[Tdwg-obs] Monitoring definition and protocol repository

[Lynn Kutner]

Hi all - 

I think we're really close ... But I have a couple of questions and a
suggested minor rewording. I forwarded Bob Peet's definition to several
NatureServe staff, member programs, and partners who work with
observation data. The following reflects the compiled comments from
several people.

There was concern that including "defined protocol" in the definition of
observation could be overly restrictive and prevent the inclusion in an
observation data repository of high quality / high confidence
information that was collected opportunistically and not as part of an
official survey with a protocol. For example - a biologist out doing a
bird survey happens upon some scat or tracks that he/she recognizes as a
species of interest to his/her (say, wolverine) and records the GPS
coordinates and some basic information about the date/time and location.
Would this be acceptable for an observations system? Would it be
acceptable to indicate the protocol as "none" or something similar?

We'd like to propose adding some language to incorporate explicit
tracking of negative data. These would be data where a survey was
conducted for a certain species (such as a rare orchid) in an area where
it would be expected to be found, and the observer wants to document and
communicate that information to inform future survey efforts,
distribution mapping efforts, and activities such as conservation
planning. This would be different from inferring negative data as is
sometimes done with bird observation data.

Also - does the "defined spatiotemporal location" need to be highly
precise, or can it be defined generally (with spatiotemporal uncertainty
as needed) to reflect knowledge of the observation or observer? For
example - include imprecise dates (e.g. spring 1998) and locations (3
miles SW of the intersection of Clear Creek and Main Road)?

So ... With the above as background, what do people think of the
following tinkering with Bob's suggested definition:

"An observation characterizes the occurrence, or documents the lack of
occurrence, of an organism or set of organisms through a data collection
event at a location.  Individual observations are not necessarily
independent entities and potentially can be linked through common
characteristics such as time, place, protocol, and co-occurring
organisms." 


Thanks - 
Lynn


Lynn Kutner
NatureServe
Email:    lynn_kutner at natureserve.org
Phone:   (303) 541-0360
www.natureserve.org 


-----Original Message-----
From: Tdwg-obs-bounces at lists.tdwg.org
[mailto:Tdwg-obs-bounces at lists.tdwg.org] On Behalf Of Steve Kelling
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 5:19 AM
To: Robert K. Peet; Tdwg-obs at lists.tdwg.org
Subject: [Tdwg-obs] Monitoring definition and protocol repository

All,
I really like Bob's rewording of the definition, and suggest that we all

refer to this.

Steve

At 12:38 PM 11/20/2005 -0500, Robert K. Peet wrote:

>Hi Steve,
>
>Try the folllowing revision, which is in part an exercise to see
whether I
>understand your definition.
>
>"An observation characterizes the occurrence of an organism or set of
>organisms through a data collection event using a defined protocol at a
>defined spatiotemporal location. Individual observations are not
>necessarily independent entities and potentially can be linked through
>common characteristics such as time, place, protocol, and individual
>organisms."
>
>Bob
>