P.I. Charter: A Shiny Application for Collecting, Cleaning, Compiling, and Communicating Point-Intercept Aquatic...

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Data Science

Background:

• Ecological research is often hindered by the difficulty in discovering and unifying data collected by various entities for diverse purposes.
• Disparate data collection methods and formats impede comprehensive analysis of complex ecological questions.
• Web applications offer a potential solution for data aggregation, cleaning, and programmatic combination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce P.I. Charter, an R Shiny web application designed for soliciting, tidying, compiling, and sharing point-intercept (PI) aquatic plant survey data.
• To outline the app's features, emphasizing ease of use, accessibility, education, open access, and user experience.
• To demonstrate the utility of the P.I. Charter database for ecological planning, invasion surveillance, species-environment relationship investigation, and long-term community composition analysis.

Main Methods:

• Development of an R Shiny web application (P.I. Charter) as a submission portal for aquatic plant survey data.
• Implementation of data cleaning and programmatic compilation processes within the web application.
• Collection and analysis of user engagement metrics (visitors, submissions) and user satisfaction data.

Main Results:

• P.I. Charter has successfully received thousands of visitors and hundreds of data submissions since its launch.
• The application allows familiar contributors to submit surveys efficiently, reporting high user satisfaction.
• Four case studies illustrate the database's potential for advancing ecological research and management strategies.

Conclusions:

• Web applications like P.I. Charter can revolutionize data aggregation from disparate sources, maximizing the use of collected data for ecological questions.
• Developing complex, science-focused web applications using R Shiny presents challenges, particularly in achieving digital accessibility.
• The P.I. Charter experience serves as a valuable model for other initiatives aiming to consolidate and leverage environmental data.