EQuIS Alive
Collect, manage, and utilize
ecology data in EQuIS™.
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
EQuIS Alive
Collect
Manage
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Utilize
Collect
 EDGE
 Electronic data collection
software
 Runs on rugged tablet PC
 Connects to GPS, digital camera,
sensors, etc.
 Digital Pen
 Write on paper forms
 Automatically collect data
 EDDs
 Write on paper forms
 Manually transcribe data
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Manage
 Species Inventory and
Monitoring
 Invasive Species
 Indigenous Species
 Protected Species
 Habitat Assessment
 Vegetation Management
 Clearing and Relocation
 Revegetation
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Manage
 Ecological Observations:
 Date and Time
 Place
 Species
 Count
 Condition
 Behavior
 Tissue Analysis
 Habitat
 Climatic Conditions
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Utilize
Dashboard
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Reports
EQuIS Alive Concepts
•
•
•
•
•
•
Survey
Observation
Activity
Subfacility
Taxonomy
Reference Tables/Codes
• Habitat
• Life Stage
• Gender
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
Why conduct a Survey?
To determine effects that operations (drilling, development, mining)
may be causing on living organisms (plants and animals) in an
environment.
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
Surveys may be defined for any single or group of organisms such
as birds, frogs, fish, trees, etc.
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
Surveys may include ambient weather and habitat observations or
conditions as well as data pertaining to one or more species of plant
or animal.
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey > Observation
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
What is an Observation?
An observation is a unique and specific piece of information
collected about a target species such as:
• evidence of mice (droppings) but no specimens seen
• Red-legged Thrush seen at ~10 m in a tree
• > 20 Bletia purpurea estimated per square meter
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey > Activity
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
What is an Activity?
An activity is a physical action that may be taken related to a
specific observation, including:
• Collecting eggs
• Tagging/collaring an animal or specimen with a radio receiver
• Sampling fish tissue for mercury testing
• Releasing a sea turtle back into the ocean
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey > Area
What is a Survey?
A survey is a repeatable set of observations or activities that takes
place over one or more specifically-defined areas.
What is an area?
The area(s) over which a survey is conducted is called a
subfacility in EQuIS. Because surveys, observations, and activities
in EQuIS are typically spatial in definition, EQuIS requires the use
of subfacilities.
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
Area
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
Area
Date/Time
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
Area
Date/Time
Habitat
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
Area
Date/Time
Habitat
Observation
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Survey Example: Bird VRPC
Area
Date/Time
Habitat
Observation
Weather
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Facility
To understand subfacility, we must first be familiar with facility
and location:
Facility
A facility is the physical or logical extent of data that is made
available for reporting or modeling.
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Facility
A facility can be as small/simple as a retail gas station with a couple
monitoring wells…
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Facility
or as large and
complex as a refinery
or mine site.
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Facility
When you login to EQuIS, you must select a facility. It is the
highest functional level at which you typically work with data.
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Location
A location is a uniquely designated point, typically on the ground
surface, that can be identified spatially by an x, y, and z coordinate.
Location
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Location
Locations may be wells, weather stations, air monitoring
stations, outfalls, etc. and typically have:
X coordinate
Y coordinate
Total depth
Surface elevation
Driller
Start date
…others
Locations
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Subfacility
A subfacility may be a point or a line (e.g. road) but is
typically an area such as a watershed, basin, or tailings
pond.
Subfacility
(El Llagal Tailings Pond)
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Subfacility
A subfacility may have coordinates and an address (e.g.
a building, a road) and is identified by a
subfacility_code.
Subfacility
(El Llagal Tailings Pond)
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Subfacility and Survey
In some cases, the
physical extent of a
subfacility may
exceed the facility
boundaries.
Facility Boundary
1-km ring subfacility
for bird surveys
Survey/Observation
points
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Taxonomy
What is Taxonomy?
Taxonomy is the science of identifying, naming, and classifying
species.
