U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Open-File Report 2018–1104

Prepared in cooperation with NatureServe

Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental 

Data—Workshop Summary
Cover. Potential distribution of 550 terrestrial ecosystem types in the conterminous United States. 

Map is based on LANDFIRE biophysical settings and with modifications by NatureServe ecologists 

Patrick Comer and Jon Hak. Used with permission.
Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of 

Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

By Healy Hamilton, Gerald F. Guala, and Annie Simpson

Prepared in cooperation with NatureServe

Open-File Report 2018–1104

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior

RYAN K. ZINKE, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

James F. Reilly II, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2018

For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, 

natural hazards, and the environment—visit https://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS (1–888–275–8747).

For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, 

visit https://store.usgs.gov.

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the 

U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials 

as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner.

Suggested citation:

Hamilton, H., Guala, G.F., and Simpson, A., 2018, Promoting synergy in the innovative use of environmental data—

Workshop summary: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1104, 52 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181104.

ISSN 2331-1258 (online)
iii

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation for providing funding 

for this workshop, the funding recipient NatureServe for organizing the logistics, and the 

U.S. Department of the Interior for hosting. In addition, the workshop and this report could 

not have been completed without the valuable contributions of all our presenters and our 

manuscript reviewers (Jake Weltzín and Stan Blum).

v

Contents

Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................................iii

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................2

Summary of Plenary Sessions.....................................................................................................................8

Plenary Session 1—Monitoring in Federal Resource-Management Agencies—

Current Efforts and Immediate Needs .................................................................................8

Plenary Session 2—EcoINFORMA Initiatives—Current Assets and Future Directions...........8

Plenary Session 3—Citizen Science Contributions to Biodiversity Informatics Needs ...........8

Plenary Session 4—Biospatial Data Efforts in the Nongovernmental Organization 

Community................................................................................................................................8

Plenary Session 5—Bio- and Geospatial Data Efforts in the Academic Sector......................10

Plenary Session 6—Private Sector Data Integration Initiatives ................................................10

Plenary Session 7—Data Visualization and Dissemination.........................................................10

“Take Homes” from the Breakout Sessions............................................................................................11

Ecosystem Services and Ecological Indicators ............................................................................11

Inventory and Monitoring..................................................................................................................12

Biogeographic Map of the Nation ...................................................................................................12

Pollinators ............................................................................................................................................13

Invasive Species.................................................................................................................................13

Remote Sensing ..................................................................................................................................14

Drivers of Agricultural Change.........................................................................................................14

Citizen Science....................................................................................................................................16

Climate..................................................................................................................................................16

Hydrology and Watersheds...............................................................................................................17

Student Projects...........................................................................................................................................17

ComFlo Invasion Model......................................................................................................................17

Mutualism Network in Space ...........................................................................................................17

Local Climate Effects: Ephemera .....................................................................................................18

Predicted Threat to North American Salamander Biodiversity from the Lethal 

Pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans.............................................................18

In Search of the “Common” Trees ...................................................................................................18

Summary and Conclusions.........................................................................................................................19

References Cited..........................................................................................................................................19

Appendix 1. Seven Questions for Every Breakout Session...............................................................22

Appendix 2. Tools Café Program............................................................................................................23

Appendix 3. List of Participants of the Biodiversity and Ecological Informatics 

Workshop, December 2–4, 2015...................................................................................................26

Appendix 4. Questionnaire Results .......................................................................................................30

Appendix 5. Social Media Posts ............................................................................................................51
vi

Tables

1. Workshop attendee demographics by sector and agency ...................................................3

2. Agenda for workshop, “Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of

Environmental Data,” December 2–4, 2015, Department of Interior South

Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C.....................................................4

Figures

1. Chart showing work area of participants at the biodiversity and ecological

informatics workshop, December 2–4, 2015, from interactive questionnaire

feedback (appendix 4)..................................................................................................................3

2. Map of modeled greater sage grouse habitat use in the spring ..........................................9

3. A map of the locations of all Endangered Species Act consultations (2008–15)

for which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recorded coordinates....................................9

4. Geovisualization (or geographic visualization) refers to a set of tools and

techniques supporting the analysis of geospatial data using interactive

functionality .................................................................................................................................11

5. Many of the critical components of a national biogeographic map of the

Nation were showcased during the workshop .....................................................................12

6. Native pollinators such as the swallowtail are essential to the balance of

natural ecosystems ....................................................................................................................13

7. The national framework for invasive species early detection and rapid

response (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2016) describes parameters for

addressing the invasive species issue ...................................................................................13

8. Modern imagery provided by satellites, such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2,

and by publicly available air photography, such as the National Agriculture

Imagery Program, provide analysis tools for land use and land cover

interpretation...............................................................................................................................14

9. Maps such as this one, which displays the magnitude of spatial change over

time, are part of the National Land Cover Database, a product of the

Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium..............................................................15

10. Spatio-Temporal Exploratory Mapping model for Wood Thrush

(Hylocichla mustelina) that breed throughout eastern forests and are

present east of the Great Plains from central Florida and east Texas north

to southern Canada ....................................................................................................................16
vii

Abbreviations

Bd Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

BISON Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation

Bsal Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans

DEM digital elevation model

EcoINFORMA ecoinformatics-based open resources and machine accessibility

EDRR early detection and rapid response

EID emerging infectious disease

HUC hydrologic unit code

LANDFIRE Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project

NGO nongovernmental organization

Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental 

Data—Workshop Summary

By Healy Hamilton,1 Gerald F. Guala,2 and Annie Simpson2

1

NatureServe.

2

U.S. Geological Survey.

Abstract

From December 2 to 4, 2015, NatureServe and the 

U.S. Geological Survey organized and hosted a biodiversity 

and ecological informatics workshop at the U.S. Department 

of the Interior in Washington, D.C. The workshop objective 

was to identify user-driven future directions and areas of 

collaboration in advanced applications of environmental data 

applied to forecasting and decision making for the sustainability of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Substantial 

effort to recruit attendees from diverse Federal, State, and 

private sector organizations successfully attracted participants 

from 20 Federal agencies and 48 different institutions in the 

academic, nonprofit, State government, and commercial sectors; the total number of attendees ranged from 100 to 144 

during the 3-day workshop. The first one-half of the workshop 

was divided into 7 plenary sessions and 3 sets of lightening 

talk sessions organized by sector, providing 48 oral and visual 

plenary presentations that shared diverse perspectives on 

biodiversity and ecological informatics, including original biospatial analyses from 6 graduate student map contest winners. 

The second one-half of the workshop focused on 10 breakout 

sessions with participant-driven themes from the environmental data sphere and concluded with an address by the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The workshop was 

structured to encourage interactivity. About 80–90 percent of 

attendees provided direct feedback using clicker devices for 

specific questions related to biodiversity and ecological data 

uses and needs, and 10 breakout session leaders shared the 

highlights of their group discussions during the final workshop plenary sessions. Participants were encouraged to use 

the Twitter hashtag #ShareUrData. Over lunch on day 2 there 

were 20 simultaneous presentations of tools and apps during a 

special “tools café” session.

The 10 participant-defined breakout session topics are 

listed below:

• Ecosystem services and ecological indicators

• Inventory and monitoring

• Biogeographic map of the Nation

• Pollinators

• Invasive species

• Remote sensing

• Drivers of agricultural change

• Citizen science

• Climate

• Hydrology and watersheds

Numerous common themes that emerged from the workshop include the following:

• The vital importance of completing foundational

environmental datasets that are nationally consistent

and are essential to multiple sectors, such as the Soil

Survey Geographic database high-resolution soils data,

a minimum 5-meter resolution digital elevation model,

national hydrographic data, high-resolution land cover

data, time series high-resolution spatial climate data

from historical to future time steps, and a national

wetland inventory.

• Improved, nationally consistent environmental datasets

(integrated with targeted observations) will dramatically advance forecasting capacity and support early

warning systems (that is, drought, forest disease);

however, multiagency coordination should focus on

decision support tools that convey appropriate actions

and responses to adapt to, and mitigate, potential negative consequences.
2 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

• Digitizing and providing access to the vast stores of

underused historical data that can be leveraged for this

purpose is of national importance. Modern computational techniques and the ever-increasing flow of environmental data from ground and remote observations

can support improved understanding of environmental

change. Success of understanding patterns of change

for decision making requires establishing baselines

from which change can be measured. The value of

digitized historical data is greater than ever before.

• There is a need to recognize the multifaceted potential

of citizen science to engage the public in resource

stewardship, to create the next generation of science,

technology, engineering, math, and environmental

leaders, and to have sufficient field personnel to monitor environmental trends, including early detection of

alien invasive species, phenological shifts, shifting

distribution and abundance of indicator species, and

species inventories. The Federal government has an

essential role in creating the infrastructure to dramatically improve mobilization of citizen science (and

other) data by fostering the following: creation of data

standards, creation of nationally consistent framework

datasets, vertical integration of observation data, visualization and dissemination of aggregated datasets, and

calculation and communication of derived trends.

• Current and near future trends in the availability of

remotely sensed data (rapid expansion of satellite

fleets and drones) is revolutionizing access to nearreal-time ecological data. Targeted integration with

ground-based observations and instrumentation has an

extremely valuable role in validating remotely sensed

data, filling data gaps, improving data quality, and fully

realizing the potential of the near-real-time monitoring

of environmental indicator trends.

• Integrated management of environmental data at the

landscape scale is required even as specific actions on

the ground are largely local in nature. The workshop

highlighted numerous success stories; however, almost

every breakout group pointed out the still-too-fragmented nature of the current data landscape.

• Management and delivery of the necessary data, tools,

and analyses to sustain our Nation’s environmental

capital must be a collaborative effort between Federal,

State, and local governments, academia, nonprofits,

and the commercial sector, even though the responsibilities of each sector are different.

Introduction

A July 2011 report by the President’s Council of Scientific Advisors on Science and Technology, titled “Sustaining 

Environmental Capital: Protecting Society and the Economy,” 

called for the Federal government to “make better use of the 

knowledge that exists to inform and guide national, regional, 

and sectoral policies and management and to contribute to 

global understanding of ecosystem change” (President’s 

Council of Scientific Advisors on Science and Technology, 

2011, p. 3). The suggested process to achieve that global 

understanding was to “identify the most important data gaps 

within existing Federal and regional monitoring systems for 

biodiversity and other ecosystem attributes and clarify priorities and agency roles and funding for filling these,” (President’s Council of Scientific Advisors on Science and Technology, 2011, p. 6) and to “seek out and encourage partnerships 

with the private and academic sectors to develop innovative 

tools for data integration, analysis, visualization and decision making” (President’s Council of Scientific Advisors on 

Science and Technology, 2011, p. iv). A biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop was convened on December 2–4, 

2015, to continue the ongoing conversation among environmental data managers from all sectors, to improve communication about environmental data, to generate ideas for future 

collaboration, and to prioritize achievable goals.

