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Project Journal

2008, January the 31st

Mai and I participated in the 1st Annual Science Week Undergraduate Research Fair (Poster Session) at Ladha from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

2008, January the 30th

Finished CITNAP's poster and the poster for the Costa Rica Project. Submitted the posters to Media Group for print.

2008, January the 29th

Started on the poster for the Costa Rica Project.

2008, January the 28th

Continued on CITNAP on campus. Attended Dr. David Suzuki Keynote Speech at Wesbrook Rm 100 from 4:30 to 5:30 pm and the Life Sciences & Land and Food Systems Career Fair at the Student Union Building (SUB) Ballroom from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

2008, January the 27th

Continued on CITNAP at home.

2008, January the 26th

Continued on CITNAP at home.

2008, January the 25th

Started on the checklist of invasive tunicates in North America project (CITNAP) with Mai Aoki.

2008, January the 21st

Work on tailoring surveys continued at AERL.

2008, January the 18th

I attended the MURP Project Update Workshop from 2 pm to 4 pm at Scarfe, Rm 210. Author search routine method: (1) randomize 316 reference items related to fish abundance, (2) search routine per author per reference, (3) look up reference on FishBase.org for potential contact or e-mail information, (4) look up reference on Google Scholar, (4) e-link to UBC catalogue, (5) look up faculty or staff at the website of academic or professional institution, (6) search author's name on Google, (7) search for academic or professional institution's e-mail extension and combine it with name search, and (8) look up other more recent journal articles by same author on Google Scholar.

2008, January the 15th

I registered with the 2008 Reading Week Project on http://www.learningexchange.ubc.ca/readingweek under the MURP group. The 2008 Reading Week Project will take place at Admiral Seymour School from February the 18th to the 21st. The 2008 Reading Week Project is a Trek Program and is part of the UBC Learning Exchange. At 3 pm, I picked up 2 copies of my transcripts (sealed) order last Friday from Brock Hall. I participated in a poll conducted by Veronica Lo to pick a new time this term for lab meetings.

2008, January the 14th

Dr. Deng Palomares have for me a reference letter for my application to the RMES program signed by Grace Ong on her behalf. At 1 pm, I met with Dr. Kai Chan and we discussed further about my application to the RMES program and our goals for this term on my directed studies project. At 2 pm, I met with Jennifer Selgrath (Tri-Mentoring) to discuss about graduate schools application and what made us become interested in subjects we thought we would hate (e.g. statistics). At the end, Jennifer gave me some names of ecologists that might help me with my thesis proposal writing. She also sent me documents such a masters proposal guideline and her own masters propsoal written in 2005.

2008, January the 12th

I met up with Gigi Lau at 8:30 at Blenz (UBC Village) for breakfast and at 9:30 pm we attended the Student Leadership Conference (SLC) 2008 together. We attended the Sustainability and Environment session. Then, I atttended the Ecological Considerations in Student Leadership session. Lastly, we attended the presentation by Insite Staff. The key note presentation by Steven Lewis ended SLC 2008.

2008, January the 11th

Dr. Agnes Lacombe have for me a reference letter for my application to the RMES program. I started writing the thesis proposal based on yesterday's plans. At 2 pm, I meet with Dr. Kai Chan and we discussed about my application to the RMES program and possible funding opportunities for other project ideas. He also sent me six points for a stellar proposal and other documents such as the CAISN proposal. At 4 pm, I ordered 2 copies of my transcripts at Brock Hall.

2008, January the 10th

I registered for an account to apply for the RMES program through the Faculty of Graduate Studies Online Application webpage (https://secure.grad.ubc.ca/AccountC/instructions.asp). I e-mailed Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Deng Palomares, Dr. Lacombe and Shona Ellis to write reference letters for my application. I also began planning for a thesis proposal which is part of the application.

2008, January the 9th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home. As of now, we have collected 104 unique e-mail addresses of expert we are planning to contact. Search routine for e-mail addresses was conducted for 205 experts.

2008, January the 8th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home.

2008, January the 7th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home.

2007, December the 14th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home. Brendon Goodmurphy replied stating that there are no more space on the board, because there are many students who are interested in sitting on the CWSEI's student advisory board.

2007, December the 13th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home. Currently, we have around 65 unique email addresses after scanning through 126 unique authors who are not believed to be dead. This is from a total of 139 references of which 6 are confirmed dead.

