About the Project
The NERR System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) provides an opportunity to compare spatiotemporal dynamics across a wide range of estuaries in the nation to discover patterns and trends in ecosystem dynamics. With decades of SWMP data being amassed, there is ample opportunity and NERR interest to conduct analyses to investigate long-term changes, yet limited personnel capacity has meant that these datasets have not been fully utilized.
To address current SWMP synthesis needs as well as systemic capacity issues, the team developed a graduate-level course at the University of Wisconsin - Madison for Spring 2024 with dual learning objectives: a technical objective to learn ecological big data skills and a collaborative objective to learn how to conduct user-driven collaborative science. Analyses that were taught in the course include techniques to quantify ecosystem dynamics as non-linear, linear, or linear-stochastic, identify trends, and perform break-point analyses to identify potential state shifts in the data. These statistical analyses were used to address a wide range of questions from fundamental ecological questions of how trends varied spatially, to applied questions such as the impacts of wastewater treatment plant upgrades or effects of instrumentation of measurements.
About this Resource
This github repository includes R scripts from the project’s graduate course for the different analyses that were applied, including detailed comments on what the tests are used for, assumptions of the test, and notes on interpreting the outputs. These R scripts were developed for an educational purpose with the intent that this repository could be improved and expanded on as the course continues. The code is fully commented for newer coders and utilizes SWMP data.