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Fredston AL, Lowndes JSS. Welcoming More Participation in Open Data Science for the Oceans. Ann Rev Mar Sci 2024; 16:537-549. [PMID: 37418835 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-041723-094741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
Open science is a global movement happening across all research fields. Enabled by technology and the open web, it builds on years of efforts by individuals, grassroots organizations, institutions, and agencies. The goal is to share knowledge and broaden participation in science, from early ideation to making research outputs openly accessible to all (open access). With an emphasis on transparency and collaboration, the open science movement dovetails with efforts to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in science and society. The US Biden-Harris Administration and many other US government agencies have declared 2023 the Year of Open Science, providing a great opportunity to boost participation in open science for the oceans. For researchers day-to-day, open science is a critical piece of modern analytical workflows with increasing amounts of data. Therefore, we focus this article on open data science-the tooling and people enabling reproducible, transparent, inclusive practices for data-intensive research-and its intersection with the marine sciences. We discuss the state of various dimensions of open science and argue that technical advancements have outpaced our field's culture change to incorporate them. Increasing inclusivity and technical skill building are interlinked and must be prioritized within the marine science community to find collaborative solutions for responding to climate change and other threats to marine biodiversity and society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa L Fredston
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA;
| | - Julia S Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
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Beck MW, O’Hara C, Stewart Lowndes JS, D. Mazor R, Theroux S, J. Gillett D, Lane B, Gearheart G. The importance of open science for biological assessment of aquatic environments. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9539. [PMID: 32742805 PMCID: PMC7377246 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Open science principles that seek to improve science can effectively bridge the gap between researchers and environmental managers. However, widespread adoption has yet to gain traction for the development and application of bioassessment products. At the core of this philosophy is the concept that research should be reproducible and transparent, in addition to having long-term value through effective data preservation and sharing. In this article, we review core open science concepts that have recently been adopted in the ecological sciences and emphasize how adoption can benefit the field of bioassessment for both prescriptive condition assessments and proactive applications that inform environmental management. An example from the state of California demonstrates effective adoption of open science principles through data stewardship, reproducible research, and engagement of stakeholders with multimedia applications. We also discuss technical, sociocultural, and institutional challenges for adopting open science, including practical approaches for overcoming these hurdles in bioassessment applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus W. Beck
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
- Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Saint Petersburg, FL, USA
| | - Casey O’Hara
- Bren School of Environmental Sciences & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | | | - Raphael D. Mazor
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
| | - Susanna Theroux
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
| | - David J. Gillett
- Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
| | - Belize Lane
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
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O’Hara CC, Scarborough C, Hunter KL, Afflerbach JC, Bodtker K, Frazier M, Stewart Lowndes JS, Perry RI, Halpern BS. Changes in ocean health in British Columbia from 2001 to 2016. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0227502. [PMID: 31999705 PMCID: PMC6992189 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Effective management of marine systems requires quantitative tools that can assess the state of the marine social-ecological system and are responsive to management actions and pressures. We applied the Ocean Health Index (OHI) framework to retrospectively assess ocean health in British Columbia annually from 2001 to 2016 for eight goals that represent the values of British Columbia's coastal communities. We found overall ocean health improved over the study period, from 75 (out of 100) in 2001 to 83 in 2016, with scores for inhabited regions ranging from 68 (North Coast, 2002) to 87 (West Vancouver Island, 2011). Highest-scoring goals were Tourism & Recreation (average 94 over the period) and Habitat Services (100); lowest-scoring goals were Sense of Place (61) and Food Provision (64). Significant increases in scores over the time period occurred for Food Provision (+1.7 per year), Sense of Place (+1.4 per year), and Coastal Livelihoods (+0.6 per year), while Habitat Services (-0.01 per year) and Biodiversity (-0.09 per year) showed modest but statistically significant declines. From the results of our time-series analysis, we used the OHI framework to evaluate impacts of a range of management actions. Despite challenges in data availability, we found evidence for the ability of management to reduce pressures on several goals, suggesting the potential of OHI as a tool for assessing the effectiveness of marine resource management to improve ocean health. Our OHI assessment provides an important comprehensive evaluation of ocean health in British Columbia, and our open and transparent process highlights opportunities for improving accessibility of social and ecological data to inform future assessment and management of ocean health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey C. O’Hara
- Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Courtney Scarborough
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Karen L. Hunter
- Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Jamie C. Afflerbach
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Karin Bodtker
- MapSea Consulting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Melanie Frazier
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Julia S. Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - R. Ian Perry
- Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Benjamin S. Halpern
- Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
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Lowndes JSS, Froehlich HE, Horst A, Jayasundara N, Pinsky ML, Stier AC, Therkildsen NO, Wood CL. Supercharge your research: a ten-week plan for open data science. Nature 2019:10.1038/d41586-019-03335-4. [PMID: 33122833 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-019-03335-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Daigle RM, Archambault P, Halpern BS, Stewart Lowndes JS, Côté IM. Incorporating public priorities in the Ocean Health Index: Canada as a case study. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0178044. [PMID: 28542394 PMCID: PMC5443542 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Ocean Health Index (OHI) is a framework to assess ocean health by considering many benefits (called 'goals') provided by the ocean provides to humans, such as food provision, tourism opportunities, and coastal protection. The OHI framework can be used to assess marine areas at global or regional scales, but how various OHI goals should be weighted to reflect priorities at those scales remains unclear. In this study, we adapted the framework in two ways for application to Canada as a case study. First, we customized the OHI goals to create a national Canadian Ocean Health Index (COHI). In particular, we altered the list of iconic species assessed, added methane clathrates and subsea permafrost as carbon storage habitats, and developed a new goal, 'Aboriginal Needs', to measure access of Aboriginal people to traditional marine hunting and fishing grounds. Second, we evaluated various goal weighting schemes based on preferences elicited from the general public in online surveys. We quantified these public preferences in three ways: using Likert scores, simple ranks from a best-worst choice experiment, and model coefficients from the analysis of elicited choice experiment. The latter provided the clearest statistical discrimination among goals, and we recommend their use because they can more accurately reflect both public opinion and the trade-offs faced by policy-makers. This initial iteration of the COHI can be used as a baseline against which future COHI scores can be compared, and could potentially be used as a management tool to prioritise actions on a national scale and predict public support for these actions given that the goal weights are based on public priorities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rémi M. Daigle
- Institut des Sciences de la Mer, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Québec, Canada
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- Département de Biologie, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Philippe Archambault
- Institut des Sciences de la Mer, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Québec, Canada
- Département de Biologie, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
| | - Benjamin S. Halpern
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Silwood Park, Imperial College London, Ascot, United Kingdom
- Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Julia S. Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Isabelle M. Côté
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
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Lowndes JSS, Best BD, Scarborough C, Afflerbach JC, Frazier MR, O'Hara CC, Jiang N, Halpern BS. Our path to better science in less time using open data science tools. Nat Ecol Evol 2017; 1:160. [PMID: 28812630 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Reproducibility has long been a tenet of science but has been challenging to achieve-we learned this the hard way when our old approaches proved inadequate to efficiently reproduce our own work. Here we describe how several free software tools have fundamentally upgraded our approach to collaborative research, making our entire workflow more transparent and streamlined. By describing specific tools and how we incrementally began using them for the Ocean Health Index project, we hope to encourage others in the scientific community to do the same-so we can all produce better science in less time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia S Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | | | - Courtney Scarborough
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | - Jamie C Afflerbach
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | - Melanie R Frazier
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | - Casey C O'Hara
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | - Ning Jiang
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
| | - Benjamin S Halpern
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA.,Bren School for Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93177, USA.,Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK
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Lowndes JSS, Pacheco EJ, Best BD, Scarborough C, Longo C, Katona SK, Halpern BS. Best practices for assessing ocean health in multiple contexts using tailorable frameworks. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1503. [PMID: 26713251 PMCID: PMC4690351 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2015] [Accepted: 11/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine policy is increasingly calling for maintaining or restoring healthy oceans while human activities continue to intensify. Thus, successful prioritization and management of competing objectives requires a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the ocean. Unfortunately, assessment frameworks to define and quantify current ocean state are often site-specific, limited to a few ocean components, and difficult to reproduce in different geographies or even through time, limiting spatial or temporal comparisons as well as the potential for shared learning. Ideally, frameworks should be tailorable to accommodate use in disparate locations and contexts, removing the need to develop frameworks de novo and allowing efforts to focus on the assessments themselves to advise action. Here, we present some of our experiences using the Ocean Health Index (OHI) framework, a tailorable and repeatable approach that measures health of coupled human-ocean ecosystems in different contexts by accommodating differences in local environmental characteristics, cultural priorities, and information availability and quality. Since its development in 2012, eleven assessments using the OHI framework have been completed at global, national, and regional scales, four of which have been led by independent academic or government groups. We have found the following to be best practices for conducting assessments: Incorporate key characteristics and priorities into the assessment framework design before gathering information; Strategically define spatial boundaries to balance information availability and decision-making scales; Maintain the key characteristics and priorities of the assessment framework regardless of information limitations; and Document and share the assessment process, methods, and tools. These best practices are relevant to most ecosystem assessment processes, but also provide tangible guidance for assessments using the OHI framework. These recommendations also promote transparency around which decisions were made and why, reproducibility through access to detailed methods and computational code, repeatability via the ability to modify methods and computational code, and ease of communication to wide audiences, all of which are critical for any robust assessment process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia S Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA , United States
| | - Erich J Pacheco
- Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International , Arlington, VA , United States
| | - Benjamin D Best
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University , Durham, NC , United States
| | - Courtney Scarborough
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA , United States
| | - Catherine Longo
- Department of Strategic Research, Marine Stewardship Council , London , United Kingdom
| | - Steven K Katona
- Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International , Arlington, VA , United States
| | - Benjamin S Halpern
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California at Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA , United States ; Bren School for Environmental Science and Management, University of California , Santa Barbara, CA , United States ; Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London , Ascot , United Kingdom
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Halpern BS, Longo C, Lowndes JSS, Best BD, Frazier M, Katona SK, Kleisner KM, Rosenberg AA, Scarborough C, Selig ER. Patterns and emerging trends in global ocean health. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0117863. [PMID: 25774678 PMCID: PMC4361765 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2014] [Accepted: 12/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
International and regional policies aimed at managing ocean ecosystem health need quantitative and comprehensive indices to synthesize information from a variety of sources, consistently measure progress, and communicate with key constituencies and the public. Here we present the second annual global assessment of the Ocean Health Index, reporting current scores and annual changes since 2012, recalculated using updated methods and data based on the best available science, for 221 coastal countries and territories. The Index measures performance of ten societal goals for healthy oceans on a quantitative scale of increasing health from 0 to 100, and combines these scores into a single Index score, for each country and globally. The global Index score improved one point (from 67 to 68), while many country-level Index and goal scores had larger changes. Per-country Index scores ranged from 41-95 and, on average, improved by 0.06 points (range -8 to +12). Globally, average scores increased for individual goals by as much as 6.5 points (coastal economies) and decreased by as much as 1.2 points (natural products). Annual updates of the Index, even when not all input data have been updated, provide valuable information to scientists, policy makers, and resource managers because patterns and trends can emerge from the data that have been updated. Changes of even a few points indicate potential successes (when scores increase) that merit recognition, or concerns (when scores decrease) that may require mitigative action, with changes of more than 10-20 points representing large shifts that deserve greater attention. Goal scores showed remarkably little covariance across regions, indicating low redundancy in the Index, such that each goal delivers information about a different facet of ocean health. Together these scores provide a snapshot of global ocean health and suggest where countries have made progress and where a need for further improvement exists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin S. Halpern
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Catherine Longo
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Julia S. Stewart Lowndes
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Benjamin D. Best
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Melanie Frazier
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Steven K. Katona
- Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Kristin M. Kleisner
- Sea Around Us Project, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Andrew A. Rosenberg
- Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Courtney Scarborough
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth R. Selig
- Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America
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