A broadcast message was sent to inform the official launch of the SLAP website students and collaborators of Dr. Kai Chan.

2007, December the 12th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at Langara College. SLAP website is currently hosted on my personal server (72.15.144.75). The domain name now points to the website. The SLAP website was officially launched today at http://www.sealifeabundance.org/.

2007, December the 11th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at UBC Life Sciences Building.

2007, December the 10th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at AERL. From 11:00 am to 12:30 pm, Dr. Deng Palomares and I met to discuss about Deng's academic experiences. She introduced me to Arash who is to coordinate my access to the SAUP server and ultimately to host the SLAP server there. Due to the widely known fact that IRES and Fisheries Centre are switching hosting companies, the process of hosting is expected to be a frustrating experience. However, Arash offered to help.

I suggested to Dr. Kai Chan that I will host the SLAP website on my personal server temporarily until the hosting company switch is complete; completion is expected for late January or early February 2008.

Peter Ricketts (czc2008@nipissingu.ca) and Larry Hildebrand, CZC 2008 Program Co-chairs, received my abstract submission. I am grateful for Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Deng Palomares and Veronica Lo who took the time to edit my abstract.

I e-mailed Brendon Goodmurphy (vpacademic@ams.ubc.ca), Vice President, Academic & University Affairs, expressing my interests to participate in the UBC Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative's (CWSEI) student advisory board (http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/).

2007, December the 9th

Work on tailoring surveys continued at home.

2007, December the 8th

Work on tailoring surveys began today at home.

2007, December the 7th

Sankta Lucia (Saint Lucy's Day) was celebrated at AERL. Lussekatt (St. Lucia Buns), made with saffron, were served with hot wine. Kai and I took the 25th bus and talked about his encounters with David Suzuki and environmental ethics.

2007, December the 6th

Dr. Kai Chan treated members of his lab to dinner at a restaurant called the Foundation on 2301 Main Street. Dinner started at 6:30 pm and was attended by Dr. Kai Chan, Lubja, Penny White, Veronica Lo, Nathan Vadeboncoeur, Natalie, Will McDowall and Lara Hoshizaki.

I registered for the Student Leadership Conference '08 - Activation Energy at http://www.slc.ubc.ca/. The conference will take place on January 12th, 2008.

2007, November the 30th

I submitted a proposal for the the Coastal Zone Canada Conference 2008 (CZC 2008) at 5:30 pm to czc2008@nipissingu.ca. In the evening, I adapted and condensed the abstract from my CZC 2008 proposal for the Sharing the ROAD Undergraduate Seminar Series application (http://road.ubc.ca/). Profiles and contact information for Jeniffer Conejar and Megan Mach were added to the SLAP website. The domain name http://www.sealifeabundance.org/ is now tentatively forwarded to Dr. Kai Chan's wiki webpage until a URL to the SAUP server, where the SLAP website is currently being hosted, is available.

2007, November the 29th

I devoted the evening to write an abstract for my proposal for the Coastal Zone Canada Conference 2008. More detail of this event can be accessed at http://www.czca-azcc.org/.

2007, November the 28th

Kenneth Law and I attended a study design workshop for MURP led by Dr. Ingrid Price from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

2007, November the 27th

At an informal meeting with Dr. Deng Palomares around noon, we discussed about the SLAP website already being hosted by the SAUP server, the domain name already purchased with Yahoo!, the MURP contract with Kenneth Law, the expanding growth rate of tunicates (and how to make preliminary measurements of the spread rate), the ideas to generate maps that represent both abundance and distribution data, and the additions of Jeniffer Conejar and Megan Mach to the profiles on the SLAP website.

At the formal meeting with Dr. Kai Chan from 3:45 - 4:45 pm, we discussed about the idea to ask feedback from experts who did not respond (by second rounds of e-mails, two weeks after initial contact), the addition of Jeniffer Conejar to the profiles on the SLAP website, the tailoring survey task and how to minimize work (and to consult with Deng and Jenks about how to get essential information efficiently), the idea that Kai should contact Antoaneta Popova Nimoh (antoaneta.popova@ubc.ca) for assistance with URSA, the idea to apply for RMES in early January, and the idea to incorporate shifting baseline theory (Dr. Daniel Pauly) with my work as a linguistic analysis component.

At a formal meeting with Deng from 5 - 6:30 pm, Kenneth Law and Deng went over the MURP contract. Kenneth printed out GIS maps.