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Taxonomy
Taxonomy in EQuIS Alive may be as simple as identifying one or
more species of interest:
• Hispaniolan Yellow Treefrog (Osteopilus pulchrilineatus)
• Hispaniolan Giant Treefrog (Osteopilus vastus)
• Yellow Split-toed Eleuth (Eleutherodactylus flavescens)
in a flat list with no hierarchy, or …
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy in EQuIS Alive may be as complex as the complete
scientific definition of known species. For example, for
Hisplaniolan Giant Treefrog (Osteopilus vastus):
Animalia (kingdom)
Chordata (phylum)
Amphibia (class)
Anura (order)
Hylidae (family)
Osteopilus (genus)
O. vastus (species)
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Taxonomy
The recommended taxonomic implementation is to use heirarchical
structure where practical and necessary. For example:
Animals
Frogs
Hispaniolan Yellow Treefrog (Osteopilus pulchrilineatus)
Hisplaniolan Giant Treefrog (Osteopilus vastus)
Yellow Split-toed Eleuth (Eleutherodactylus flavescens)
Birds
….
Plants
Shrubs
….
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Reference Tables: Habitat
Habitat code lists should be considered holistically.
Bird Habitat Codes:
• W = Wetland
• IA = Area Vegetal Intervenida
• SI = Structural Interfered Area
• B = Broadleaf Forest
• P = Pine Forest
• S = Agricultura
Fish Habitat Codes:
• C = Cascade
• R = Riffle
• G = Glide
• P = Pool
Butterfly Habitat Codes:
• C = Cultivated/cleared
• F = Forested
• L = Low, sparse vegetation
• S = Shrubland
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Reference Tables: Habitat
Habitat code lists should be considered holistically.
Bird Habitat Codes:
• W = Wetland
• IA = Area Vegetal Intervenida
• SI = Structural Interfered Area
• B = Broadleaf Forest
• P = Pine Forest
• S = Agricultura
Conflicts exist where the
same codes have
different meanings.
Fish Habitat Codes:
• C = Cascade
• R = Riffle
• G = Glide
• P = Pool
Butterfly Habitat Codes:
• C = Cultivated/cleared
• F = Forested
• L = Low, sparse vegetation
• S = Shrubland
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
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Survey Definition
Type
Description
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Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Type
Description
Standard Fields:
subfacility (area)
coordinate type
x and y coordinates
surveyor
survey date (start/end)
habitat
action
remark
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
Text
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Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
Text
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Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
CANOPY_HEIGHT
List
0 = No Canopy
1 = 1 - 5m
2 = 5 – 10m
3 = 10 – 25m
4 = 25+ m
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
CANOPY_HEIGHT
CANOPY_COVER%
List
0 = None
1 = 1 – 25%
2 = 25 – 50%
3 = 50 – 75%
4 = 75 – 100%
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
CANOPY_HEIGHT
CANOPY_COVER%
GROUND_COVER%_LITTER
GROUND_COVER%_GRASS
GROUND_COVER%_HERB
GROUND_COVER%_SHRUB
GROUND_COVER%_TREE
List
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
CANOPY_HEIGHT
CANOPY_COVER%
GROUND_COVER%_LITTER
GROUND_COVER%_GRASS
GROUND_COVER%_HERB
GROUND_COVER%_SHRUB
GROUND_COVER%_TREE
DISTANCE_WATER_m
DISTANCE_DISTURB_m
Integer (or Decimal)
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields:
DOM_PLANT_CANOPY
DOM_PLANT_UNDRGRWTH
CANOPY_HEIGHT
CANOPY_COVER
GROUND_COVER%_LITTER
GROUND_COVER%_GRASS
GROUND_COVER%_HERB
GROUND_COVER%_SHRUB
GROUND_COVER%_TREE
DISTANCE_WATER_m
DISTANCE_DISTURB_m
HABITAT_NOTE
Text
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Survey Definition
Additional Fields (cont.):
TEMP_C
Decimal
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Survey Definition
Additional Fields (cont.):
TEMP_C
WIND_SCALE
List
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Survey Definition
Additional Fields (cont.):
TEMP_C
WIND_SCALE
WEATHER
Text
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Survey Definition
Additional Fields (cont.):
TEMP_C
WIND_SCALE
WEATHER
CLOUD_COVER%
Percent
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.
Observation Definition
Standard Fields:
category
taxonomy
coordinates
observation time
evidence
condition
quantity
gender
life stage
action
remark
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Observation Definition
Additional Fields:
BIRD_DISTANCE_m
Integer
BIRD_FLYOVER_COUNT
Text
BIRD_BREEDING
True/False
© 2012, EarthSoft Inc.