A Web App for the Animal Culture Database and a Template for Deploying Comparative Trait Databases With Shiny

Area of Science:

• Ecology and evolutionary biology
• Computational biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Trait databases are crucial for ecological and evolutionary research.
• Structured, open-access data repositories facilitate data exploration and analysis.
• Deploying these databases as interactive platforms enhances accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and structure a Shiny web app for deploying trait databases.
• To showcase the functionality of the Animal Culture Database (ACDB) via a web app.
• To demonstrate the potential for deploying other databases using this approach.

Main Methods:

• Developed a Shiny web app to serve as an interactive platform for trait databases.
• Utilized the Animal Culture Database (ACDB) as a case study.
• Integrated multiple linked tables with geospatial information for data visualization.

Main Results:

• The web app provides an intuitive interface for exploring the ACDB.
• Users can access population-level data, behavioral descriptions, and geographic distributions.
• The app enables data visualization and analysis of animal cultural behaviors.

Conclusions:

• The developed web app effectively deploys trait databases for research.
• This approach facilitates interactive exploration and analysis of complex biological data.
• The methodology is transferable for deploying other scientific databases.