2007, November the 26th

Comments from Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Deng Palomares and Veronica Lo for the survey including the feedback section were made. Changes to the MS Excel file were made accordingly. Tailoring surveys to individual experts began today.

2007, November the 25th

Improvements were back to the project feedback section of the survey's MS Excel file. A meeting between Dr. Deng Palomares, Kenneth Law and I has been confirmed for Tuesday at 1 pm.

2007, November the 22nd

The domain name 'www.sealifebabundance.org' was registered today with Yahoo! at http://www.domains.yahoo.com/.

2007, November the 21st

I e-mailed Grace Ong for a photo of Dr. Deng Palomares. With the photo of Deng, I updated the SLAP website. Also, I included images of AIS, supplied by a website recommended by Veronica Lo.

2007, November the 20th

From 10 to 10:50 am, I met with Jennifer Selgrath. We talked about applying to graduate schools. She printed out her CV and a letter template for my reference. From 11 am to 12 pm, I gave an oral presenation to Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Deng Palomares, Dr. Susanne Menzel, Nathan Vadeboncoeur (M.A. Student), Megan Mach (Ph.D. Student), and Veronica Lo (M.Sc. Student). The talk was on 'Abundance Data on Aquatic Invasive Species.' From 12 to 12:30 pm, I talked to Deng about IRA and the SLAP website. She also discussed about calibrating preception of qualitative measure of abundance accounting for cultural differences and different time periods. She made sure that the survey target the neccessary variables to address this concept of calibration.

2007, November the 19th

I finished my powerpoint slides in preparation of my presenatation tomorrow. I practiced my presentation with my sister, Connie Ma. I added some pictures to the powerpoint slides. Kenneth Law continued inputing distribution data for Styela clava.

2007, November the 18th

I practiced my presentation with my friend, Stephene Cumayas. I made improvements to the powerpoint slides.

2007, November the 17th

From 2 - 4pm, Kenneth Law and I went on campus to input distribution data for Styela clava at the Geography Building. I started working on a powerpoint for a presenatation at Dr. Kai Chan's biweekly lab meetings on Tuesday.

2007, November the 16th

Dr. Andrew Cohen replied to my e-mail and gave me references to each introduction record on Styela clava on the Pacific west coast.

2007, November the 15th

From 5 to 7 pm, Kenneth Law and I were at the Education Library searching for more distribution data for Styela clava. I e-mailed Dr. Andrew Cohen (acohen@sfei.org), author of http://www.exoticsguide.org/, for references for the introduction records on Styela clava on the Pacific west coast.

2007, November the 14th

Kenneth Law found a base map to use for the GIS task. In preparation for my presentation at the lab meeting on Tuesday, we are collecting data to input into ArcGIS.

2007, November the 13th

Meeting with Dr. Kai Chan today, from 3:30 to 5 pm, was very productive. After going through the power analysis looking at both tailoring surveys and knowledge of website, we decided that an n of 38 is too large. It would be a pity to not tell 76 experts the existence of a website. It is, therefore, a wise choice to test the association between treatments (absence and presence of survey tailoring) and response frequency. A new power analysis looking at only tailoring surveys revealed that we would need an n of 130.

In the evening I continued my preliminary research on invasive tunicates. I found journal articles describing the general characteristics (or tendencies) of invasive ascidians, the affect of water temperature, and economic damage caused by Styela clava and Didemnum sp. A. I also saved distribution maps of invasive tunicates along the west coasts of North America, which were generated by OBIS at http://www.iobis.org/.

Power Analysis

2007, November the 9th

The power analysis task to determine the sample size per treatment for the experiment designed looking at survey response rate was completed. The power analysis suggested a sample size of 38 per treatment.

2007, November the 8th

From 2 - 3:30 pm, my project partner Geoffrey Evans and I gave a linguistics poster presentation to our class on 'Cantonese Utterance Particles.' From 4:20 - 5 pm, Dr. Deng Palomares and I enjoyed coffee at Starbucks. We discussed about the timeline for the invasion risk assessment project. We also discussed about the a chapter about calculating discrete-time invasion rate from data in the book 'Conceptual ecology and invasion biology: reciprocal approaches to nature' edited by Marc William Cadotte, Sean M. McMahon and Tadashi Fukami.

The remainder of the day was devoted to researching abundance and occurence data of invasive tunicates. Kenneth Law and I prioritized the tunicates for GIS input, which will start tommorrow.

