For the Flathead Lake Biological Station, the largest portion of this investment is in personnel assigned to the project. Approximately half of one full-time Data Manager's time is spent on evaluation, development, and maintenance of the FlatDat system. Several thousand dollars are spent each year on purchasing and upgrading computer equipment and software, and on the personnel required to evaluate and maintain FlatDat. Thus far, the development of the system has been funded entirely by the Flathead Lake Biological Station. Each of these premises is discussed below.
Electronic data are most flexible and powerful when stored in the rawest form possible.
In many ecological databases, only the final data values are entered. These data are often the result of a variety of calculations, manipulations, and transformations that are not evident in the numbers themselves. This can lead to several problems. First, the limitations inherent in a data collection methodology are apt to be ignored and the data are more apt to be misapplied or misinterpreted. On the other hand, if raw values are entered into the database and all calculations are programmed and automated, the database can be used to investigate the genesis of any particular datum.