More than 100 attendees from diverse Federal, State, and 

private sector organizations (table 1; fig. 1) made oral presentations and participated in structured breakout sessions during 

the 3-day workshop (table 2). This report provides summaries 

of the plenary themes and breakout session topics, results from 

participatory electronic questions answered during plenary 

sessions, and abstracts of the original biospatial analyses from 

six graduate student map contest winners. Through interactive electronic questioning during a workshop plenary session, 

almost 60 percent of all participants (90 percent of respondents) said they disseminate data to the public in their work 

(appendix 4). In addition to the interactive questionnaires 

administered during plenary sessions, workshop participants’ feedback also was expressed using the Twitter hashtag 

#ShareUrData (appendix 5) throughout the workshop. During 

one luncheon session, participants demonstrated tools and 

projects driven by themes from the environmental data sphere. 

On the final day, breakout leaders reported back in plenary 

sessions, and the workshop concluded with an address by the 

director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Introduction 3

Table 1. Workshop attendee demographics by sector and agency.

Number of participants from the sectors Agencies in attendance

65 representatives of important projects 

and organizations from academia, 

industry, State and local government, 

and nonprofits, including several student 

competition winners.

75 representatives from the Federal sector, 

including participants from 19 Federal 

agencies.

Agricultural Research Service

Bureau of Land Management

Council on Environmental Quality

Library of Congress

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Agricultural Statistics Service

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Park Service

National Science Foundation

Natural Resources Conservation Service

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Smithsonian Institution

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Department of Defense, Natural Resources Program

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

U.S. Forest Service

U.S. Geological Survey

Figure 1. Chart showing work area of participants at the biodiversity and ecological informatics 

workshop, December 2–4, 2015, from interactive questionnaire feedback (appendix 4).
4 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Table 2. Agenda for workshop, “Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data,” December 2–4, 2015, Department 

of Interior South Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C.—Continued

[LANDFIRE, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project, EcoINFORMA, ecoinformatics-based open resources and machine 

accessibility; GIS, geographic information system]

Time Activity or presentation topic Session

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

8:00 a.m. Individual badges, Wi-Fi and clicker registrations Registration.

8:30 a.m. Conference welcome and review of logistics (Healy Hamilton, chief scientist, 

NatureServe)

Opening plenary.

8:45 a.m. Welcome (Bruce Rodan, assistant director for environmental health, Office of 

Science and Technology Policy)

9:00 a.m. Overview—Expectations and goals for the data synergy workshop (Stinger Guala, 

EcoScience Synthesis Branch lead, U.S. Geological Survey)

9:15 a.m. Plenary—Federal resource management agencies—Current monitoring efforts 

and immediate needs (moderator: Elizabeth Sellers, U.S. Geological Survey)

Plenary session 1—Monitoring in 

Federal resource-management 

agencies—Current efforts and 

immediate needs. 9:15 a.m. U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (Greg Reams, 

national lead, Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, U.S. Forest Service)

9:30 a.m. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ecological Site Description System and 

Natural Resources Inventory (Joel Brown, lead, National Ecological Site Team, 

Natural Resources Conservation Service)

9:45 a.m. LANDFIRE (Jim Smith, LANDFIRE lead, The Nature Conservancy)

10:00 a.m. National Park Service inventory and monitoring (Joe DeVivo, deputy chief for 

science, Inventory and Monitoring Division, National Park Service)

10:15 a.m. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inventory and monitoring (Todd Sutherland, data 

manager, National Wildlife Refuge System Inventory and Monitoring Program)

10:30 a.m. Bureau of Land Management (lightning talk), monitoring for adaptive 

management (Gordon Toevs, lead, Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring 

Program)

10:40 a.m. Federal agencies plenary clicker questionnaire and discussion Interactive plenary discussion.

10:55 a.m. 20-minute break Break.

11:15 a.m. Plenary—EcoINFORMA initiatives–Current assets and future directions 

(moderator: Elizabeth Martín, U.S. Geological Survey)

Plenary session 2—EcoINFORMA 

initiatives—Current assets and 

future directions.

11:15 a.m. EcoINFORMA overview (Elizabeth Martin, technical information specialist, 

U.S. Geological Survey)

11:30 a.m. Biodiversity resource hub—Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (Stinger 

Guala, EcoScience Synthesis Branch lead, U.S. Geological Survey)

11:45 a.m. Ecosystem services resource hub—EnviroAtlas (Annie Neale, lead, EnviroAtlas 

Project, Environmental Protection Agency)

12:00 p.m. Land cover hub—Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (Jonathan 

Smith, program coordinator, Land Change Science Program, U.S. Geological 

Survey)

12:15 p.m. Proposed EcoINFORMA hub—Ag Data Commons (Cynthia Parr, technical 

information specialist, National Agricultural Library)

12:30 p.m. EcoINFORMA initiatives plenary clicker questionnaire and discussion Interactive plenary discussion.
Introduction 5

Table 2. Agenda for workshop, “Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data,” December 2–4, 2015, Department 

of Interior South Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C.—Continued

[LANDFIRE, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project, EcoINFORMA, ecoinformatics-based open resources and machine 

accessibility; GIS, geographic information system]

Time Activity or presentation topic Session

Wednesday, December 2, 2015—Continued

12:45 p.m. 75-minute lunch on own Lunch.

2:00 p.m. Map and app mashup I—Student speed presentations (moderator: Annie Simpson, 

U.S. Geological Survey)

Tiffany Yap, University of California, Los Angeles

Matt Kling, University of California, Berkeley

Hsun-Yi Hsieh, University of Michigan

Nathan Wikle, Truman University, Ashish Gauli, Fisk University, and Ryan Yan, 

College of William & Mary

Serenity Purcell & Enrique Montano, Smithsonian Institution

Hannah Dempsey, College of William & Mary

Plenary session 2—EcoINFORMA 

initiatives—Current assets and 

future directions—Continued.

2:30 p.m. Plenary—Citizen science—Contributions to biodiversity informatics needs 

(Moderator: Annie Simpson, U.S. Geological Survey)

Plenary session 3—Citizen science 

contributions to biodiversity 

informatics needs.

2:30 p.m. eBird (Rob Stevenson, professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston)

2:45 p.m. The National Phenology Network (Jake Weltzin, executive director, National 

Phenology Network)

3:00 p.m. iNaturalist (Scott Loarie, co-director, iNaturalist)

3:15 p.m. Citizen science plenary clicker questionnaire and discussion Interactive plenary discussion.

3:30 p.m. 30-minute break Break.

4:00 p.m. Plenary—Nongovernmental organizations—Biospatial data efforts in the 

community (Moderator: Ben Wheeler, U.S. Geological Survey)

Plenary session 4—Biospatial data 

efforts in the nongovernmental 

organization community. 4:00 p.m. The Wilderness Society—Mapping wildland values and climate vulnerability 

to support conservation strategy across the United States (Greg Aplet, senior 

science director, and Travis Belote, ecologist)

4:15 p.m. Defenders of Wildlife—Integrating regulatory, biological, and geospatial data to 

improve Endangered Species Act implementation (Jacob Malcolm, endangered 

species science and policy analyst, and Ryan Covington, spatial analyst)

4:30 p.m. NatureServe—Biodiversity and ecosystem spatial data of NatureServe and the 

Natural Heritage Network (Healy Hamilton, chief scientist)

4:45 p.m. The Audubon Society—Audubon enterprise GIS—Bridging gaps and increasing 

conservation impact (Doreen Whitley, geospatial information officer)

5:00 p.m. Biospatial data efforts in the nongovernmental organization community—Plenary 

clicker questionnaire and discussion

Interactive plenary discussion.

5:15 p.m. Formation of breakout groups

5:30 p.m. Adjourn for the day Adjourn.
6 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Table 2. Agenda for workshop, “Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data,” December 2–4, 2015, Department 

of Interior South Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C.—Continued

[LANDFIRE, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project, EcoINFORMA, ecoinformatics-based open resources and machine 

accessibility; GIS, geographic information system]

Time Activity or presentation topic Session

Thursday, December 3, 2015

8:30 a.m. Day 1 summary, logistics, day 2 objectives (Stinger Guala and Healy Hamilton) Plenary.

8:45 a.m. Plenary—Academia—Biospatial and geospatial data efforts (moderator: 

Tosha Comendant, Conservation Biology Institute)

Plenary session 5—Bio- and 

geospatial data efforts in the 

academic sector.

8:45 a.m. University of Florida—iDigBio—Enabling access to and reuse of millions 

of specimen and media records (Alex Thompson, information technology 

infrastructure lead, iDigBio)

9:00 a.m. University of Florida/Yale University—Map of life (Rob Guralnick, curator, 

Biodiversity Informatics)

9:15 a.m. Utah State University—Western Center for Monitoring & Assessment of 

Freshwater Ecosystems (Chuck Hawkins, director, Western Center for 

Monitoring & Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems)

9:30 a.m. University of California, Berkeley—Initiative in global change biology 

(Michelle Koo, staff curator, biodiversity informatics and GIS)

9:45 a.m. College of William and Mary—Data integration and decision-making—

Using GIS for climate screening with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

(Dan Runfola, senior geospatial scientist)

10:00 a.m. Biospatial and geospatial data efforts in the Academic sector—Plenary clicker 

questionnaire and discussion

Interactive plenary discussion.

10:15 a.m. 30-minute break Break.

10:45 a.m. Map and app mashup II—Speed presentations (moderator: Tosha Comendant, 

Conservation Biology Institute)

Andy Holdsworth, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Tim Howard, New York Natural Heritage Program

Jimmy Kagan, Oregon Biodiversity Information Center

Chris Burkett, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and 

Jason Bulluck, Virginia Natural Heritage Program

Tom Akre, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

William McShea, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Plenary session 5—Bio- and 

geospatial data efforts in the 

academic sector—Continued.

11:15 a.m. Plenary—Private sector—Data integration initiatives (moderator: Stinger Guala, 

U.S. Geological Survey)

Plenary session 6—Private sector 

data integration initiatives.

