Collaboration in Ecology: A Workshop Proposal

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The science of ecology is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of life on earth as well as environmental problems such as climate change and reduced biodiversity. At present, ecology is a small, underfunded discipline. There is a self-identified need among ecologists that their science must grow in order to address timely large-scale ecological questions. To this end, software tools must be developed to handle data, to enhance remote collaborations, and to perform more sophisticated analyses of ecological data. Such tools are part of the emerging field of ecoinformatics. To develop good tools, interdisciplinary efforts are required, since many ecological problems involve other sciences such as physics and chemistry. This workshop will bring together ecologists, social scientists, computer scientists and librarians to discuss the work practices and information needs of ecologists and to inform the design of the new ecoinformatics tools. Topics of interest will include computational tools for handling large datasets, and issues related to collaboration over distance and working across disciplines. Broader Impacts: The workshop will enable scientists from varied disciplines to form relationships and networks for future interaction, so that ecoinformatics can be truly interdisciplinary. The outcomes will have implications for scaling up other field sciences such as geology, oceanography, and paleontology.