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CitSci.org Measurements

What We Measure

CitSci.org projects collect data using an array of methods (protocols). These protocols require that certain information be recorded about various subjects such as species or site characteristics (e.g., the environment, the weather at a location, or the soil at any given location). This information (attributes or measurements) may be recorded in a variety of different units for the same measurement (e.g., feet or meters). To help standardize attributes, we keep a list of recommended attributes and those that projects may already be measuring for each subject you may want to measure and recommend some standards you can follow to record attributes comparable and consistent with other projects. This approach allows the wide array of data being collected by all CitSci.org projects to be analyzed and displayed together where feasible. Please feel free to contact us to discuss what you aim to measure and how at any time -- we are happy to help and to discuss the possibilities!

"If you want to measure it, measure it...
...but be sure it's not already being measured!"

Name	Description	Value Type	Min Value	Max Value
Dominant species	Dominance ranking based on most cover or basal area for all plant species present
Height	Height above ground, average height for groups	Decimal	0.0
Percent Cover	Percent of area covered by this individual or organism	Decimal	0.0	100.0
Vigor
Infested Area		Decimal	0.0
Length		Decimal	0.0
Sex
Life Stage
Tag ID		Integer	0.0
Born Wild		Integer	0.0	1.0
Weight	Weight	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Number of individuals		Integer	0.0
Gross Area	Area covered at least in some part by the species	Decimal	0.0
Presence	Presence or absense of species at for a visit		0.0	1.0
Depth	Depth below water level	Decimal	0.0
Nitrate		Decimal	0.0	0.0
Derived biomass	Biomass calculated from other data collected	Decimal
Measured biomass	Biomass directly measured from organisms collected	Decimal
Canopy area	Area covered by the canopy by an individual or a species	Decimal
Density per meter squared	Number per meter squared	Decimal
Voucher collected	True if a voucher specimen was collected
Count of individuals	Area-independent count of individuals	Decimal
Pigmentation	Pigmentation classification for this organism
Phenology	Seasonal phenological stages
Call Index	Relative call index for vocalizing amphibians.
How determined	Evidence of species occurrence or sighting. Examples include spoor evidence such as scat, tracks, and haypiles along with visual and auditory evidence.		0.0	0.0
Banded	Has the organism been banded or collared for tracking purposes? (Y/N)		0.0	0.0
DBH	Diameter at Breast Height	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Crown Class	Rank of the tree crown compared to other competing trees within the plot radius. OG - Open Grown DOM - Dominant COD - Co-dominant INT - Intermediate OT - Over-topped		0.0	0.0
Crown Base Height Class	Mature trees that have a DBH of 4.5' or greater will have their Crown Base Height recorded. CBH is the distance from ground line to the lowest branch whorl having live branched in at least two quadrants of the tree bole. Class 1: 0'-6' Class 2: 6'-10' Class 3: 10'-15' Class 4: 15'-20' Class 5: >20'		0.0	0.0
Tree Status	Trees with a DBH of 4.5' or greater are recorded. Tree Status Codes: L: Live D: Dead S: Stump		0.0	0.0
Evidence of Insect/Disease/Damage	Evidence of insect, disease, or damage for trees greater than 4.5' tall, with DBH of 5.0' or greater. Insect/Disease/Damage Code: DMT: Dwarf Mistle Toe MPB: Mountain Pine Beetle IPS: Ips Beetle SB: Spruce Beetle DFB: Doug-Fir Beetle SBW: Spruce Bud Worm AC: Aspen Conk AR: Aspen Rot AND: Animal Damage		0.0	0.0
Age	Age	Integer	0.0	0.0
10yr Growth	10yr growth (trees)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Individuals in a pre-defined area	The number of individuals of a single species.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Monarch Cluster Aspect			0.0	0.0
Number of Loner Monarchs	The number of monarch butterflies found separate from the clusters	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Sunning Monarchs	The number of monarch butterflies that are found sunning in the monitoring area	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Flying Monarchs	The number of monarch butterflies that are in flight in the monitoring area during the period of observation.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Grounded Monarchs	The number of monarch butterflies found on the ground in the monitoring area.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Dead Monarchs	The number of dead monarch butterflies found in the monitoring area.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Mating Monarchs	The number of monarch butterflies found mating in the monitoring area.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Monarch Cluster Height	The height of the Monarch cluster in the tree.	Integer	0.0	0.0
Life Form	Life form of vegetative species		0.0	0.0
Tree Number	Number given to a tree	Integer	0.0	0.0
X Coordinates	X coordinates relating to a tree's position	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Y Coordinates	Y coordinates relating to a tree's position	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Sire			0.0	0.0
Dam			0.0	0.0
D.O.B.	Date of Birth		0.0	0.0
Primary Registration No.	The Kennel Club Registration number assigned to the individual.		0.0	0.0
Health Testing	OFA, PennHip, CERF and BAER test records		0.0	0.0
Performance	Titles earned in conformation, agility or other performance event(specify)	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Breeder	Search by kennel name or breeder	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Progeny	Number of individuals sired by this animal	Integer	0.0	0.0
Litter Count	Number of litters sired by this animal	Integer	0.0	0.0
M:F Ratio	Average sex ratio of progeny per litter	Integer	0.0	0.0
Genotype	Genetic makeup of the individual	Integer	0.0	0.0
Phenotype	Coat color description	Integer	0.0	0.0
Status	Breeding or Non-breeding	Integer	0.0	0.0
Variety	Describes variation in size or type	Integer	0.0	0.0
Loc	Location, by zip code	Integer	0.0	0.0
Registered Name	Registered name as it appears on official documentation	Integer	0.0	0.0
Breed	Classification (ie., Labrador)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Air Temperature		Integer	0.0	0.0
Flow Rate		Decimal	0.0	0.0

