Biomaterial Database

Data collection and storage in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies: The Mongoose 2000 system. 2018

Harry H Marshall, and David J Griffiths, and Francis Mwanguhya, and Robert Businge, and Amber G F Griffiths, and Solomon Kyabulima, and Kenneth Mwesige, and Jennifer L Sanderson, and Faye J Thompson, and Emma I K Vitikainen, and Michael A Cant

Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, United Kingdom.

Studying ecological and evolutionary processes in the natural world often requires research projects to follow multiple individuals in the wild over many years. These projects have provided significant advances but may also be hampered by needing to accurately and efficiently collect and store multiple streams of the data from multiple individuals concurrently. The increase in the availability and sophistication of portable computers (smartphones and tablets) and the applications that run on them has the potential to address many of these data collection and storage issues. In this paper we describe the challenges faced by one such long-term, individual-based research project: the Banded Mongoose Research Project in Uganda. We describe a system we have developed called Mongoose 2000 that utilises the potential of apps and portable computers to meet these challenges. We discuss the benefits and limitations of employing such a system in a long-term research project. The app and source code for the Mongoose 2000 system are freely available and we detail how it might be used to aid data collection and storage in other long-term individual-based projects.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D008988	Herpestidae	The family of agile, keen-sighted mongooses of Asia and Africa that feed on RODENTS and SNAKES.	Crossarchus,Cusimanses,Dwarf Mongooses,Helogale,Herpestes,Liberian Mongoose,Liberiictis,Mongooses,Mungos,Dwarf Mongoose,Mongoose,Mongoose, Dwarf,Mongoose, Liberian,Mongooses, Dwarf
D011247	Pregnancy	The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.	Gestation,Pregnancies
D003201	Computers	Programmable electronic devices designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations.	Calculators, Programmable,Computer Hardware,Computers, Digital,Hardware, Computer,Calculator, Programmable,Computer,Computer, Digital,Digital Computer,Digital Computers,Programmable Calculator,Programmable Calculators
D003625	Data Collection	Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.	Data Collection Methods,Dual Data Collection,Collection Method, Data,Collection Methods, Data,Collection, Data,Collection, Dual Data,Data Collection Method,Method, Data Collection,Methods, Data Collection
D004784	Environmental Monitoring	The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.	Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D005075	Biological Evolution	The process of cumulative change over successive generations through which organisms acquire their distinguishing morphological and physiological characteristics.	Evolution, Biological
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000068997	Smartphone	A cell phone with advanced computing and connectivity capability built on an operating system.	Smart Phone,Smart Phones,Phones, Smart,Smartphones