2007, November the 7th

From 12 - 1 pm, the lunch meeting proceed with discussion on the invasion risk assessment project. Dr. Deng Palomares was unable to attend. Work is needed to formulate a clear question to provide structure and direction to the project. Tentatively, the question for this project is: what is the predicted geographic range of invasive or potentially invasive tunicates along the coasts of British Columbia?

At 1 pm, I spoke briefly with Dr. Kai Chan about progress on the power analysis. With some pointers, I think I know how to complete this power analysis task.

2007, November the 6th

Megan Mach led today's lab meeting on urban marine ecology from 11 am - 12 pm. Then I met with Kenneth Law to prepare for Wednesday's lunch meeting on invasion risk assessment. From 1 - 2 pm, Veronica Lo and I attended a seminar called 'Ethics and Integrity in Scientific Research: Some Reflections' by Dr. Tom Sullivan at the Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP), Room 2916.

From 2:30 - 3:30 pm, I met with Dr. Deng Palomares. She went over the SLAP website and we discussed the timeline for the IRA project. There are now two recommendations for the IRA project; (1) to barcode the Didemnum sp. A and (2) to develop a model which sets the conditions for Didemnum sp. A to expand (ecosystem modeling). Also, we discussed about the ethics behind the consumption of invasive species, such as eating AIS as food or extracting calcium from bivalves.

Sara Elder e-mailed me back about the domain name. It turns out that I will be reimbursed for buying the domain name. With more feedback from Dr. Deng Palomares and Veronica Lo, the SLAP website was further improved.

An e-mail was sent to Jeniffer Conejar (j.conejar@cgiar.org) to advise her to crawl invasive tunicate data from OBIS and to enter abundance data we have thus far into SeaLifeBase.

2007, November the 5th

I devoted most of the day on improvements to the SLAP website. I e-mailed Sara Elder about purchasing the domain name www.sealifeabundance.org from Yahoo!, which will cost $9.95 USD per year.

2007, November the 3rd

Allan Leung and I studied at the Burnaby Public Library, Metrotown Branch, for a good part of the day. There I reviewed principles of intermediate statistics with books from the library shelves. Pseudo-data were invented to help me navigate through the statistics books. The qualitative nature of our factorial design means that I will need to look into associations (i.e. marginal, joint and conditional probabilities) and chi-square tests.

In the evening, Allan and I went to Starbucks at Champlain Square. There we met Lindsay Chan and Shaena Kobayashi, friends from secondary school. Allan continued his studies in game strategies, while I worked on a MURP contract for Dr. Kai Chan to look through.

2007, November the 2nd

I phoned Michael Ko, Acting Manager Web Communications (Public Affairs), about hosting the SLAP website this morning. It appears that UBC does not offer web hosting service as of March 2007. Dr. Deng Palomares contacted both Dr. Villy Christensen and Dr. Daniel Pauly about hosting the SLAP website on the SAUP server. Dr. Palomares estimates that it will take approximately two weeks to coordinate this.

At the meantime, Dr. Kai Chan e-mailed Sara Elder, Financial Assistant at IRES, about helping me out with the finances of buying the domain name www.sealifeabundance.org using Dr. Chan's startup funds. Grace Ong suggested that I buy the domain name from http://www.domains.yahoo.com/.

This left me with two weeks to (1) improve the website, (2) determine sample size for the strategies to improve response rate experiment and (3) prepare date for the invasion risk assessment.

Dr. Anthony Russell, Chair of the Recognition Committee of the Canadian Society of Zoolgists (CSZ), received my application for the Leo Margolis Scholarship today.

2007, November the 1st

I signed up for today's MURP 'Research Skills Workshop' from 4 to 6 pm at the Scarfe Building in Room 210. The workshop was led by Dr. Sonja Embree, also the coordinator for MURP. Students at the workshop played a game, discussed research skills and developed a contract (between the sponsor and the student). The research skills discussed at the workshop were: library research skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, lab skills and knowledge of broader research community skills.

I submitted an application for the Leo Margolis Scholarship at 9:30 pm to Dr. Anthony Russell (arussell@ucalgary.ca), Chair of the Recognition Committee of the Canadian Society of Zoologists (http://www.csz-scz.ca/). The application letter and the research summary recycled paragraphs originally written for the Robert Caton Scholarship.