Name	Description	Value Type	Min Value	Max Value
Rock	Percent cover of rock	Decimal
Soil	Percent cover of bare soil plus cryptobiotic crust	Decimal
Litter	Percent cover of detached organic litter (fresh dead material)	Decimal
Standing Duff	Percent cover of standing dead plant material	Decimal
Dung/Scat	Percent cover of wildlife or domestic animal dung	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Wood	Percent cover of wood material bigger than a pencil (0.5 cm)	Decimal
Water	Percent cover of water (standing or running)	Decimal
Duff	Percent cover of duff (dead material beginning to decompose)	Decimal
Road	Percent of plot covered by a road	Decimal
Snow	Percent cover by snow	Decimal
Moss	Percent cover of moss	Decimal
Lichen	Percent cover of lichen	Decimal
Fungi	Percent cover by fungi	Decimal
NLCD Habitat type	Habitat type categories following the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) classifications		0.0	0.0
Disturbance	Anthropogenic or natural disturbance that may affect species distributions and abundance locally
Ground layering	Noticeable layering in ground cover (duff, litter, etc.)
Ground layer depth	Depth of ground cover layer	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Diameter	The recorded diameter of the area (e.g., buffelgrass point)	Decimal
Air Temperature	Degrees (units may be either degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit)	Decimal	0.0	125.0
Cloud cover	Percent cloud cover		0.0	0.0
Subjective Precipitation	Precipitation (general) for citizen science observations		0.0	0.0
Wind speed	Subjective wind speed estimate for citizen science observations		0.0	0.0
Land Cover	Specific land cover types needed by citizen science programs		0.0	0.0
Rock present?	Rock present (yes/no)		0.0	0.0
Talus area	Size of talus area		0.0	0.0
Largest rock (meters)	Largest rock (free boulder) in vicinity	Decimal	0.0	0.0
10th largest rock (meters)	10th largest rock in vicinity	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Evidence of water	Evidence of water in vicinity		0.0	0.0
Elevation	Plot Elevation	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Slope	Plot Slope (%)	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Aspect	Plot aspect (N, S, W, E, NE, NW, SE, SW)		0.0	0.0
Water Source	Is there a source of water nearby?		0.0	0.0
Stream Flow	Qualitative estimate of stream flow		0.0	0.0
Water Condition	Qualitative water condition assessment		0.0	0.0
Water Temperature	Water temperature (units may be either degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit)	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Conductivity	Typically measured as a concentration with units of micro-Siemens per centimeter	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Precipitation Last 48 Hours	Qualitative assessment of prior precipitation		0.0	0.0
Total Dissolved Solids	Total dissolved solids in water typically measured in ppm (e.g., 5 ppm)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Stream Width	Average stream width (feet)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Stream depth	Average stream depth (feet)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Water pH	pH of water	Decimal	0.0	14.0
Stream cross sectional area	Average width * Average depth	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Monarch Cluster Height	The height of the monarch cluster in the tree.	Integer	0.0	0.0
EthiopianLandCover	Ethiopian land cover type		0.0	0.0
Azimuth	Azimuth in degrees (0-360)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Fuels sound logs	Diameter of sound logs (>3 inch in diameter) intersecting fuels transect	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Fuels rotten logs	Diameter of rotten logs (>3 inch in diameter) intersecting fuels transect	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Litter depth	Depth of litter	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Duff depth	Depth of duff	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Fuels 1 hour	Count of 1 hour fuels along transect (0-0.25 inch diameter)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Fuels 10 hour	Count of 10 hour fuels along transect (0.25-1.0 inch diameter)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Fuels 100 hour	Count of 100 hour fuels along transect (1.0-3.0 inch diameter)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Fuels 1000 hour	Count of 1000 hour fuels along transect (> 3.0 inch diameter)	Integer	0.0	0.0
Stream Discharge	Stream Flow measured by USGS stream flow stations in Cubic feet/second	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Stream microhabitat	What part of the stream did you sample?		0.0	0.0
Dissolved oxygen	Also known as oxygen saturation, a measure of the oxygen carried in a given medium.	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Sap Temperature		Integer	0.0	0.0
Fire Wood Type			0.0	0.0
Amount		Integer	0.0	0.0
Number of Pieces		Integer	0.0	0.0
Size	Small, Medium, Large		0.0	0.0
Concentration		Decimal	0.0	0.0
Flow		Decimal	0.0	0.0
Flow Rate		Decimal	0.0	0.0
Weather	Subjective weather classification		0.0	0.0
Datum	The datum of the observation.		0.0	0.0
Accuracy	Accuracy of the GPS position.	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Recorder	Recorder of the observation.		0.0	0.0
Authority	Authority of the observation.		0.0	0.0