11:15 a.m. Microsoft, Inc. (Kristen Tolle, director, Microsoft Data Science Initiative)

11:30 a.m. The Earth Knowledge Platform (Frank D’Agnese, chief technology officer, Earth 

Knowledge Network)

11:45 a.m. Esri (Lori Pelech, manager of conservation nonprofits)

12:00 p.m. Private sector data integration initiatives plenary clicker questionnaire and 

discussion

Interactive plenary discussion.
Introduction 7

Table 2. Agenda for workshop, “Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data,” December 2–4, 2015, Department 

of Interior South Building, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington D.C.—Continued

[LANDFIRE, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project, EcoINFORMA, ecoinformatics-based open resources and machine 

accessibility; GIS, geographic information system]

Time Activity or presentation topic Session

Thursday, December 3, 2015—Continued

12:15 p.m. 75-minute lunch on own

Tools café—Rachel Carson Room

Informal meeting of breakout groups in Main Interior Cafeteria

Lunch

Tools café

Breakout pre-meet.

1:30 p.m. Plenary—Data visualization and dissemination (moderator: Healy Hamilton, 

NatureServe)

Plenary session 7—Data 

visualization and dissemination.

1:30 p.m. Vizzuality (Craig Mills, chief executive officer, Vizzuality)

1:45 p.m. Blue Raster (Mike Lippman, cofounder and principal, Blue Raster)

2:00 p.m. DataBasin (Tosha Comendant, senior scientist, Conservation Biology Institute)

2:15 p.m. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Resilience Toolkit 

(Ned Gardiner, communications and education producer)

2:30 p.m. Data visualization and communication plenary clicker questionnaire and 

discussion

Interactive plenary discussion.

2:45 p.m. Map and app mashup III—Speed presentations (moderator: Healy Hamilton, 

NatureServe)

Woody Turner, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mike Gill, Group on Earth Observations

Ryan Powers, Yale University

Michael Fitzgibbon, Point Blue

Regan Smyth, NatureServe

Mary Ellen Hannibal, Journalist

Plenary session 7—Data 

visualization and dissemination—

Continued.

3:15 p.m. 15-minute break Break.

3:30 p.m. Plenary instructions for breakout group sessions Plenary discussion.

3:45 p.m. Breakout sessions Breakout sessions.

5:30 p.m. Adjourn for the day Adjourn.

Friday, December 4, 2015

9:00 a.m. Plenary keynote—Environmental data synergy—Where do we go from here? 

(Dan Ashe, director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Plenary.

9:30 a.m. Breakout session reports/discussion I Interactive plenary reports.

10:30 a.m. 15-minute break Break.

10:45 a.m. Breakout session reports/discussion II Interactive plenary reports.

12:00 p.m. Workshop overall summary (Healy Hamilton and Stinger Guala) Plenary summary.

1:00 p.m. Adjourn Adjourn.
8 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Summary of Plenary Sessions

Plenary presentations on December 3 and 4, 2015, were 

grouped in categories: ecoinformatics-based open resources 

and machine accessibility (EcoINFORMA); Federal inventory and monitoring; academic, nongovernmental organization 

(NGO), and private sector initiatives; citizen science; map and 

app mashups; and data visualization and dissemination.

Plenary Session 1—Monitoring in Federal 

Resource-Management Agencies—Current 

Efforts and Immediate Needs

Six leaders in Federal government inventory and monitoring programs described the goals of their efforts, the data 

types being collected, and the decisions their programs 

are designed to inform (see table 2). Most major resourcemanagement agencies were represented, including the 

U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the 

Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the interagency 

LANDFIRE Program. In total, 80 percent of participants 

indicated that they use Federal agency data in their work (see 

appendix 4), demonstrating the reliance on Federal inventory 

and monitoring data (fig. 2). The importance of nationally consistent spatial datasets on biodiversity and environment was 

highlighted, and the need for time series data that can support 

trend analyses was emphasized.

Plenary Session 2—EcoINFORMA Initiatives—

Current Assets and Future Directions

After an overview of EcoINFORMA and its roots in 

President’s Council of Scientific Advisors on Science and 

Technology report (2011), four leaders of this initiative provided descriptions of their informatics efforts (table 2). Each 

speaker described their specific data contents and accessibility and drew the connections between their programs and the 

overall goals of EcoINFORMA. The presentations demonstrated the various stages of development of EcoINFORMA 

efforts, with the Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation 

(BISON) mapping project of the U.S. Geological Survey and 

the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium representing mature, data rich, and rapidly growing environments 

currently serving large volumes of decision-relevant data, 

EnviroAtlas offering an innovative approach to quantifying 

and mapping ecosystem services, and the newly available and 

rapidly expanding Ag Data Commons showing great promise 

as an aggregator of many important and largely inaccessible 

datasets. Fifty percent of the workshop participants had used 

EcoINFORMA data, and 47 percent had been providers of 

data to EcoINFORMA programs (see appendix 4). The session discussion noted the value of EcoINFORMA’s programs 

in supporting community standards for various types of data 

aggregation, analysis, and dissemination.

Plenary Session 3—Citizen Science 

Contributions to Biodiversity Informatics Needs

Three pioneering and nationally significant citizen science programs (eBird, the National Phenology Network, and 

iNaturalist; table 2) were presented, one each from the academic, Federal, and NGO sectors. All three speakers clearly 

demonstrated the tremendous potential of citizen science 

data to contribute to biodiversity discovery and monitoring 

of population and phenological trends, and simultaneously to 

expand public engagement. In total, 48 percent of the workshop participants had contributed citizen science data efforts, 

and 77 percent had used citizen science data in their work (see 

appendix 4). The success of protocols to support contribution of eBird and iNaturalist observations to data hubs such 

as USGS BISON and the Global Biodiversity Information 

Facility conveyed the sheer volume of citizen science data 

and potential, emphasizing the era of big data in biodiversity 

observations has arrived. Substantial further discussion in 

multiple workshop sessions centered around the most important environmental datasets and data infrastructure needs for 

fully leveraging this new and growing source of environmental information. Four major issues for accelerating applicability of citizen science data were identified: improving data 

sharing standards, establishing appropriate quality-assurance 

and quality-control processes for crowd-sourced observations, 

improving data visualization and delivery mechanisms, and 

improving methods for identifying data provenance.

Plenary Session 4—Biospatial Data Efforts in 

the Nongovernmental Organization Community

Four science-based NGOs (the Wilderness Society, 

Defenders of Wildlife, NatureServe, and the Audubon Society; 

table 2) offered diverse, informative conservation applications 

of nationally consistent spatial data layers and demonstrated 

the value of curated digital data on biodiversity, environment, 

and climate. Two themes were leveraging the use of spatial 

data and tools for analysis and visualization and using the 

current and potential contribution of geographic information science to support tools, analyses, and visualizations that 

engage and empower. This session emphasized the benefits of 

investing in data access—especially spatial data, documentation such as metadata, and the bioinformatics infrastructure to 

facilitate the full data cycle, much of which is being addressed 

by EcoINFORMA initiatives. Much greater potential exists 

to use these data and tools to improve a stakeholder-engaged 

process of science-based conservation, such as creating 

landscape-scale conservation blueprints, identifying metrics 

for conservation effectiveness, identifying information gaps 

(fig. 3), and leveraging technology to grow public engagement.
Summary of Plenary Sessions 9

Figure 2. Map of modeled 

greater sage grouse habitat 

use in the spring. This data 

visualization demonstrates the 

importance multiple disparate 

environmental data layers that 

rely in part on Federal agency 

products. Image courtesy 

of Jimmy Kagan, Oregon 

Biodiversity Information Center, 

Portland State University; used 

with permission.

Figure 3. A map of the 

locations of all Endangered 

Species Act consultations 

(2008–15) for which the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

recorded coordinates. The 

visible gaps in the map—most 

obvious at State level—are 

created by variation in which 

offices record coordinates, not 

the number of consultations. 

Map by Defenders of Wildlife, 

https://doi.org/10.6084/

m9.figshare.5868159; used with 

permission.
10 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

These presentations by the NGO community suggested 

several derived national data layers that are in high demand, 

such as ecological representation of current conservation 

estate, percent loss of natural vegetation, habitat connectivity, climate exposure, species richness, and various ecological 

metrics of resistance and resilience. Building awareness of 

data access and applicability is essential because there are few 

organizations and insufficient resources to properly manage 

the full biodiversity data life cycle (from collection, curation, 

and analysis to visualization and dissemination) for major 

biodiversity and environmental datasets.

Plenary Session 5—Bio- and Geospatial Data 

Efforts in the Academic Sector

Five presentations from the academic community 

demonstrated the creative strength of that sector in modeling 

biotic response to global change (iDigBio by the University of 

Florida, Map of life by the University of Florida/Yale University, Western Center for Monitoring & Assessment of Freshwater Ecosystems by Utah State University, Initiative in global 

change biology by the University of California, Berkeley, and 

GIS for Climate Screening by the College of William and 

Mary; table 2). Each participant offered a powerful application 

based on digitizing, aggregating, and visualizing biodiversity 

and ecoinformatics datasets. In spite of the high quality of 

the academic applications shared during the academic sector plenary and that 72 percent of 82 workshop questionnaire 

respondents said they use data and applications from academia 

in their work, 25 percent of them found out about data or 

tools from academic sources completely opportunistically and 

23 percent by surfing the web (appendix 4). A common theme 

among the bio- and geospatial applications from academia 

was the essential nature of geolocated data, with latitude and 

longitude as a central organizing data attribute, or analyzing 

the dynamics of global change. To extract the most value out 

of event-based data, such as species observations, its counterpart—spatial environmental data or base layers, such as 

downscaled climate models—needs to be invested in. Major 

university-led efforts are underway to digitally capture historical biodiversity datasets and apply them to improve the understanding of baseline ecological conditions and to establish 

historical ranges of variation. From user-driven dynamic modeling tools for refining biodiversity knowledge to predictive 

species lists for a watershed, the fundamental building blocks 

enabling these and similar efforts are nationally consistent biospatial and geospatial data layers. More focus is warranted on 

the rapidly growing field of geovisualization tools, especially 

given their importance in connecting audiences, including 

decision makers, to biodiversity analysis products.