2007, October the 31st

Happy Halloween! A barbecue lunch with hamburgers, hotdogs and salad was served in the main lobby at AERL. I chatted with Lisa Belanger, the Graduate Program Coordinator at IRES, and Grace Ong, the Sea Around Us Project Accounts Clerk at Fisheries Centre, about hosting the SLAP website with an IRES or UBC extension. After the meetings, it is apparent that we have few options for hosting the SLAP website.

2007, October the 30th

Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Deng Palomares and I had a meeting at 3:30 to 4:45 pm. We went over important information that they missed during the MURP orientation session. Also we discussed about the SLAP website and the SLAP logo.

Antoaneta Popova Nimoh replied stating that I can contact her again next semester for an updated list of eligible professors for USRA. She reminded me that if Dr. Kai Chan holds an active NSERC grant then I can apply to work with them under the USRA program regardless of which faculty Dr. Chan is in.

2007, October the 29th

After chatting with Dr. Gary Bradfield and Graduate Secretary Allison Barnes, it appears that I would qualify to apply for the Undergraduate Student Research Award (URSA). I e-mailed Antoaneta Popova Nimoh (antoaneta.popova@ubc.ca), On-Campus Work Programs Assistant, to see if Dr. Kai Chan is an eligible professor for USRA.

Later, I e-mailed MURP Coordinator Dr. Sonja Embree (sonja.embree@ubc.ca) about presenting two projects at MURC. Dr. Embree gave me the go-head, but I need to remind her later about this situation to ensure that the oral presentations of the two projects do not conflict.

The SLAP website is complete with background information about the project, what SLAP is all about, short profiles of study team members, resources linking to databases, links to affiliated organizations, and project contact information. Concurrently, I am proatively investigating into a possible a priori power analysis for the strategies to improve response rate experiment.

2007, October the 28th

Bulk of the website is completed. The structural layout (including graphics) and organization of the content are more or less finalized. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to talk about MURP with Dr. Kai Chan and Dr. Deng Palomares.

Official SLAP Logo

2007, October the 25th

Today, Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Palomares, Veronica Lo and I deliberated on an official SLAP logo that is designed by me. By the end of the day, we have reached a concensus on the design of the official SLAP logo. The concept of the design is to be contemporary and stylized.

2007, October the 24th

Kenneth Law and I attended the Orientation Session for MURP from 5 to 7 pm at the Liu Institute for Global Issues. A handbook in a binder was given to each student. Around 70 students are part of this year's MURP. Dr. Kai Chan and Dr. Deng Palomares were both unable to attend.

2007, October the 23rd

The action plan changed after a meeting with Dr. Kai Chan at 3:30 pm. Small modifications were made to the cover letter and the survey. Currently, work will focus on the website, so that we can send out the e-mails to experts at the same time. Experts will be divided into four groups to experimentally test strategies aimed at improving response rate. Dr. Chan lent me his statistics textbook 'Biometry: Third Edition' by Robert Sokal and James Rohlf to help me with my power analysis task.

2007, October the 22nd

An action plan meeting with Veronica Lo at 11:30 am consolidated the plan to send out the current version of the cover letter and survey to ten authors listed with FishBase, http://www.fishbase.org. The date to send out the survey via e-mail is to be announced.

2007, October the 19th

I met with Veronica Lo today at 10:30 am to polish up the cover letter and the survey. At 3 pm, I met with Dr. Deng Palomares. We discussed about ideas that Didemnum sp. A might be a cryptic native species found along the west coasts of North America. Also, we discussed about possible dispersal pathways which may explain why Didemnum sp. A was not found in Oregon. As a result there are several recommendations that arise from our discussions.

2007, October the 17th

For SLAP, I wrote a draft standardized message to be sent out to all our experts by e-mail (i.e. the cover letter). I completed the introduction section, the survey section and the guide to the survey section of the MS Excel file. The MS Excel file is also to be sent out to all our experts by e-mail. Image files within the MS Excel files are kept small, to keep the overall size of the file as small as possible (this is intended to make downloading faster). The project feedback section still needs work. On the need to do list, I still need to finish a website and find experts who are willing to voluntarily participate in the AIS abundance research project.

2007, October the 16th

Bill Lightowlers (blightowlers@bluetower.ca), President of Blue Tower Technologies Inc., received my application for the Robert Caton Scholarship today. I am grateful for Dr. Kai Chan, Veronica Lo, and Kenneth Law who took the time to proofread my cover letter. Today, I aim to finish the survey.

