The mission of the Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) Information Management System (IMS) is to facilitate the site's scientific work and to ensure the integrity of the information and databases resulting from the site's coastal Everglades ecosystem research. To assure total support of the site and network science, the FCE Information Management (IM) team has established a set of primary goals: 1) design and implement a IMS to handle research contributions from several large FCE research laboratories, 2) collect and archive both FCE and historical Everglades data, 3) provide comprehensive metadata for data interpretation and analysis, 4) design and implement tools that facilitate data management, data discovery and data access and 5) contribute to LTER network informatic activities.

All of the FCE LTER core data and metadata files from individual research studies are stored in a hierarchical flat file directory system. FCE project information and minimal research data metadata are stored in an Oracle database that is used to drive the FCE Web site. This hybrid system (flat file and database) gives FCE researchers, network scientists and the general public an option to download complete original data files submitted by individual FCE scientists in addition to downloading queried data from the Oracle10g database. Core data are made available to the public within two years of data collection and are accessible on-line in accordance with the FCE Data Management Policy (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/data/data_mgmt_policy.html). FCE publications are updated frequently and are searchable on-line by querying on any combination of date, author, keyword, and publication type. Presentations are listed on the FCE website, and in some cases, users may view a presentation via a document link. Limited GIS and raster data are available for download via our Everglades interactive map application (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/data/GIS/interactive_map/).

Data and information contributions are being made to the FCE IMS from 8 designated working groups. Researchers within these workgroups are responsible for quality assurance, data entry, validation, and analysis for their respective projects. The Information Manager schedules quarterly data collection dates (Jan 1, April 1, July 1, & October 1) throughout the year when electronic collection reminders, with the appropriate data submittal information, are sent out via email to all participating researchers. Data submitted to the Information Manager undergo IMS quality assurance and quality control procedures; the data and metadata are thoroughly examined to ensure that the data fields and values are correctly described by the metadata. These data are then converted into ASCII text and loaded into the Oracle database (Figure 1).


Figure 1. FCE IMS Data Procedures

The Oracle relational database has been designed to accommodate the diverse spatial and temporal heterogeneous data submitted by the FCE researchers. The database and flat file integrity is maintained through access passwords and user privileges and roles. Metadata and data values are then combined into one ASCII text file for archival purposes. The FCE LTER Office has 3 Windows servers and 2 Linux server with a total storage capacity of 1.941 Terrabytes and an additional 400 Gigabytes of storage between two desktop workstations. The servers housing the development and production versions of the FCE Oracle10g database are equipped with RAID5 technology (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). Connectivity within the FCE LTER Office is a gigabit switched Ethernet Network (FIU Computer Science Network). The FCE IMS implements 2 levels of data protection: 1) nightly incremental backups to external drives, 2) daily incremental (Web), and weekly full backups to external hard drives with one set being stored offsite (Figure 2).


Figure 2. FCE IMS Backup and Recovery Model

The FCE Information Management System (IMS) is committed to collection and organization of FCE LTER project information and the IMS group has developed a web-based interactive mapping application called the 'FCE LTER Interactive Everglades Map' to their website (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/data/GIS/interactive_map/) to facilitate information and project management. Our researchers and information management group can use this application to help with future experimental designs, publication discovery, and intra-site syntheses as the FCE project information, site location information, datasets, sampling attributes and publications are cross-referenced. Additionally, the FCE project has added verbiage to its data management policy that mandates project information submission by researchers to the FCE Information Manager no later than 6 months of notification of project funding.

The FCE Information Management team consists of one full-time Information Manager, Linda Powell, and one full-time Project Manager, Mike Rugge. Linda and Mike provide continuity to the FCE LTER project's IMS as they have held their positions with the project since its inception in May 2000. Linda has a Master's degree in Geology and has a strong background in GIS, remote sensing and system administration. Mike Rugge has a Master's degree in plant biology and specializes in web development and GIS. Both Linda and Mike serve as database and system administrators and Mike serves as the project programmer.

The FCE web site provides outstanding support for site and network science. The site's home page (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/) design provides a simple, user-friendly gateway a wide variety of information ranging from the FCE LTER project overview to links to additional research related websites. The FCE 'Data' web page provides users access to the Data Table of Contents (searchable by data contributor, workgroup, sample location, data type or keyword), FCE data tools, the FCE Data Management Policy, Ancillary Data, and links to other sources of LTER related and Everglades data. An individual 'Data Summary Table' is generated for each FCE data file to facilitate data discovery and access; this table is the portal for data and metadata downloads. The FCE IM team lends its expertise to site and network researchers when necessary by providing application support (Excel2EML), assistance with metadata entry, data submissions, individual project database design, collaborations on GIS work and research graphics.

Since the inception of the Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) LTER in May of 2000, FCE researchers have adhered to data submission policy that requires all data submissions to be accompanied by metadata. As a result of this staunch data submission policy, the FCE IMS has a very robust archive of research metadata. With the LTER community implementing Ecological Metadata Language (EML) as its metadata content and format standard, one of the biggest challenges for the FCE IM team in the EML implementation process was finding a way that FCE researchers could continue to collect metadata using an Excel metadata template and easily produce EML (XML) documents. In response to this challenge, Mike Rugge developed a Perl application (http://fcelter.fiu.edu/research/information_management/tools/) that converts the FCE Excel metadata into a valid EML (XML) documents. The FCE IMS has fully adopted the LTER network metadata standard Ecological Metadata Language (EML) and one hundred percent of the FCE tabular data are accompanied by a Level 5 (Data Identification, Discovery, Evaluation, Access and Integration) EML (XML) metadata documents. FCE EML documents are harvested daily to the LTER network metacat XML database.

Linda Powell has been serving as an elected member of the LTER Network Information System Advisory Committee (NISAC) and has served as a member IMExec in 2004 and 2005. Additionally, her duties on IMExec have included managing the logistics for the 2004 and 2005 annual IM committee meetings. Linda has attended and contributed to the annual LTER Information Managers (IM) committee meetings since 2000. She has also served as editor of the fall 2001 and spring 2002 issues of DataBits, the LTER network's electronic newsletter. Both members of the FCE IMS team have attended workshops relating to either EML implementation or GIS. The Excel2EML metadata converter tool and template has been made available to the LTER network and broader ecological community via the LTER CVS repository and a download link on the FCE web site ( http://fcelter.fiu.edu/research/information_management/tools/). Data contributions have been made regularly to the following LTER network databases: 1) ClimDB, 2) SiteDB, 3) All Site Bibliography, 4) Personnel, 5) Metacat XML database 6) Data Table of Contents and 7) EcoTrends.

A web-based query interface tool, which is linked to FCE physical and chemical research results stored in the FCE Oracle10g database, is finished and currently being vetted by the FCE Information Management Advisory Committee (IMAC) and its internal executive board (IEC). The new web interface will simplify data discovery and data access for FCE and LTER network scientists as signature FCE chemical and physical data, togther with over 4 million physical and chemical data values from outside agencies (Everglades National Park, South Florida Water Management District and the USGS) have been added to the FCE Oracle10g database. We anticipate adding analysis and synthesis tools to the website whereby queried FCE physical and chemical data could easily be manipulated in real-time.