Name	Description	Value Type	Min Value	Max Value
Shrubs	Percent cover of shrubs	Decimal
Grasses & forbs	Percent cover of grasses and forbs	Decimal
Tree Species	Monarch tree species		0.0	0.0
Willows present	Yes / no if willows in general are present		0.0	0.0
Number of eggs	number of eggs present in nestbox	Integer	0.0	0.0
Nectar Source			0.0	0.0

Name	Description	Value Type	Min Value	Max Value
Nitrogen (N)	Percent	Decimal
Phosphorus (P)	Parts of P per mass of soil	Decimal
Organic Carbon	Percent	Decimal
Calcium (Ca)	Parts per million	Decimal
Potassium (K)	Parts per million	Decimal
Magnesium (Mg)	Parts per million	Decimal
Sodium (Na)	Parts per million	Decimal
Inorganic Carbon	Percent	Decimal
Soil pH	pH level of soil	Decimal
Ammonium	Parts per million	Decimal	0.0	0.0
Radon	Description for radon	Decimal	0.0	0.0

Name	Description	Value Type	Min Value	Max Value
Sand	Soil percent sand	Decimal
Silt	Soil percent silt	Decimal
Clay	Soil percent clay	Decimal
Soil texture category	General categories of soil texture related to clay, silt, and sand
Soil Order	12 standard soil orders		1.0	12.0

CitSci.org data is licensed under a "Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License."

An IBIS website Updated 5/3/2013