards for effective land management. This process involves evaluating data collection methods at different levels of detail and making recommendations for standardized protocols based on cost-effectiveness, cooperative data collection, broad application of results, and long-term relevance. The RIC process has defined the inventory methods and the data to be gathered by the pecies Inventory system (PI). The British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Resources Inventory Branch, Wildlife Inventory ection in Victoria is developing PI. The application will be deployed over the Internet to wildlife inventory contractors, forest licensees, and Forest Ecosystem pecialists, who will access the application through a web page. After the data are entered, extracts of wildlife observation data can be downloaded for reporting and analysis. Government employees will access the application over the Wide Area Network. Public access may eventually be available to the data warehouse. PI will facilitate: more complete and consistent data gathering and documentation for wildlife inventories; better quality assurance of data; access to data throughout the province subject to project and specieslevel security restrictions; support for the Forest Practice Code, wildlife management, and biodiversity initiatives; and assisting the British Columbia Conservation Data Centre (CDC) to catalogue and monitor rare and endangered species. PI consists of a number of components, including on-line data capture, operational database, data migration, data warehouse, taxonomy database, geo-reference conversion, Winframe application server, and system security. A data-driven observation form is used to accommodate any number of observation forms used for different species groups and methodologies. The on-line data capture application is complete and went into production in the fall of Existing ungulate inventory data have been converted and loaded into PI, and more current species inventory projects from across the province are currently being entered. Development of the operational database is almost complete. Key words: database, wildlife inventory. BACKGROUND Recent government initiatives including CRII (Corporate Resource Inventory Initiative), CLIB (Common Land Information Base), and FRBC (Forest Renewal British Columbia) have provided an opportunity to improve the management of all renewable resources on provincially managed lands. CRII funding has largely been directed towards strategic or higher-level planning. CLIB funding has been directed towards acquiring information to facilitate First Nations treaty negotiations. FRBC has allocated funds to support sustainable forest management efforts and implement the British Columbia Forest Practices Code (FPC), which requires that forest tenure holders manage specified wildlife, as well as the forest resources, on tenured lands. The collection of wildlife inventory data within the province is a major part of all 3 of these recent government initiatives. With increased opportunities for wildlife inventory, the multi-agency Resources Inventory Committee (RIC) was established in 1991, with the primary task of establishing data collection standards for effective land management. This process involves evaluating data collection methods at different levels of detail and making recommendations for standardized protocols based on cost-effectiveness, cooperative data collection, broad application of results, and long-term relevance. The Wildlife Program of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP) is the principal agency responsible for maintaining the diversity and abundance of native species and their habitats throughout the province. The need for wildlife inventory information is an identified key issue. Within the program, the Wildlife Branch and Resources Inventory Branch are responsible for coordination of species inventory activities. The British Columbia L. M. Darling, editor Proceedings of a Conference on the Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb.,1999. Volume One. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, B.C. and University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, B.C. 490pp. 161

2 LEPP Conservation Data Centre (CDC) is responsible for cataloguing and monitoring rare and endangered species within the province. These provincial species inventories provide the initial indication of rare or endangered species and continued monitoring of population demographics over time. The current manual processes of managing data are not adequate. Tens of millions of dollars worth of wildlife inventory data are being collected and stored on paper forms and spreadsheets. The information is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to locate, obtain, and understand. Each spreadsheet is different, and quality assurance is not adequate. For example, UTM (universal transverse mercator) data can be collected in NAD27 datum or NAD83 datum. The datum of much of the data is unknown, which introduces large uncertainties in the data. OBJECTIVE The pecies Inventory (PI) system is intended to meet the following objectives: GENERAL upport the Forest Practices Code. upport wildlife management and efforts to protect biodiversity. Facilitate research and education. Facilitate improvement of the quality of the data that are gathered. PECIFIC Implement standard inventory methods for components of British Columbia s biodiversity. Collect wildlife inventory data in a consistent manner and add value to the data. Figure 1 illustrates how value is added to the data by using the data in conjunction with other systems. Make data easier to access, understand, and use. TANDARD INVENTORY METHOD FOR COMPONENT OF BRITIH COLUMBIA BIODIVERITY Wildlife inventory manuals are under development for approximately 36 different taxonomic groups in British Columbia; in addition, 6 supporting manuals will also be available. These are being compiled by the Elements Working Group of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force, under the auspices of RIC. The objective of the working group is to develop inventory methods that will lead to the collection of comparable, defensible, and useful inventory and monitoring data for the species populations. PI REQUIREMENT UPPORT RIC PECIE INVENTORY METHODOLOGIE About 36 species groups must be supported. This includes about 150 different observation forms with about 200 different columns. Many observation forms share common columns such as Activity, ex, and Reproductive Condition. PROVIDE ACCE TO MANY UER Inventory contractors/consultants: It is estimated that up to 100 contractors will require access to the system to enter inventory data. Forestry companies: There are more than 100 potential users in this sector that will require access to the database to answer questions that are relevant to their operations. MELP employees: It is anticipated that this will be our single biggest user group. MELP employees will access the system to monitor contracts, to perform QA analysis on their inventory contracts, and to analyze archived inventory data for wildlife management. Figure 2 illustrates the Figure 1. Wildlife Inventory Linkages. Figure 2. Components of the PI database. The data are captured in a database that can be accessed via an application on a Winframe server via the Internet. After the contract monitor checks the quality of the data, he or she runs a procedure to move it to the operational database. The operational database is mostly read-only and the interface is optimized for browsing observation data. Frequently accessed views will be copied to the master data warehouse and the regional data warehouses. 162 Proc. Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb

