This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 3 of this Preprint.
Bridging data silos to holistically model plant macrophenology
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Authors
Lizbeth G Amador 
,
Tadeo Ramirez-Parada,
Isaac W Park,
Susan J. Mazer,
Aaron M Ellison,
Margaret O'Brien,
Eric R Sokol,
Colin A Smith,
Charles Davis ,
Sydne Record
Abstract
● Phenological response to global climate change can impact ecosystem functions. There are various data sources from which spatiotemporal, and taxonomic phenological data may be obtained: mobilized herbaria, community-science initiatives, observatory networks, and remote-sensing. However, analyses conducted to date have generally relied on single sources of these data.
● Siloed treatment of data in analyses may be due to the lack of harmonization across different data sources that offer partially non-overlapping information and often complementary. Such treatment precludes a deeper understanding of phenological responses at varying macroecological scales. Here, we describe a detailed vision for the harmonization of phenological data, including the direct integration of disparate sources of phenological data using a common schema.
● Specifically, we highlight existing methods for data harmonization that can be applied to phenological data: data-design patterns, metadata standards, and ontologies. We describe how harmonized data from multiple sources can be integrated into analyses using existing methods and discuss the use of automated extraction techniques.
● Data harmonization is not a new concept in ecology but the harmonization of phenological data is overdue. We aim to highlight the need for better data harmonization providing a roadmap for how harmonized phenological data may fill gaps while simultaneously integrated into analyses.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.32942/X2TS68
Subjects
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Keywords
Data harmonization, data management, Ontologies, Scales, SDMs
Dates
Published: 2025-01-29 13:30
Last Updated: 2025-05-08 01:14
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Conflict of interest statement:
L. G. A. and S. R. are in a working group with Daijiang Li, Kai Zhu, and Tong Qui who may appear as 419 potential reviewers. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data and Code Availability Statement:
The data used to create graphs from Box 1 are openly available in Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) at http://doi.org/[doi in progress], reference number [reference number in progress]. Additionally, the data derived in this article are available from USA-National Phenology Network at http://doi.org/10.5066/F78S4N1V, National Ecological Observatory Network at https://www.neonscience.org/data, Dryad at https://datadryad.org/stash, and EDI at https://edirepository.org/. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: Switzer J, Chamberlain S, Marsh L, Wong K (2024). _rnpn: Interface to the National 'Phenology' Network 'API'_. R package version 1.2.8.0,
Language:
English
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