Nicole Kaplan

CitSci.org: A New Model for Managing, Documenting, and Sharing Citizen Science Data.

Citizen science projects have the potential to advance science by increasing the volume and variety of data, as well as innovation. Yet this potential has not been fully realized, in part because citizen science data are typically not widely shared and reused. To address this and related challenges, we built CitSci.org (see www.citsci.org), a customizable platform that allows users to collect and generate diverse datasets. We hope that CitSci.org will ultimately increase discoverability and confidence in citizen science observations, encouraging scientists to use such data in their own scientific research.

Cover, density, and demographics of shortgrass steppe plants mapped 1997–2010 in permanent grazed and ungrazed quadrats

This data set was created to map and analyze demographic rates of many common plant species in the shortgrass steppe of North America under grazed and ungrazed conditions. Twenty-four permanent 1-m2 quadrats were established as part of the Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research project in six grazed and ungrazed study sites on the Central Plains Experimental Range in Nunn, Colorado, USA. We used a pantograph to record the location and shape of individual plants annually from 1997 to 2010. These data make it possible to determine the fate of individual plants using a Geographic Information System and spatial analysis techniques. The data provide unique opportunities to test the interactive effects of grazing and climate variables on demographic rates, plant–plant interactions, and population and community dynamics. We provide the following data and data formats: (1) the digitized maps in shapefile format; (2) a tabular representation of centroid or point location (x, y coordinates), and basal cover (m2) for plants mapped as polygons; (3) quadrat information including location (longitude and latitude), elevation, and livestock grazing treatment and history; (4) detailed information on stocking rates during the period of quadrat sampling; (5) daily temperature and precipitation values; (6) a species list including the total records for each species, plant growth forms, and longevity; and (7) an inventory of the years each quadrat was sampled.

Correction: CitSci.org: A New Model for Managing, Documenting, and Sharing Citizen Science Data

The Funding section incorrectly states that “the authors received no specific funding for this work.” The authors would like to correct the statement as follows: Funding: YW was supported by the NSF grant 1430508. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.