Ecology Explorers educational data: vegetation data from multiple school locations in the central Arizona-Phoenix area
Author(s):
- Ecology Explorers Program
Abstract:
The Sonoran Desert has the most diverse native plant species of any desert in the world. Many plants are uniquely adapted to living here and they are part of food webs that include animals and insects that also are adapted to desert living.
Phoenix is an ever-expanding urban area located within the Sonoran Desert. Scientists are studying the impact of this urbanization on plant communities.
Over the past 100 years, people have removed a lot of native vegetation and planted nonnative plants, trees, and shrubs. But there are still some desert remnants areas that have been preserved as Sonoran Desert landscape within the Phoenix metropolitan area.
CAP LTER scientists are conducting plant surveys across the Phoenix Metropolitan area. They will be comparing the survey results to studies done 20 years ago. They also are interested in comparing vegetation in desert remnants to that in residential areas, parks, golf courses and vacant lots.
You can participate in this study by comparing schoolyard and/or backyard data to desert remnant data and sharing this informationwith CAP LTER scientists. You may also decide to correlate your vegetation studies with the LTER Ecology Explorers bird and insect studies.
Keywords:
Temporal Coverage:
1998-11-12 to 2003-12-31Geographic Coverage:
Geographic Description: Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona, USA (needs better bounding coordinates)Bounding Coordinates:
Longitude:-112.373614 to -111.612936
Latitude:33.708829 to 33.298975
Contact:
Information Manager, Arizona State University,Global Institute of Sustainability,POB 875402,TEMPE
caplter.data@asu.edu
Methods used in producing this dataset: Show
Data Files (8) :
Tabular: 13_veg_measure_1.csv
Description:
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
veg_id | Sequential unique whole numbers used to identify the vegetation. |
string | |
survey_id | Unique numbers used to identify the surveys taken. |
integer | |
plant_type | Type of plants being surveyed. |
string |
Enumeration:
|
species_id | Unique abbreviations of the names of the plants surveyed. |
string | |
location | Description of the area within the site. |
string | |
circumference | trunk diameter at breast hight |
float | centimeter |
canopy | canopy diameter |
float | meter |
height | The distance from the ground to the top of the plant. |
float | meter |
comment | Extra observations made by the participants. |
string | |
date_entered | Date the data was entered. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
Tabular: 13_veg_survey_1.csv
Description: Date and other information regarding the sampling event
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
survey_id | Sequential unique numbers used to identify a specific survey. |
integer | |
tree_count | Number of trees surveyed. |
integer | number |
cactus_count | Number of cacti surveyed. |
integer | number |
survey_date | Date the survey took place on. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
shrub_count | Number of shrubs surveyed. |
integer | number |
date_entered | Date the data was entered. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
site_id | Sequential unique numbers used to identify the sites used in this study. |
string | |
habitat_id | Unique numbers used to identify the type of habitat in which the site is located. |
integer | |
school_id | Unique abbreviations of the participating school's name. |
string | |
observer | Name of the student observer. |
string | |
class_id | Unique sequential numbers used to identify the participating class. |
integer |
Tabular: 13_vegetation_hab_1.csv
Description: Habitat description of site
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
site_id | Unique numbers and letters identifying a particular site. |
string | |
habitat_id | Sequential unique whole numbers used to identify habitat type at a site. |
integer | |
school_id | Unique abbreviations of the names of the participating schools. |
string | |
recording_date | Date the survey was recorded on. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
area | Area of the site. |
integer | squareMeter |
shrubcover | Amount of area covered with shrubs at a site in percent. |
integer | dimensionless |
tree_canopy | Amount of area covered with trees at a site in percent |
integer | dimensionless |
lawn | Amount of area covered with grass in percent. |
integer | dimensionless |
other | Amount of area covered with something other than described in percent |
integer | dimensionless |
paved_building | Amount of area that is paved and/or holds a building on it in percent. |
integer | dimensionless |
gravel_soil | Amount of area that contains gravel and/or bare soil in percent. |
integer | dimensionless |
water | No Metadata Provided |
string | |
date_entered | Date the data was entered on. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
Tabular: 13_veg_species_list_1.csv
Description: Species lookup table
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
species_id | Abbreviations of the names of different species found at the sites. |
string | |
type | What type of plants the surveyed vegitation was. |
string |
Enumeration:
|
common_name | The common names for the plants found at the sites. |
string | |
date_entered | Date the data was entered into the system. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
Tabular: 13_sites_1.csv
Description: sites within a school where sampling takes place
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
site_id | Unique arbitrary ID letters and numbers to identify specific sites. |
string | |
school_id | Abbreviations identifying specific schools used in this study. |
string | |
sitename | The name of the sites corollating with the site ID. |
string | |
address | US street address of the sites used in this study. |
string | |
description | Discription of the sites used by observers working on this study. |
string | |
city | The cities within Phoenix and the metropolitan area in which the locations containing sites are located. |
string | |
zipcode | US zip code of the locations containing sites used in this study |
string | |
date_entered | The date the information was entered into the system. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
location | The approximate location of the sites used in this study. |
string |
Tabular: 13_school_1.csv
Description: Address of school
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
school_id | Unique abbreviations assigned to the schools used in this study. |
string | |
school_name | Names of the schools used in this study. |
string | |
address | The US street addresses of the schools used in this study. |
string | |
zipcode | The US zip codes for the schools used in this study. |
string | |
city | Cities that the schools in this study are located within Phoenix and the metropolitan area. |
string | |
date_entered | The date the data was entered. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
Tabular: 13_class_1.csv
Description: The class that did the investigation
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
class_id | Sequential unique whole numbers used to identify a specific school class. |
integer | |
class_name | The names of the classes involved in the study. |
string | |
grade | The grade levels of the classes doing the studies. |
string | |
date_entered | The date the data was entered. |
datetime | Format: MM/DD/YYYY |
teacher_id | Unique identification of the teachers running the surveys. |
string | |
school_id | Unique ID letters and numbers to identify specific schools used in this study. |
string |
Tabular: 13_teacher_1.csv
Description: The teacher who lead the investigation
Column | Description | Type | Units |
---|---|---|---|
teacher_id | Unique identification of the teachers leading the studies in thier class. |
string | |
The e-mail addresses of the teachers participating. |
string | ||
active | Whether the teachers are actively participating in the study in a particular year. |
bit |
Enumeration:
|
name | Names of the teachers participating. |
string | |
school_id | Unique identification of the schools participating in this study. |
string |