272
II JOint Research Projects
The experiences showed that for a sound scientific use of statistical procedures
a mutual understanding between the disciplines is essential. The statisticians have
to be able to understand ecological questions in order to transfer them into appropriate models. The ecologists have to be prepared to accept statistical thinking in
order to assess the validity of ecological inferences based on statistical results. The
collaboration between this sub-project and all other sub-projects also resulted in an
overview on the entire project, which was favourable for the collaboration and
synthesis.
Data management
The task of the data management was to develop a unified system for the data
handling in all sub-projects and to provide the essential tools therefore, with the
aim to facilitate the exchange of data between sub-projects as well as the import of
data into statistical software and various computer programmes. This was realized
with a PC-based data handling (Ortleb 1997). With this approach ELA W AT was
exempted from contributing to the centralized data base of the "Ecosystem Research Wadden Sea". Consultations for data handling were given during the entire
project and in most cases suitable structures could be found in the form of relational data bases. However, the complete inventory of all data in the approved
structure took time beyond the duration of the sub-projects. Furthermore, some
projects had concerns about the copy rights on the data and hesitated to supply
their data for the data base of ELA W A T. Thus not all of the data were approved at
the end of the project. This hampered the synthesis of the results, as in some cases
a further analysis required tedious restructuring of the original data. In the end,
almost all data were compiled on CD-ROM.
A successful data management also requires the mutual understanding of the
disciplines. The data base manager must be able to consider ecological questions
and their required analysis for the choice of an appropriate data structure. The
ecologists have to learn scientific criteria for the establishment of data tables to
assist in the development of data structures for the respective ecological questions.
In general, a decentralized data handling is preferred, where data are available
and can be accessed from anywhere in the project. This structure allows a close
and unhindered collaboration between the sub-projects, the overall project coordinators, and the statisticians and modellers. But, beforehand, any legal concerns
on data security and rights have to be clearly settled to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Theoretical consulting and ecological modelling
The approach in ELA W AT, which for the first time directed the focus of an ecosystem analysis on stability properties, required an intensive and continuous theoretical and conceptual discourse about this theme (Chap. 2). Joint projects can only
reach their goal with an encompassing conceptual framework. Often enough the
participants of a project are overloaded or not trained for the development of a
conceptual framework. In ELA W AT, the integration of an ecological modelling
also provided a kind of theoretical consulting, to the profit of the entire project and
II JOint Research Projects
The experiences showed that for a sound scientific use of statistical procedures
a mutual understanding between the disciplines is essential. The statisticians have
to be able to understand ecological questions in order to transfer them into appropriate models. The ecologists have to be prepared to accept statistical thinking in
order to assess the validity of ecological inferences based on statistical results. The
collaboration between this sub-project and all other sub-projects also resulted in an
overview on the entire project, which was favourable for the collaboration and
synthesis.
Data management
The task of the data management was to develop a unified system for the data
handling in all sub-projects and to provide the essential tools therefore, with the
aim to facilitate the exchange of data between sub-projects as well as the import of
data into statistical software and various computer programmes. This was realized
with a PC-based data handling (Ortleb 1997). With this approach ELA W AT was
exempted from contributing to the centralized data base of the "Ecosystem Research Wadden Sea". Consultations for data handling were given during the entire
project and in most cases suitable structures could be found in the form of relational data bases. However, the complete inventory of all data in the approved
structure took time beyond the duration of the sub-projects. Furthermore, some
projects had concerns about the copy rights on the data and hesitated to supply
their data for the data base of ELA W A T. Thus not all of the data were approved at
the end of the project. This hampered the synthesis of the results, as in some cases
a further analysis required tedious restructuring of the original data. In the end,
almost all data were compiled on CD-ROM.
A successful data management also requires the mutual understanding of the
disciplines. The data base manager must be able to consider ecological questions
and their required analysis for the choice of an appropriate data structure. The
ecologists have to learn scientific criteria for the establishment of data tables to
assist in the development of data structures for the respective ecological questions.
In general, a decentralized data handling is preferred, where data are available
and can be accessed from anywhere in the project. This structure allows a close
and unhindered collaboration between the sub-projects, the overall project coordinators, and the statisticians and modellers. But, beforehand, any legal concerns
on data security and rights have to be clearly settled to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Theoretical consulting and ecological modelling
The approach in ELA W AT, which for the first time directed the focus of an ecosystem analysis on stability properties, required an intensive and continuous theoretical and conceptual discourse about this theme (Chap. 2). Joint projects can only
reach their goal with an encompassing conceptual framework. Often enough the
participants of a project are overloaded or not trained for the development of a
conceptual framework. In ELA W AT, the integration of an ecological modelling
also provided a kind of theoretical consulting, to the profit of the entire project and