Plenary Session 6—Private Sector Data 

Integration Initiatives

Presentations from the private sector (Microsoft, Inc., 

the Earth Knowledge Platform, and Esri; table 2) strongly 

emphasized data interoperability as a fundamental challenge 

and opportunity for increasing the relevance of and improving 

outcomes from applications of biodiversity and environmental 

data. Investment in connectivity, open data access, and data 

interoperability can transform resource management decision 

making from reactive to proactive, which can save money 

and improve outcomes. The rapidly emerging sensor revolution, from dense networks of environmental data loggers to 

unmanned aerial vehicles and new generations of satellites, 

highlights the power of increasing the scale of data interoperability; however, interoperability alone cannot transform 

information into decision-relevant insight. The demand for 

real-time dashboards that synthesize, analyze, and visualize 

disparate forms of data for decision support is rapidly increasing. In total, 84 percent of 89 questionnaire respondents felt 

that public-private partnerships are either essential or very 

important to creating the big data processing infrastructure 

required to support information needs of managers and practitioners that must sustain resources in the face of global change 

(appendix 4). Almost 50 percent of the 90 respondents said 

they were currently part of such public-private partnerships. 

Cloud-enabled data aggregation, management, and analysis 

will provide improved characterization of uncertainties, will 

accelerate interoperability, and will advance the application 

of machine learning algorithms that can fill data gaps. Part 

of this big data challenge is integrating data across space 

and time, such as establishing and implementing spatially 

consistent domains for modeling. In total, 50 percent of the 

94 questionnaire respondents (appendix 4) said that lack of 

opportunities to develop collaborations were the limiting factor in broadening public-private collaboration, and 26 percent 

felt that lack of common goals (knowledge versus profit) was 

the limiting factor.

Plenary Session 7—Data Visualization and 

Dissemination

The final plenary set of presentations (on Vizzuality, Blue 

Raster, DataBasin, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration Climate Resilience Toolkit; table 2) offered 

perspectives from private sector, government, and NGO efforts 

focused on visualizing and disseminating biodiversity and 

environmental data. This session was widely regarded as being 

one of the most successful, and 84 percent of 98 participants 

surveyed said they use web-based data visualization tools. 

It exposed a community largely focused on data collection, 

aggregation, and analysis to modern, creative approaches 

for visualizing and communicating data to target audiences. 

Through advances in technology, the art and design communities have developed high capacity for dynamic, visually 
“Take Homes” from the Breakout Sessions 11

intuitive representations of a wide range of environmental 

data (fig. 4). Geospatial mapping, animation, and web technologies offer unlimited opportunities to store, create, and tell 

data-based stories in new visual ways, reaching more diverse 

audiences. These same technologies mobilize powerful peerto-peer learning networks around tools, data, and expertise, 

creating communities of practice that can be directed toward 

issues in ecological informatics. There is demonstrated value 

of data-sharing platforms that offer aggregations of disparate 

environmental data and syntheses of lessons learned. Speakers 

advocated that more opportunities should be created for the 

art, design, and biodiversity science communities to generate 

public-private partnerships for ecological data analysis and 

visualization.

“Take Homes” from the Breakout 

Sessions

Based on the issues raised in the presentations and participant-declared interests, breakout sessions with 10 groups 

were held in the afternoon and into the evening of day 2 and 

presented results consisting of answers to questions posed to 

them (see appendix 1) and suggestions for future directions.

Figure 4. Geovisualization (or geographic visualization) refers to a set of tools and techniques supporting the analysis of geospatial 

data using interactive functionality. Image courtesy of Edward Gardiner and Climate.gov; used with permission.

Ecosystem Services and Ecological Indicators

Although a Whitehouse Memorandum (Executive Office 

of the President of the United States, 2015) directed Federal 

agencies to use ecosystem services in planning and decision making, some driver is needed for agencies to finish and 

maintain foundational datasets that will allow them to accurately assess and define the extent of ecosystem services and 

their effects on the environment. The breakout group reported 

that there needs to be a provision for directing agencies to 

complete essential and foundational datasets like the Soil 

Survey Geographic Database, the high-resolution National 

Hydrography Dataset, the 5-meter digital elevation model 

(DEM), and the National Wetland Inventory, and make them 

EcoINFORMA hubs. Group members also asserted we do 

not have social data sets that are comparable to the biophysical data that we have. While providing a call for more social 

science to be directed at the problem, the lack of comparable 

social/biophysical data sets also highlights the difficulty of 

working with disparate datasets collected for other purposes—

a theme that arose repeatedly among the breakouts. Scale 

dependencies in the data are often very limiting. The ecoinformatics community also has not sufficiently mined the data 

that we do have and has not adequately cast it in terms of 

benefits and beneficiaries (for example, the National Aquatic 
12 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Figure 5. Many of the critical 

components of a national biogeographic 

map of the Nation were showcased 

during the workshop. Image courtesy of 

NatureServe; used with permission.

Resource Survey and the Forest Inventory and Analysis 

were mentioned). Highly integrative and ongoing analysis of 

ecosystem services is needed, but the many pieces are spread 

across many disconnected areas in many agencies and across 

the private sector. A much higher level of coordination will be 

needed to achieve the stated goals on this issue.

Inventory and Monitoring

The group encapsulated their goal as follows: shift from 

making conservation decisions and designs based on best 

available information to making decisions based on the most 

complete and appropriate information that exists. To further 

clarify this, they pointed out that “best available” does not 

necessarily mean “good” or “appropriate,” and this discrepancy is what needs to change. Although informatics can help 

enormously (in the form of data integration and modeling) to 

focus efforts and improve efficiency, there is no substitute for 

comprehensive, long-term data on the species and ecosystems 

in question. Further, there is a compelling and obvious need 

for the consistent and comprehensive use and, in some cases 

development of, national standards integrated with global 

standards for data gathering and dissemination. Optimizing 

resources through national strategies for monitoring, rather 

than ad hoc local- or single organization-oriented ones, also 

is needed. Optimization is challenging, especially regarding 

compartmentalizing data, funding, and priorities. Leadership at the highest levels is needed to ameliorate this, and 

some successes because of cooperation would greatly help 

the process. Although marine systems were not specifically 

addressed in this workshop, the group also pointed out the 

need for integration with, and within, that arena.

Biogeographic Map of the Nation

In contrast to other breakout sessions that highlighted 

the need for a central resource to integrate and visualize data 

on species and their distributions, to identify gaps in our 

knowledge, to assess threats, and to efficiently use and manage 

resources, this breakout session was charged with visioning 

such a central resource (fig. 5). Although BISON has moved 

aggressively toward meeting this need during the past 3 years 

and served as the EcoINFORMA hub for biodiversity, leading efforts in the Federal realm, it is only part of the story. 

The group pointed to the need for a full information infrastructure to record, manage, and synthesize all data relevant 

to documenting and understanding the spatial distributions of 

organisms, the factors that determine distributions, and how 

distributions have changed and will change over time. They 

emphasized that the resource must be dynamic and function 

across scales. It must support simple interfaces for decision making and more complex interfaces for research and 

re-use such as Linked Open Data. Finally, they pointed out 

that although further community building is key, most of the 

critical components of this much-needed central, integrating 

resource were highlighted in this workshop. More workshops 

like this, coupled with sharing of students across projects, 

were discussed as high-value ways to move forward.
“Take Homes” from the Breakout Sessions 13

Pollinators

The importance of pollinators (fig. 6) for food security 

and many other ecosystem services cannot be understated. 

Substantial work within the past 5 years on the strategic 

needs for pollinator assessment and management, such as the 

Pollinator Research Action Plan (Pollinator Health Task Force, 

2015), has moved the conversation forward greatly. However, 

many of the most basic information needs remain to be met; 

for example, a national list of pollinators, or of the plants that 

require animal mediated pollination services, does not exist. 

Distribution data for all but the most common species are 

very poor, and even co-occurrence data (with pollinated plant 

species) are extremely rare compared to the actual number of 

pollinator associations. Although progress has been made, a 

comprehensive standard to document pollinator plant interactions and the factors that affect them has not be created. A 

major effort is needed to acquire and interpret data represented 

in specimen collections that are not digitized, data in the literature, and new syntheses to determine baselines and the temporality of pollinator interactions and how they may change.

Invasive Species

The early detection of and rapid response (EDRR) 

to non-native invasive species is critical to managing and 

maintaining our natural ecosystems, ecosystem services, and 

habitat resilience. The importance of EDRR is emphasized in 

a newly released interdepartmental report that was described 

during the workshop (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2016; 

fig. 7). U.S. Department of the Interior (2016) proposed a 

national framework consisting of a coordinated set of actions 

to find and eradicate potential invasive species before they 

spread and cause harm. A nationally comprehensive database 

of non-native species does not exist and is clearly a central 

need. More comprehensive expert-vetted lists are necessary 

for determining what is (and is not) native in any given area, 

and the taxonomy needs to keep up. Existing data networks 

collaborate, but much more reporting is needed for effective 

EDRR. Citizen science should play a major role, especially 

for species that are easy to recognize and tag as invasive, and 

we should concentrate on those species at a national scale. 

For more cryptic species, some citizen science networks are 

developing substantial identification expertise and should be 

leveraged. The potential to massively scale up observations 

of invasive species to support EDRR decisions highlights the 

need to ensure connection with major repositories and to support a data-to-decisions pipeline, moving beyond the current 

state of taxonomically or geographically restricted monitoring 

and databases.

Figure 6. Native pollinators such as the swallowtail are 

essential to the balance of natural ecosystems. Photo courtesy of 

Gretchen Westhoff, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/; 

used with permission.

Figure 7. The national framework for invasive species early 

detection and rapid response (U.S. Department of the Interior, 

2016) describes parameters for addressing the invasive species 

issue. Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of the Interior; used 

with permission.
14 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Remote Sensing

The Federal government invests heavily in the remote 

sensing of many critical variables for assessing and managing 

biodiversity and ecosystem change. Landsat-derived products 

have been indispensable, but training data for classification are 

still limited. These products must be combined with directly 

measured data on the ground and higher-resolution data to be 

most useful in this context. Standards for image processing are 

well defined, but large gaps still exist in the availability and 

use of standards and comparative data for interpretation (for 

example, what is a water body or wetland). Land use interpretation is very challenging because local and municipal data 

are largely lacking and poorly defined. Also, multiple levels 

of privacy and access concerns must be addressed in the data, 

especially for higher-resolution data. An integrated system of 

Landsat, Sentinel, light detection and ranging (lidar), hyperspectral, and aerial imagery would be ideal (fig. 8). Remote 

sensing of individual plant species extents and ecosystem 

health and richness are within reach. This group also suggested that EcoINFORMA should have a role in helping gauge 

usage and solicit feedback.

Drivers of Agricultural Change

Agriculture, from intensively managed microfarms to 

passively managed forests, accounts for most of our Nation’s 

food and fiber production and the largest commercial interface with ecosystems. Substantial investments have gone 

into accounting and assessment across the landscape with 

respect to crops and factors that affect their production (fig. 9). 

