Information storage and retrieval systems--Ecology

Software development for ecological data systems is concentrated in the description, modeling, and standardization of large amounts of ecological data. Ecological data assembled in many formats is very difficult to reuse. This thesis develops a database model that supports the storage of heterogeneous data in standardized formats. Ecological data standardization is solved with the specification of a structure conversion system. Because input formats cannot be predicted, a scientific data description language was created to control the execution of the conversion system. System analysis is based on interviews with South Florida Water Management District scientists conducting ecosystem research, and ecological data collected at Lake Okeechobee, Florida, during a five-year study. Object-oriented and structural methods were used for analysis. Development is complemented with an introduction to user interfaces.

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) established in 1949, is the oldest and largest water management institution in Florida. The Lake Okeechobee Ecosystem Study (LOES) a five-year study, conducted by SFWMD to collect information about water quality and other ecological factors in the Lake Okeechobee area, is one of the many projects that the SFWMD is involved in for the restoration of Florida's ecosystem. The study resulted in a large volume of information being compiled by scientists into files of different formats. Florida Atlantic University (FAU) undertook the task of restructuring the database and designing and implementing the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) to support this ecological system. As part of an earlier project, an object model was designed to standardize the files that also helped in the creation of a relational database to store the information. A goal of the current project was to design GUIs that could be used without difficulty, by persons that may or may not be database technology familiar. This thesis describes and analyzes the design and implementation of the GUIs. It focuses on the two types of interfaces implemented, namely the Query and Administrative forms. The implementation of the GUIs were completed and tested and deployed at SFWMD.