Acropora cervicornis Data Coordination Hub
The Acropora cervicornis Data Coordination Hub (AcDC) is a decision support webtool to connect disparate datasets and better understand intraspecific variation. Through community aggregated data, restoration practitioners and scientists can better understand genotype-specific performance and phenotypic trait tradeoffs to ultimately improve restoration success. I built and designed AcDC during my internship with the AOML Coral Program. You can read more about this project in our open-access publication published in the Bulletin of Marine Science.
From initial brainstorming to publication, our team was committed to the principles of Open Science, including Open Data, Open Access, and Open Methods. The backend database is built in MariaDB, an open-source implementation of MySQL. The interface is coded in RShiny, which provides a robust and easily maintainable dashboard in an environment that ecologists are already familiar with. All code is freely available on GitHub for cloning, modifications, or error-spotting. Finally, the manuscript was published with an Open-Access license to facilitate the dissemination of our work across the Caribbean region, where science and restoration is chronically underfunded. We are currently working on the translation of our website, data submission guides, and other pertinent resources to ensure AcDC is a community owned and supported tool.
I have presented this work at three international conferences and hosted workshops to engage with community stakeholders to ensure the tool meets the present needs of the science and restoration communities. If you would like to contribute data, learn more about AcDC, or have feedback to share, please contact me.