However, a much more integrated picture is needed to assess 

and manage biodiversity and ecosystems in concert with 

agriculture and to make ecosystems sustainable and resilient. Forecasting is key and numerous temporally fixed and 

predictive models exist, but they are rarely well validated. 

The combination of agricultural with nonagricultural lands 

and environmental factors beyond the immediate interface is 

rare. Largely due to economic and privacy issues, but also in 

many cases for less compelling reasons, much of the data are 

proprietary and difficult to obtain in a timely fashion. Further, 

highly significant spatial data on the microbiome, pollinators, 

pathogens, and other important variables either do not exist 

or are spotty at best. There is enormous potential for more 

collaboration across the agricultural interface.

Figure 8. Modern imagery provided by satellites, such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2, and by 

publicly available air photography, such as the National Agriculture Imagery Program, provide 

analysis tools for land use and land cover interpretation. These are four images of the same 

location, with the National Land Cover Database shown on the top left, Landsat 8 on the top 

right, and two sets of different texture metrics derived from air photography shown in the 

bottom two images. Image courtesy of Jimmy Kagan, Oregon Biodiversity Information Center, 

Portland State University; used with permission.
“Take Homes” from the Breakout Sessions 15

Figure 9. Maps such as this one, which displays the magnitude of spatial change over time, are part of the National Land Cover 

Database, a product of the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. Image from Homer and others (2015); used with 

permission.
16 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Citizen Science

Citizen science has become increasingly important 

in understanding large-scale phenomena that require large 

amounts of distributed data and that are easily observed 

and communicated with little scientific training (fig. 10). 

The data needed to answer many of the major questions in 

biodiversity management fit squarely within this realm, and 

numerous breakout groups highlighted the importance of 

citizen science in the future of their disciplines. The power 

of citizen science comes from the large volume and spatial 

scale of the data and the broad appreciation from the public 

that the activity promotes. Examples of novel and time-tested 

methods to ensure data quality and reasonable sampling are 

readily available. However, what is currently needed is more 

national-scale leadership to enhance and manage collaboration and to promote more complementary and comprehensive 

coverage and support of citizen science. Small and spatially or 

taxonomically restricted citizen science projects often generate high enthusiasm but fail to collaborate effectively up the 

progressively broader hierarchy of appropriate national efforts. 

This often reduces the level of data quality as well as the relevance, and hence sustainability, of the project. Ultimately the 

data need to feed into national-level resources with synthetic 

analyses clearly visualized, with appropriate credit, expertise, 

and resources flowing back to the source.

Climate

The climate breakout session participants discussed largescale climatic data and its uses related to projecting climate 

futures and biodiversity vulnerability. The rate, magnitude 

and nature of climate change must be considered in applied 

research and decision making across the realm of ecosystems 

and biodiversity. These forecasted changes are very complex, 

and uncertainties need to be accounted for and communicated. 

Validation through hindcasting should be actively supported, 

and comparison among climate models, emissions pathways, 

and quantification of differences in downscaling methods 

should be encouraged. Improved methods of determining climate change exposure for species and ecosystems are needed. 

Establishing an overall baseline as well as appropriately downscaled climate data layers for specific regions and analyses is 

critical. The fundamental inclusion of specific ecologies into 

analyses of the past or future effects of climate change also is 

necessary for credible outcomes. The ecological forecasting 

community needs to be supported to identify, develop, and 

deploy the most important spatial data layers for predicting 

biodiversity and ecosystem response to climate change.

Figure 10. Top image, Spatio-Temporal Exploratory Mapping 

model for Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) that breed 

throughout eastern forests and are present east of the Great 

Plains from central Florida and east Texas north to southern 

Canada. The lighter color indicates their spring arrival in April and 

May. Image courtesy of Steve Kelling, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 

used with permission. Bottom image, Climate Watch App, an open 

online platform designed to empower users with climate data 

visualizations. Image courtesy of the National Audubon Society; 

used with permission.
Student Projects 17

Hydrology and Watersheds

Hydrologic data collection needs cooperators, but we 

must realize that freshwater and marine systems are very 

different. The workshop discussion emphasized freshwater 

systems, and the breakout session participants determined the 

following needs and wants within this area:

1. Nationwide (or at least in the lower 48 States) completion of the National Hydrography Dataset highresolution stream coverage. If this coverage were able 

to include the attributes of the National Hydrography 

Dataset plus data, it would be exceptionally useful for 

aquatic species modeling. Fifth order and larger streams 

should have both stream boundary lines estimated.

2. Modeled riparian area and flood plain boundaries need 

to be completed, using the 5- or 1-meter DEM. Work 

underway by the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency and State partners needs to be standardized and 

integrated with high-resolution land cover data to allow 

flooding, shading, and aquatic habitat conditions to be 

modeled.

3. Nationally consistent, 14-digit hydrologic unit code 

(HUC) boundaries updated with the 1- or 5-meter 

DEM and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey 

or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as Federal 

Geographic Data Committee standard units. Alternatively, 12-digit HUC boundaries would be acceptable. If 

possible, 14-digit HUCs could include valley type and 

have flow volume summarized and attributed.

4. National standards for aquatic stream habitats (not 

conditions), so mapping pools, riffles, cascades, and 

other major stream types is possible.

5. Methodologies for linking fish or aquatic invertebrate 

observations and collections to stream covers in a 

consistent way.

6. Attributed nation-wide valley type maps (possibly using 

the Rosgen Stream Classification Technique).

7. An aggregated wetlands layer across the lower 48 States, 

Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the United States 

(aside from Alaska), based on the 1- or 5-meter DEM, 

that only includes attributes needed to model ecosystem 

service provision. This layer would include all adjacent 

NWI wetland polygons to be analyzed as to water volume, based on system averages described in Cowardin 

and others (1979), and then merged into a single wetland 

(or wetland complex) map.

Student Projects

To facilitate student involvement in the workshop, a 

competition was held inviting student submissions of selfcontained or openly deployed mobile or web applications, 

map mashups, or compelling and dynamic visualizations that 

demonstrate innovative approaches to the integration, analysis, 

and visualization of environmental data. Students from the five 

winning submissions were awarded travel grants to attend the 

workshop, and this section describes their products.

ComFlo Invasion Model

Models to create projections of invasive species spread 

are critical in identifying high-priority shipping centers and 

pathways of bioinvasion, essential information to prevent 

environmental and economic harm caused by invasive species. 

In this work, Ashish Gauli (Fisk University), Nathan Wikle 

(Truman State University), and Ryan Yan (College of William 

and Mary) developed an interactive web-based simulation 

system called ComFlo to project the movement of invasive 

species across the United States. Freight Analysis Framework 

commodity shipping data from 1997 to 2012, provided by 

the Federal Highway Administration, were used to produce 

the model. Specifically, the data were used to generate the 

transition matrix at the core of a stochastic matrix model that 

projects terrestrial invasive species spread in the United States 

through the domestic commodity flow network. In addition, 

environmental predictors, including precipitation and temperature, were used to predict the movement of the invasive population to regions that have a suitable habitat for the species. 

The resulting model is unique in its reliance on FAF shipping 

data in conjunction with the environmental data and can be 

used for a variety of species that may be transported within 

commodity shipments. The hope is to continue to improve the 

model to identify specific domestic shipping routes and trade 

hubs that are primary conduits of invasive species dispersal. 

Such information should prove useful to managers tasked with 

limiting the spread and damage caused by invasive species 

within the United States. 

The invasive model can be accessed here: 

http://www.nimbios.org/sre/comflo.

Mutualism Network in Space

Azteca sericesur is a keystone ant species in Neotropical coffee agroecosystems in Chiapas, Mexico. Its spatial 

distribution significantly affects the density and incidence 

of Coccus viridis (the green coffee scale, which also is a 
18 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

mutualism partner of the ant) and the natural enemies of the 

ant and the green coffee scale. The ant nest clustering app by 

Hsun-Yi Hsieh (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) applies 

linear algebra and network theory to generate an unlimited 

number of mutualism networks in space as a basis for further 

explorations of spatial relations between the mutualism and 

other organisms.

Using the principals of linear algebra and network theory, 

“critical distances” (0–70 meters) were used to generate an 

unlimited number of networks. More specifically, these networks were created based on distance between two ant nests 

that form mutualism with the green coffee scale; if two nests 

fall within a critical distance (such as within 5 meters), they 

belong to the same cluster. The components in each network 

signify the clusters of mutualism. They are represented in 

different colors. Advanced uses of these networks include 

mapping them with the densities and incidence of organisms 

associated with the mutualism networks, such as the biocontrol agents of the green coffee scale.

The app can be accessed here: https://hhsieh.shinyapps.io/

Shiny

Local Climate Effects: Ephemera

The Ephemera app by Matthew Kling (University of 

California, Berkeley) visualizes the ever-changing interactions between climate, geography, and biotic communities in 

an era of anthropogenic climate change. The app is a Shiny R 

application and is a place-based tool aimed at helping users 

understand dimensions of local climate change by placing that 

change in the context of climate variation across geography, 

seasons, and vegetation types. Temperature and precipitation 

data from three periods (1948–80, 1981–2012, 2041–70) highlight future projected change and trends already observed during the last 60 years. Data sources include academic (climate 

data from Climate North America) as well as government and 

NGO (vegetation data from LANDFIRE.gov).

This is a Shiny R application that runs out of RStudio. 

It runs smoothly on the latest version of R and Studio on the 

machines tested. Note that it autoinstalls several public packages from the Comprehensive R Archive Network. Download 

and package installation could take several minutes. During 

installation, a popup dialogue or a message in the console may 

ask about installing from local binaries; choose “yes.”

Predicted Threat to North American Salamander 

Biodiversity from the Lethal Pathogen, 

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are increasingly 

affecting wildlife and are a major threat to global biodiversity. 

Chytridiomycosis, an EID caused by two fungal pathogens, 

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), has been implicated in an 

amphibian pandemic. Whereas Bd has infected more than 

500 species and caused declines and extinctions in more 

than 200 species globally, little is known about the newly 

described Bsal. Lethal to salamanders and likely from Asia, 

Bsal has been documented in the pet trade and poses a substantial threat to salamander populations worldwide. A Bsal 

invasion in North America could lead to rapid declines and 

extinctions in the world’s salamander biodiversity hotspot. 

