EcoLens and TreePlus: Tools for exploring
ecological interaction data
Cynthia Sims Parr
Bongshin Lee, Ben Bederson
University of Maryland, College Park
Ecological interaction webs
From http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/9o.html
Ultimate problem:
Computational approach to ecological
interaction analysis
Interaction
Web
Database
ADW
attributes
Explore for
patterns
Algorithms
Predictions
Database
Graph vis tools
Test
predictions
Phylogenies
Classifications
Food web visualization
Williams, Martinez, Dunne, et al.
Web, network, or “graph”
representations





Node-link graphs
Matrix
List of connected pairs
Trees with cross-links
Coupled lists
TaxonTree
Data sources
Source
# webs
# interactors
# links
Webs on the Web
Interaction Web DB
EcoWEB
Animal Diversity Web
17
26
213
1
1537
2177
4064
1012
6328
9882
6363
2869
Total
257
8,790
25,442
Interface Goals

Provide enough overview that users can decide
where they want to explore

Bring large datasets down to human scales

Support systematic exploration


dataset selection and comparison

discovery of potentially interesting patterns

data cleaning
Provide environment for examining modeling results
EcoLens and TreePlus
Demo
Goal

Provide enough
overview that users can
decide where they want
to explore
Solution
EcoLens
Overview first, zoom and filter,
details on demand”
TreePlus


Bring large datasets
down to human scales
Support systematic
exploration
“Plant a seed and watch it
grow”
EcoLens coupled lists
TreePlus aligned, readable
trees
Next steps





Evaluate with food web researchers
Visualize attributes of nodes and links
Test against other graph viz alternatives
Integrate with robust input and output tools
Incorporate statistical computational tools
Broader implications

Generalizable framework for highly
interconnected data: NetLens and TreePlus

Expanding the scale of web analysis among
ecologists
Acknowledgements




Sarah Hankerson, Paula Rodgers, Bill Fagan and
other members of the Ecological Informatics class
NSF ITR/IDM
Microsoft
Booze Allen Hamilton
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/biodiversity