3 pecies Inventory Information ystem components of the database that will facilitate different types of data access to different users. Forest Ecosystem pecialists (FE): The FEs have the most demanding requirements on the system, as they work in Ministry of Forests (MOF) offices. They will need access to the most sensitive data in the database in order to evaluate forestry plans and to enable them to provide well-informed recommendations to MOF. UPPORT CHANGE The PI system currently supports about 24 RIC methods with different versions of each method. Addition of new species inventory methods and versions of the methods is data driven and does not require modification of the database structure or the data capture application. It is recognized that methodologies will change. The system must use a design that accommodates all inventory methods and adapts easily to changes in methodologies. The system must minimize support costs because of the limited funding and the challenging requirements of the system. The system must support survey-specific observation columns. Many projects will need to record observation data that are not included in the RIC forms. The system must support security requirements and restrict access to Wildlife Observations and Wildlife Feature Observations for some projects with sensitive data. Rare and Endangered pecialists (REs) are responsible for granting access to sensitive data. The system must allow the RE to selectively grant on-line access to data on a project-by-project basis. Contract monitors and/or project leaders should control basic data administration and security to minimize supports costs and allow users to control their own data. COMMON PATTERN IN WILDLIFE INVENTORY It is not possible to build a species inventory system for a widely diverse group of species without assuming that there is a common pattern to all wildlife inventories. Figure 3 illustrates the design hierarchy that is common to all of the RIC species inventory methodologies. Figure 4 shows how this has been translated into a conceptual data model. TYPE OF URVEY All surveys fall into 1 of the following categories: Absolute Abundance (AA): Calculation of the density of a population. Relative Abundance (RA): Index of abundance, which may be comparable across surveys. Present/Not Detected (PN): Indication of whether or not a species is present in the study area. COMMON QUETION All surveys must answer a common set of questions: What was observed? The Taxonomy database is used to provide a consistent reference to the species that were observed, and to allow queries of observations of a particular species. Observations usually record other data about the time and place of the observation and the characteristics of the species observed. How was the sample taken? The PI system provides the tools to document a statistically valid design with more rigour than can be accomplished in spreadsheets. The RIC species inventory method used must be recorded before observations can be recorded. The use of the RIC methods provides a sound structure for the survey. What was the sampling effort? A measure of the search effort is essential to provide the basis for Absolute Abundance calculations. A measure of the search effort is necessary to evaluate the confidence level of a Present/Not Detected survey. REFERENCE GD and Associates ystems Ltd pecies Inventory (PI) database development project: requirements and database design specification. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep. Resources Inventory Branch The vertebrates of British Columbia: scientific and English names: standards for components of British Columbia s biodiversity, no. 2. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Resources Inventory Committee Introduction to RIC wildlife species inventory. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep pecies inventory fundamentals: standards for components of British Columbia s biodiversity, no. 1. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep. pecies Inventory Unit Digital spatial data specification for species inventory mapping in GI. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep pecies Inventory (PI) Information ystem Project: business requirements and system architecture. B.C. Minist. Environ. Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep PI Technical Design. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep The species inventory project. B.C. Minist. Proc. Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb

4 LEPP Figure 3. RIC species inventory study design hierarchy, with examples. 164 Proc. Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb

5 pecies Inventory Information ystem Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep. Available from: Winframe Plan. B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Resour. Inventory Branch. Victoria, BC. Unpubl. rep. urvey Design Field Observations Post urvey Analysis Domains Projects urveys pecies Method Type Wildlife ightings = patial Feature tudy Areas tudy Area Visits ampling Conditions Design Components Design Component Visits Wildlife Habitat Features trata Ground Inspection Forms Wildlife Observations Taxonomic Units Wildlife Habitat Feature Observations Figure 4. PI Conceptual Data Model. This diagram includes the major entities or tables that make up the PI database. An arrow with 1 head indicates a 1-to-many relationship. For example, each Project can consist of several urveys, and a visit to a call station (Design Component Visit) could result in several woodpecker observations (Wildlife Observations). Proc. Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb

6 166 Proc. Biology and Management of pecies and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., Feb