The potential biological effect and geographic scope of 

Bsal in North America were estimated by producing a vulnerability model using open source software and publicly 

available environmental data. A Bsal habitat suitability 

model was created by Tiffany Yap (University of California, Los Angeles) using maximum entropy software, Maxent (http://biodiversityinformatics.amnh.org/open_source/

maxent/), potential carrier occurrence data from Vertnet 

(http://www.vertnet.org), and bioclimatic data from WorldClim (www.worldclim.org). Host availability (salamander 

richness) was estimated from ranges obtained from International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural 

Resources (http://www.iucnredlist.org) and AmphibiaWeb 

(https://amphibiaweb.org) using R (https://www.r-project.org). 

The habitat suitability model was weighted with salamander 

richness and indicated the most likely ports of entry from 

U.S. salamander trade data (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Freedom of Information Act) to produce a salamander vulnerability model. The resulting model provides targeted areas 

for Bsal surveillance and monitoring, and multiple agencies 

are using it to aid in the response to this biodiversity crisis. 

Studies are ongoing, using similar methodologies to continue 

addressing amphibian biodiversity conservation.

In Search of the “Common” Trees

This study by Enrique Montaño (University of Maryland 

and Goddard Space Flight Center) and Serenity Montaño 

(Smithsonian Institution) examined tree species distributions 

and their contributions to the composition of State, regional, 

and national tree species abundance to determine “common” 

tree species.

A self-contained R script was developed that will, in a 

single step, query the U.S. Geological Survey’s Biodiversity 

Information Serving Our Nation (USGS BISON) data (all 

providers) and output a meaningful visual analysis of all nonhybrid tree species composition and distribution in the United 

States, including tables and maps. As configured, the script 

can run in a single step, accessing data publicly available on 

BISON.

The package as written runs the initial query, and then 

the results are analyzed discreetly for each standardized 

region of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) 

boundaries (West Region, Central Region, Southeast Region, 

Northeast Region).

Species occurrence data were examined for 1,389 species 

of vascular plants determined by U.S. Department of 
References Cited 19

Agriculture’s Plant List of Accepted Nomenclature Taxonomy 

and Symbols to qualify as trees; query results detailed species 

present in each region, species distribution across each region, 

cumulative contribution of species occurrence as percentages 

of the regional composition, and national and regional occurrence counts per species. The results include occurrences from 

greater than 50 to 500,000.

Findings demonstrated that 33 species account for the 

top 50 percent of cumulative composition across all recorded 

occurrences across all regions.

Summary and Conclusions

This diverse group of workshop participants, offering 

perspectives from 19 Federal agencies and many more nongovernmental organization, academic, and private sector representatives, was highly aligned in identifying and prioritizing 

national biodiversity informatics needs. For example, participants recognized the importance of building and supporting 

the infrastructure to leverage the volumes of biodiversity data 

being observed and shared by our increasingly networked 

world. The rapidly growing demand for ecological modeling 

applications highlights the need for investment in nationally 

consistent data layers on patterns of climate, biodiversity, and 

environment. The advent of virtually unlimited cloud-based 

storage and analysis capacity can support intensive modeling efforts that have not previously been possible, such as a 

distribution model for every U.S. species. These activities are 

ready to come together in support of decision-driven ecological informatics.

For example, substantial expansion in our understanding 

of the distributions of species and ecosystems is within our 

grasp. Leveraging existing data and investing in modeling 

capacity, we could dramatically improve knowledge of the 

probable location of species and ecosystems, information 

needed for regulatory, management, and conservation purposes. Inventory and monitoring programs of Federal and 

State agencies, academia, and nongovernmental organizations 

already collect a vast amount of biodiversity data. Citizen 

science has the capacity to generate huge volumes of biodiversity observation data. Investment should be directed toward 

developing the optimal set of environmental monitoring 

metrics that can be fed by existing inventory and monitoring 

and citizen science efforts, can detect biodiversity response to 

global change, and can be aggregated across ecological and 

political boundaries. Monitoring targets can be strategically 

designed to maximize trend detection capacity. There is high 

demand for nationally consistent predictor layers to support 

ecological modeling made possible by increasing volumes 

of and easy access to biodiversity observation data. We have 

available all the components of a dynamic biodiversity assessment, inventory and monitoring regime that involves citizen 

science to check the pulse of key metrics over time. Participants’ opinions were almost equally divided in what they see 

as the biggest challenge in data dissemination: ensuring data 

are not misinterpreted, dealing with the issue of data overload, 

tracking how data are used, standards in web service metadata, 

and “other” (appendix 4).

The next step is to articulate in greater detail one or more 

large-scale initiatives that integrate various components of 

biodiversity and environmental data, both observed and modeled, to measure and communicate biotic response to one or 

more drivers of change. The goal is to build on existing investments in data aggregation and access, to leverage and expand 

the community of data providers and consumers, and to do 

analyses that inform management and conservation actions.

References Cited

Executive Office of the President of the United States, 2015, 

Incorporating ecosystem services into Federal decision 

making: Washington, D.C., The White House archives, 

memorandum M–16–01, accessed February 16, 2017, at 

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/

omb/memoranda/2016/m-16-01.pdf.

Homer, C.G., Dewitz, J.A., Yang, L., Jin, S., Danielson, P., 

Xian, G., Coulston, J., Herold, N.D., Wickham, J.D., and 

Megown, K., 2015, Completion of the 2011 National Land 

Cover Database for the conterminous United States—

Representing a decade of land cover change information: 

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, v. 81, 

no. 5, p. 345–354.

Pollinator Health Task Force, 2015, Pollinator research 

action plan: Washington, D.C., The White House 

archives, 85 p., accessed February 16, 2017, at 

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/

microsites/ostp/Pollinator%20Research%20Action%20

Plan%202015.pdf.

President’s Council of Scientific Advisors on Science and 

Technology, 2011, Sustaining environmental capital—

Protecting society and the economy: Washington, D.C., 

White House archives, 126 p., accessed February 16, 2017, 

at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/

files/microsites/ostp/pcast_sustaining_environmental_

capital_report.pdf.

U.S. Department of the Interior, 2016, Safeguarding 

America’s lands and waters from invasive species—A 

national framework for early detection and rapid response: 

Washington D.C., 55 p., accessed February 16, 2017, 

at https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/National%20

EDRR%20Framework.pdf.

Appendixes 1–5
22 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Appendix 1. Seven Questions for Every Breakout Session

Members of each breakout session were asked to address 

the following questions during their discussion. Results of 

their discussion and members’ additional input were presented 

in plenary oral and subsequent written reports and are summarized elsewhere within this report. The answers shown below 

are fictitious examples only.

1. What is the goal of the breakout—clearly and concisely?

A national assessment of the distribution, availability, and 

future prospects for four leaf clovers.

2. Why is this a national priority?

Four leaf clovers represent a highly underused resource. 

With the way that things are these days, all that we have 

to rely on is luck. A national assessment would quantify 

our Nation’s access to this important source of luck and 

elucidate the various factors that will affect its availability 

in the future.

3. What resources exist within the Federal government for 

achieving it?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant List of 

Accepted Nomenclature Taxonomy and Symbols (USDA 

PLANTS) database and the U.S. Geological Survey’s 

Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation mapping 

project (USGS BISON) provide significant access to 

data on the distribution of different clover species. The 

National Science Foundation would consider proposals 

for new scientifically defensible and innovative techniques to identify and map four leaf clovers in particular.

4. What resources exist within the non-Federal purview for 

achieving it?

Discoveries during this millennium in the private sector (for example, https://doi.org/10.2135/

cropsci2009.08.0457) have elucidated the genetic basis of 

the four leaf phenotype. Significant citizen science knowledge on the current state of the resource is available, 

especially in kindergartens. Substantial citizen collections 

are available pressed among the pages of old books and 

between pieces of wax paper across the country.

5. How can these resources be more complimentary and 

synergistic?

Now that we know the genetic basis, we can move beyond 

the highly reliable, but minimally scalable, method of leaf 

counting for identification. A National Science Foundation 

proposal will be developed to identify four leaf clovers 

on a broad scale through environmental deoxyribonucleic acid (eDNA) methods facilitated by lawnmower 

mounted sensors in yards across the country. The Natural 

Resources Conservation Service will examine mandatory 

reporting of four leaf clovers on Farm Plans.

6. What are the major gaps that need to be filled?

Ancillary research is needed on the effects of five- to 

eight- leaved clovers to determine the luck levels that they 

provide. Luck as an ecosystem service must be clarified 

and parameterized.

7. What are the most significant challenges that stand in the 

way of this goal becoming a reality?

Kindergarteners generally do not do well with forms and 

are difficult to organize. Metadata from pressed citizen 

science collections is generally lacking. Every herbarium 

sheet that led to the clover records in USDA PLANTS 

and USGS BISON must be re-examined to determine the 

number of leaves. Large-scale modeling efforts will be 

needed to prioritize efforts for survey resources.
Appendix 2. 23

Appendix 2. Tools Café Program

All interested participants were invited to demonstrate 

their digital tools and applications with other members during 

an extended lunch hour on day 2 of the workshop. A summary 

of those demonstrations is shown in table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Demonstrations during day 2 of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 3, 2015.—Continued

Title Description Presenter (and affiliation)

In Search of the “Common” 

Trees (student competition 

winner)

We developed a self-contained R script that will, in a single step, query 

the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Biodiversity Information 

Serving Our Nation mapping project (BISON)database and output a 

meaningful visual analysis of all nonhybrid tree species composition 

and distribution in the United States, including tables and maps.

Enrique Montaño (University 

of Maryland and Goddard 

Space Flight Center) and 

Serenity Montaño (Smithsonian 

Institution)

ComFlo invasion model 

(student competition 

winner)

Interactive web-based simulation system to project the movement of 

invasive species across the United States. Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) commodity shipping data from 1997 to 2012, provided 

by the Federal Highway Administration, produce our model. Environmental predictors, including precipitation and temperature, from 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website, were 

used to predict the movement of the invasive population to regions 

that have a suitable habitat for the species.

Ashish Gauli (Fisk University), 

Nathan Wikle (Truman State 

University), and Ryan Yan 

(College of William and Mary)

Predicted threat to North 

American salamander 

biodiversity from 

the lethal pathogen, 

Batrachochytrium 

salamandrivorans (student 

competition winner)

We estimated the potential biological effect and geographic scope of 

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), an emerging amphibian pathogen, by producing a vulnerability model using open source 

software and publicly available environmental data. The model uses 

maximum entropy software, Maxent, potential carrier occurrence 

data from Vertnet, and bioclimatic data from WorldClim to predict the most likely ports of entry from U.S. salamander trade data 

(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Freedom of Information Act) and 

produce a salamander vulnerability model for North America.

