Jennifer Stingelin Keefer, Penn StateJen Fox, Stacy Holt

NPSpecies Clean-up and Certification Progress

Update

MOJN Technical Committee MeetingSeptember 14, 2010

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Prepare NPSpecies databases for taxonomic review and coordinate and complete the second round of reviews and certifications for the following taxonomic categories: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and vascular plants.

Primary Objective

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NPSpecies Data Management Goals

Data will be:Current, high quality, accurate and

scientifically-credibleRelevant to current management practicesDiscoverable in the right context and scope

(NPSpecies vs. NatureBib)

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NPSpecies Database Workflow

Data from park research Inventories or Monitoring Programs

Compliance activities

Incidental observations

Data mining to locate legacy data: museum vouchers, literature, and park files

Data Acquisition Data Entry Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Data Use

Ensure use of NER Data Entry Standards Manual

Enter new data

Enter legacy data

Verify existing data

Flag sensitive species

Track Database Changes

Ensure use of NER Data Entry Standards Manual

Prepare databases for taxonomic expert review and verification

Assist taxonomic experts with database verification

Review and submit QA Certification document and data for upload

Assist NPS staff with database use

Ensure data is online for public viewing

Manage Logins

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Where Are We in the Process?Removed thousands of references and

species not relevant to each park.Searching for and scanning references. In some cases, adding and editing voucher

data.Beginning to certify data as all park

references are verified.

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DEVA GRBA JOTR LAKE MANZ MOJA PARA

Reference Totals

March 2010

2240 534 1230 622 66 784 600

Current 1251 215 240 95 5 80 158

Deletions -989 -319 -990 -527 -61 -704 -442

Species Totals

March 2010

12587 4070 8959 4534 574 6267 4673

Current 7959 2875 2903 2235 354 2469 3123

Deletions -4628 -1195 -6056 -2208 -220 -3798 -1550

Reference and Species Deletions By Park

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Why Aren’t We Farther Along Than We Are?

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Loss of personnel (2 data miners)References housed at parksMost references are not in electronic formatCertification and taxa expert assistance

(NPS and Non-NPS) = time and $$

Bottlenecks & Hurdles

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2010 2011

NPSpecies Clean-up Project Initiated

March 2010

NPSpecies Clean-up Project Cooperative Agreement ends

March 2011

?

A one year timeline for this project was never realistic. We are looking for ways to continue the process in the most efficient and effective way in light of the hurdles and bottlenecks that stand in our way.

June 2010

MANZ Certification began

Timeline

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So What’s Next?Continue to find and scan documents as

personnel are available to do so.Begin data review and certification of park

databases where reference verification has been completed.

Work with Network personnel to obtain funding for outside taxa expert assistance where needed.

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Questions?

Jennifer Stingelin KeeferNPSpecies Project CoordinatorMojave Desert Network (MOJN)

Phone: 814-865-8497E-mail:

Jennifer_Stingelin_Keefer@partner.nps.gov