Read more: https://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6247/481

Tiffany Yapp (University of 

California, Los Angeles)

Ephemera (student 

competition winner)

This is a Shiny R application that runs out of Rstudio and visualizes 

the ever-changing relations between climate, geography, and biotic 

communities in an era of anthropogenic climate change. It is a 

place-based tool aimed at helping users understand dimensions of 

local climate change by placing that change in the context of climate 

variation across geography, seasons, and vegetation types.

Matthew Kling (University of 

California, Berkeley)

Mutualism network in space 

(student competition 

winner)

This app applies linear algebra and network theory to generate an 

unlimited number of mutualism networks in space, as a basis for 

the exploration of the spatial relationships between the Mexican 

keystone ant Azteca sericesur and Coccus viridis (the green coffee 

scale), which is a mutualism partner of the ant. The components in 

each network signify the clusters of mutualism. Advanced uses of 

these networks include mapping them with the densities and incidence of organisms associated with the mutualism networks, such as 

the biocontrol agents of the green coffee scale.

Access here: https://hhsieh.shinyapps.io/Shiny

Hsun-Yi Hsieh (University of 

Michigan, Ann Arbor)
24 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Table 2.1. Demonstrations during day 2 of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 3, 2015.—Continued

Title Description Presenter (and affiliation)

Scalable, transparent, 

and efficient scientific 

workflows— USGS–R 

geoknife and dataRetrieval 

packages

Gridded time series data (that is, climate projections, historical precipitation, land use) and water cycle observations (that is, flow, water 

quality, water availability) are important for many ecosystem inquiries, but the volume and complexity of these data can make access, 

quality control, and data manipulation cumbersome. Two packages 

developed by the USGS–R assist scientists in getting, cleaning, and 

analyzing data in the R programming environment and use USGS 

data portal web services.

Emily Read (U.S. Geological 

Survey)

Facilitating species 

distribution model using 

the Software for Assisted 

Habitat Modeling

The Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) is a set of free 

modules within the VisTrails workflow management and provenance 

software that facilitates species distribution modeling including 

preprocessing data, exploring data, fitting models, and visualizing results. SAHM can harvest species location data directly from BISON 

as input to models and combine it with standard predictor variables 

such as climate data to produce a habitat suitability model.

Catherine Jarnevich 

(U.S. Geological Survey)

MAPIT (Mapping Application 

for Freshwater Invertebrate 

Taxa)

The Western Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Freshwater 

Ecosystems and the Bureau of Land Management’s National Aquatic 

Monitoring Center provide access to distribution data for about 

5,500 freshwater invertebrate taxa contained in a large biodiversity 

database (about 1.5 million records from about 50,000 samples) 

that the 2 centers jointly manage, compiled from a variety of 

sources. The Mapping Application for Freshwater Invertebrate Taxa 

(MAPIT) allows users to search for freshwater invertebrate taxa of 

interest to display in Google Maps format. Information on individual 

records can be viewed by clicking on mapped locations, and records 

of interest can be downloaded as a .csv file. Data are used to build 

individual and multitaxon species distribution models and to inform 

the biodiversity status of freshwater ecosystems in the United States.

Chuck Hawkins (Utah State 

University)

GeoPlatform Web Map 

Viewer

The GeoPlatform web map viewer was developed to increase users’ 

ability to search, integrate, and visualize open geospatial information. The viewer is an effective tool to see and interact with spatial 

data from the primary hubs of the ecoInforma community.

Read more and access here: https://www.geoplatform.gov/

Derek Masaki (U.S. Geological 

Survey)

EnviroAtlas An online decision support tool that government (local to Federal) 

agencies, industry, communities, and public interest groups can use 

to help inform policy and planning decisions impacting the places 

we live, learn, work and play. EnviroAtlas also provides a valuable resource for educators, researchers, and the public combining 

maps, analysis tools, fact sheets, use stories, and accessible data into 

an easy-to-use, web-based resource. Access here: https://epa.gov/

enviroatlas

Annie Neale (Environmental 

Protection Agency)

National Conservation 

Easement Database

The National Conservation Easement Database is a national spatial 

database of conservation easement information that helps agencies, 

land trusts, and other organizations plan strategically, advance public 

accountability and that helps make the case for conservation. Access 

here: https://www.conservationeasement.us/

Jes Skillman (Ducks Unlimited)

Deepwater Horizon Project 

Tracker

The Deepwater Horizon Project Tracker is a centralized directory of 

projects funded because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and 

provides a comprehensive picture of the location, type, cost, funding 

sources, and scope of recovery, restoration, and research projects. 

Access here: http://dwhprojecttracker.org/

Jes Skillman (Ducks Unlimited)
Appendix 2. 25

Table 2.1. Demonstrations during day 2 of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 3, 2015.—Continued

Title Description Presenter (and affiliation)

Biodiversity tools for Virginia The mission of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program is to conserve 

biodiversity. To that end, the program has developed tools that 

facilitate scientifically informed conservation actions, including 

ConservationVision, the Virginia Wetlands Catalog, and species 

distribution models and conservation sites on the Natural Heritage 

Data Explorer.

Joe Weber and Jason Bulluck 

(Virginia Department of 

Conservation and Recreation)

Reporting and aggregating 

invasive species mapping 

data with EDDMapS and 

regional smartphone apps

EDDMapS is a database-driven website for aggregating and mapping 

invasive species data across North America. Invasive species can be 

reported through EDDMapS or one of the regional Bugwood apps to 

contribute to the distribution maps, and data also can be downloaded 

for use in research projects, modeling programs, and more.

Rebekah Wallace (University of 

Georgia)

BioData—An authoritative 

data source for over 17,000 

USGS aquatic community 

samples

BioData is an authoritative source of USGS community-level data for 

fish, macroinvertebrate, and periphyton data that currently stores 

over 17,000 fish, macroinvertebrate, and algae samples collected 

since 1993 from more than 2,000 sites across the Nation. In aggregate, the data include more than 1 million species occurrence and 

abundance records. These data are available to the public and can 

be retrieved using a simple web interface and are delivered using a 

standard, up-to-date taxonomic system that resolves synonymy and 

ambiguity across the entire period of record of the dataset. Access 

here: https://aquatic.biodata.usgs.gov/landing.action

Peter Ruhl (U.S. Geological 

Survey)

The Water Quality Portal 

(WQP)—a single, 

integrated source for 

EPA STORET, USGS 

Water Mission Area, and 

Department of Agriculture 

ARSS water quality and 

biology data

The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is a cooperative web service 

sponsored by the USGS, the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA), and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council 

(NWQMC) that serves more than 250 million water-quality records 

from more than 2.2 million sites that were sampled by more than 

400 State, Federal, Tribal, and local agencies. During 2015 the EPA 

and USGS collaborated to add USGS and Storage and Retrieval database (STORET) fish community using the Water Quality Exchange 

(WQX) data exchange standard. Data are available online through 

a simple drop-down menu format or through web services. Access 

here: http://www.waterqualitydata.us/

Peter Ruhl (U.S. Geological 

Survey)

Data Basin DataBasin.org is an open access, science-based mapping and analysis 

platform facilitating learning, research, and sustainable environmental stewardship. The platform allows you to download and upload 

spatial data, to create custom visualizations, drawings, and analyses, 

and to use collaborative group tools.

Tosha Comendant (Conservation 

Biology Institute)

Ecoengine API & Explore 

Tools

The Berkeley Initiative for Global Change Biology’s efforts to mobilize 

and access biological and ecological data resulted in the Ecoinformatics Engine (“EcoEngine”) application programming interface 

(API), which brings together data from natural history museums, 

field stations, sensor networks, archives, and climate models. The 

Ecoengine API allows development of rich web tools to explore and 

compare data, enabling researchers to address questions of global 

change biology. The scope is global with an initial focus on western 

North America where the University of California, Berkeley’s holdings are richest. Access here: https://holos.berkeley.edu

Michelle Koo (University of 

California, Berkeley)
26 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Appendix 3. List of Participants of the Biodiversity and Ecological Informatics 

Workshop, December 2–4, 2015

A list of participants’ names based on badge pickup and 

agenda and subgroup participation is provided in table 3.1 and 

is current as of the workshop in December 2015.

Table 3.1. Participants of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 2–4, 2015.—Continued

Last name First name Job title Affiliation

Abrahms Briana Ph.D. candidate University of California, Berkeley

Akre Thomas Ecologist/program director Smithsonian Institution

Aplet Greg Senior science director The Wilderness Society

Ashe Dan Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Aulenbach Steve Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

Balaji Bhaskar Maruthi Sridhar Assistant professor Texas State University

Barragan Claudia Founder at The City Ecologist American University

Beach Jim Assistant director for informatics Kansas Biodiversity Institute, University of 

Kansas

Belote Travis Ecologist The Wilderness Society

Benson Abby Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

Bernal Blanca Postdoctoral fellow Smithsonian Institution

Blum Stanley Biodiversity information architect Taxonomic Databases Working Group

Brown Joel Team leader National Ecological Site Team, Natural 

Resources Conservation Service

Bulluck Jason Natural heritage information manager Virginia Department of Conservation and 

Recreation

Burkett Chris Wildlife action plan coordinator Virginia Department of Game and Inland 

Fisheries

Cannister Matt Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

Cannon John Analyst Marstel-Day

Casey Frank Economist U.S. Geological Survey

Cole Daniel Geographic information system (GIS) 

coordinator

Smithsonian Institution

Coleman Kaycee Statistician (biology) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Comendant Tosha Senior scientist Conservation Biology Institute

Covington Ryan Conservation GIS analyst Defenders of Wildlife

Cragin Melissa Staff associate National Science Foundation

D’Agnese Frank President and chief technology 

officer (CTO)

Earth Knowledge Network

Daniel Jessica Oak Ridge Institute for Science and 

Education (ORISE) fellow

Environmental Protection Agency

Dempsey Hannah Student College of William and Mary

DeVivo Joe Deputy chief for science Inventory and Monitoring Division, National 

Park Service

Eccles Jordan Analyst Marstel-Day

Fay Frank Fire ecologist Landfire, U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), Forest Service

Fitzgibbon Michael CTO Point Blue
Appendix 3. 27

Table 3.1. Participants of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 2–4, 2015.—Continued

Last name First name Job title Affiliation

Gardiner Ned Communications and education 

producer

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

Gauli Ashish Student Fisk University

Gergely Kevin Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

Gill Mike Vice-chair Group On Earth Observations Biodiversity 

Observation Network

Guala Stinger Workshop co-organizer, director of the 

Integrated Taxonomic Information 

System (ITIS) and the Biodiversity 

Information Serving Our Nation 

mapping project (BISON)

U.S. Geological Survey

Guralnick Rob Curator Biodiversity Informatics, Florida Museum of 

Natural History

Hamilton Healy Workshop co-organizer, chief scientist NatureServe

Hannibal Mary Ellen Journalist Journalist

Hasson Tomer Science coordinator Department of the Interior

Hawkins Charles Director and professor Aquatic Ecology & Watershed Science, Utah 

State University

Hitchcock Ann Senior advisor Science Collections & Environmental 

Safeguards, National Park Service

Holdsworth Andy Supervisor Data and Performance Unit, Minnesota 

Department of Natural Resources

Honey Leslie Vice president, conservation services NatureServe

Howard Tim Director of science New York Department of Environmental 

Conservation

Hsieh Hsun-Yi Ph.D. student University of Michigan

Jarenvich Catherine Research ecologist U.S. Geological Survey

Kagan Jimmy Director Oregon Biodiversity Information Center

Keller Kaylene Data manager, ecologist Inventory and Monitoring Program, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service

Kingston Simon Data ranger National Park Service

Klein Mary President and chief executive 

officer (CEO)

NatureServe

Kling Matthew Graduate student University of California, Berkeley

Kodad Yassine Computer scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Koo Michelle Staff curator of biodiversity informatics 

and GIS

University of California, Berkeley

Kumar Anjali Economist U.S. Agency for International Development

Lacher Iara Landscape ecologist Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Laurent Ed Executive director Connecting Conservation

Laurent Kevin Computer scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Lippmann Michael Principal and co-founder Blue Raster

Loarie Scott Co-director, iNaturalist.org California Academy of Sciences

Long John Computer scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Malcom Jacob Endangered species science & 

policy analyst

Defenders of Wildlife

Martin Elizabeth Biologist U.S. Geological Survey
28 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Table 3.1. Participants of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 2–4, 2015.—Continued

Last name First name Job title Affiliation

Masaki Derek BISON product owner U.S. Geological Survey

McClees-Funinan Ricardo Physical scientist U.S. Geological Survey

McDermott Mike Deputy directory Core Science Analytics Synthesis, and 

Libraries, U.S. Geological Survey

McKerrow Alexa Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

McNiff Marcia Technical information specialist U.S. Geological Survey

McShea William Research ecologist Smithsonian Institution

Milam Amy Director and founder EcoLogic LLC

Mills Craig CEO Vizzuality

Mitchell Richard Assessment lead National Rivers & Streams Assessment, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mize Aaron Branch chief Conservation Planning and Policy, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service

Montano Enrique Geotaxonomist Smithsonian Institution

Montano Serenity Geographer Smithsonian Institution

Moore Gerry Team leader National Plant Data Team, USDA’s Plant List 

of Accepted Nomenclature Taxonomy and 

Symbols database

Morris Cheryl Director Core Science Analytics Synthesis, and 

Libraries Program, U.S. Geological Survey

Murray Reina GIS analyst National Trust for Historic Preservation

Neale Anne Project lead EnviroAtlas, Environmental Protection 

Agency

Newman Jana Branch chief Inventory & Monitoring, Fish and Wildlife 

Service

Nightingale Emily Science policy fellow Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), Science 

and Technology Policy Institute

OConnell Allan Fish ecologist U.S. Geological Survey

Orrell Thomas Research biologist Smithsonian Institution

Parker Alison ORISE fellow Environmental Protection Agency

Parr Cynthia Technical information specialist USDA National Agricultural Library

Peterjohn Bruce Chief U.S. Bird Banding Lab, U.S. Geological 

Survey

Petropoulos Zoe Science policy fellow IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute

Phang Christina Analyst Blue Raster

Posner Stephen Policy engagement associate COMPASS

Powers Ryan Postdoctoral fellow Yale University

Rajbhandary Jasmine Biologist U.S. Geological Survey

Rau Becky Wildlife biologist, data administrator U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Read Emily Scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Reams Greg National leader Forest Inventory and Analysis, USDA Forest 

Service

Ries Leslie Assistant professor Georgetown University

Rose Robert Director Center for Geospatial Analysis, College of 

William and Mary

Ruhl Pete Biological data manager U.S. Geological Survey

Runfola Dan Senior geospatial scientist College of William and Mary
Appendix 3. 29

Table 3.1. Participants of the biodiversity and ecological informatics workshop, December 2–4, 2015.—Continued

Last name First name Job title Affiliation

Sandborn Avery Statistician National Agricultural Statistics Service

Schulz Katja Program coordinator Smithsonian Institution

Schuster Rudy Branch chief, social scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Sellers Elizabeth BISON data team U.S. Geological Survey

Seltzer Carrie Program manager Citizen Science Program, National 

Geographic Society

Sieracki Jennifer Data manager National Park Service

Silverman Emily Statistician U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Simpson Annie Biologist & information scientist U.S. Geological Survey

Skillman Jane (Jes) GIS analyst Ducks Unlimited

Smith Jim Project lead LANDFIRE Project, The Nature 

Conservancy

Smith Jonathan Program coordinator Land Change Science Program, 

U.S. Geological Survey

Smyth Regan Spatial ecology project manager NatureServe

Spurrier Carol Rangeland ecologist Bureau of Land Management

Stevenson Robert Professor University of Massachusetts

Strader Ginger Director Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

Sutherland Todd Data manager U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Taylor Charlotte Consultant Department of Defense Natural Resources 

Program

Thatcher Ben Assistant national coordinator Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

Thomas Alexis Director University of Florida GeoPlan Center

Thompson Alexander IT infrastructure lead Advanced Computing Lab, University of 

Florida

Toevs Gordon Program lead Assessment, Inventory, & Monitoring 

Program, Bureau of Land Management

Tolle Kristin Director Data Science Initiative, Microsoft

Turner Woody Program scientist National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration

Von Holle Betsy Program director National Science Foundation

Wallace Rebekah Data coordinator University of Georgia Center for Invasive 

Species & Ecosystem Health

Weber Joe Natural heritage conservation 

biologist

Virginia Department of Conservation & 

Recreation

Wee Brian Chief of strategic alliances National Ecological Observatory Network

Weltzin Jake Ecologist National Phenology Network, 

U.S. Geological Survey

Wheeler Ben U.S. Global Biodiversity Information 

Facility (GBIF) node manager

U.S. Geological Survey

Whitley Rogers Doreen Geospatial information officer The Audubon Society

Wikle Nathan Student participant Truman University

Winthrop Robert Senior social scientist Bureau of Land Management

Yan Ryan Student College of William and Mary

Yap Tiffany Student University of California, Los Angeles
30 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Appendix 4. Questionnaire Results

Feedback from workshop participants was solicited 

during plenary sessions of the workshop through the OptionPower® interactive audience response system from Option 

Technologies (https://www.optiontechnologies.com/). To 

obtain immediate feedback about workshop plenary sessions 

from the audience, questions with numbered answer options 

were projected on a screen after each session and polling 

hardware (commonly called question clickers) distributed to 

all participants for their vote. Between 22 and 101 participants 

responded to questions at different times during the workshop.
Appendix 4. 31

Responses:

#actual/#possible
32 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 33

Responses:

#actual/#possible
34 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 35

Responses:

#actual/#possible
36 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 37

Responses:

#actual/#possible

Responses:

#actual/#possible
38 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 39
40 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 41

Responses:

#actual/#possible
42 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 43
44 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 45

Responses:

#actual/#possible
46 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible

Responses:

#actual/#possible
Appendix 4. 47
48 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

Responses:

#actual/#possible

98 / 150
Appendix 4. 49

Responses:

#actual/#possible”

97 / 150

Responses:

#actual/#possible”

93 / 150
50 Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary

1 2 3 4 5

Responses:

#actual/#possible

98 / 150

Responses:

#actual/#possible

97 / 150
Appendix 5. 51

Appendix 5. Social Media Posts

Throughout the workshop, participants were encouraged 

to tweet their reactions using the hashtag #ShareUrData. This 

appendix contains a very brief summary of some of the opinions and observations about the workshop that were expressed 

on Twitter. The full dialogue, with images, can be found at 

https://twitter.com/search?q=#ShareUrData.

Dr. Lara Lachner:

• [Create] dynamic data, go beyond observations, integrate w/ private sector, share tools and case studies. 

Portray data as art, engage students, curate data!

• Identify charismatic species to inspire multi-species 

conservation across states, organizations, and scientific 

and public realms.

Annie Simpson:

• Too many environmental scientists are painfully 

unaware of data sharing standards.

• EcoINFORMA breakout report: watershed and water 

quality weren’t addressed at the workshop. How about 

creating an EcoINFORMA water hub? 

• Inventory and monitoring breakout report: inventory 

and monitoring information is never complete, but we 

do need more and better data; it is needed to avoid an 

impeding sixth mass-extinction.

• Pollinators breakout report: there is a need for a map 

of chemical applications that may affect pollinators and for the creation of an authoritative list of 

U.S. pollinators.

• Citizen science breakout report: there is a strong push 

by U.S. government to have grant writers include 

citizen science in their proposals.

• Agriculture breakout report: we need to use simulations 

to fill in data gaps caused by difficulties in scale. We 

are using data on genetics of agricultural adaptability 

for predicting responses to climate change.

• Link to open data, semantically enabled, to achieve full 

synthesis of data within a biogeographic information 

infrastructure.

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe said, “Think 

about species that are surrogates for ecosystem health 

and emphasize them...”

Mary Ellen Hannibal:

• The big thing I’m seeing is most people here don’t 

know what is already out there in citizen science.

• Can a 4th grader provide good science? An iNaturalist 

anecdote hits a data quality nerve [among workshop 

participants].

Jes Skillman:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture has created an agricultural data hub at https://data.nal.usda.gov

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said, 

“If we can’t do conservation at a landscape scale, we 

will be unsuccessful.”

Amy Milam:

• Work with environmental data, especially GIS? Then 

you need to know about https://ecosystems.data.gov

• Jim Smith from LANDFIRE calls for ‘real’ data 

[collected by people] on the ground, not more satellites, and for collaborators not just data consumers.

For more information about this publication, contact

Director, USGS Core Science Analytics Synthesis and 

Libraries Program

W 6th Ave Kipling Street

Lakewood, CO 80225

Email: csas@usgs.gov

For additional information visit https://www.usgs.gov/science/

mission-areas/core-science-systems/csasl
Hamilton and others—Promoting Synergy in the Innovative Use of Environmental Data—Workshop Summary—Open-File Report 2018–1104

ISSN 2331-1258 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181104