2007, October the 15th

I submitted an application for the Robert Caton Scholarship at 5 pm to RBCscholarship@polariscorp.ca.

2007, October the 12th

I devoted the day to write a cover letter for my application for the Robert Caton Scholarship. More detail of this scholarship can be accessed at http://env.gov.bc.ca/air/airquality/carf/. I might be eligible to apply for an NSERC Undergraduate Research Award. The webpage at http://www.careers.ubc.ca/opportunities.cfm?page=nserc lists eligibility information and departmental application deadlines. The deadlines have not been updated for 2008.

2007, October the 11th

I attended the first IRES professional development seminar at 12 pm in AERL, Room 419. The Life Sciences Research Tri-Mentoring Program Kick-off took place at the Abdul Ladha Science Centre, main lounge, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. I met my mentor Jennifer Selgrath, Ph.D. student in Zoology and Fisheries Centre (j.selgrath@fisheries.ubc.ca).

2007, October the 10th

Coordinator Sonja Embree, Ph.D., is pleased to announce Dr. Kai Chan's and my acceptance to UBC's Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Program (MURP) for the project entitled, "Eliciting experts for aquatic invasive species abundance estimations over space and time." The first event of the program is the "Orientation Session," which is scheduled for Wednesday October 24, from 5 to 7 pm at the Liu Institute for Global Issues.

Dr. Kai Chan met with me at 3 pm to discuss about the invasion risk assessment project and the AIS abundance project. Afterwards, I met with Veronica Lo and Dr. Deng Palomares to discuss about Veronica's research interests and how Kenneth Law used Deng as a supervisors in his MURP application.

2007, October the 8th

I submitted my application for MURP this morning. The application was e-mailed to Sonja Embree, MURP coordinator.

2007, October the 7th

Dr. Stephan Bullard e-mail a reply containing a file containing Didemnum sp. A site data from California to British Columbia. More site data from British Columbia is expected from Stephan later. The site data contains information such as name of site, presence or absence of Didemnum sp. A, sampling type, source, longitude and latitude, and date. However, the information is incomplete. Later in the evening, I sent an e-mail requesting contact information for Andy Lamb, who is the source cited in the file for the British Columbian sites. Andy Lamb is a potential expert who might have expertise in the distribution of Didemnum sp. A in British Columbia.

2007, October the 6th

10 am this morning, I met with Dr. Deng Palomares at her office in the Aquatic Ecosystem Research Laboratory (AERL). We discussed in more detail about the research proposal. Ideas respecting the project limitations and time-line were discussed. In the evening, an e-mail was sent to Dr. Stephan Bullard of the University of Hartford (bullard@hartford.edu). The e-mail requested Didemnum sp. A site data.

2007, October the 4th

After spending the afternoon at the Career Days 2007 and Graduate and Professional Schools Fair, I sat down to think of my research interests. Tying in my on-going work on aquatic invasive species and expert judgement elicitation with my interests in using the Geographic Information System (GIS), I developed a research idea. The research idea on invasion risk assessment (IRA) was proposed to Dr. Deng Palomares at the Fisheries Centre. Deng agreed to voluntary supervise this project idea and suggests that Dr. Kai Chan be named as my supervisor on the MURP application, which is due on October the 9th. With a background in GIS, Kenneth Law has agreed to work on the IRA project with Deng and I.

2007, October the 3rd

Veronica Lo received an email about the status of the project with the BREB. The application was not approve with the understanding that our project does not require an ethics review. The Life Sciences Research Tri-Mentoring Program orientation and workshop night took place at Hennings Building, Room 201, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

Nadia Rad commented in RISe that "[i]f this survey is simply requesting data from researchers for a database, it does not require ethics approval. Please clarify any involvement of contacted researchers where they, themselves, would be considered 'research subjects' or withdraw this application."

2007, October the 2nd

Work on the survey is still on-going. From 3:00 to 4:30 pm, I attended a library research workshop for biology directed studies students. The workshop was led by the Biology Librarian, Sally Taylor, at Woodward Library, Teaching Lab, Room B25. The workshop explored how to search effectively to find the articles, and RefWorks, a tool to manage citations and format bibliographies. RefWorks can be accessed at https://refworks.scholarsportal.info/Refworks/.

2007, September the 22nd

I attended lab meeting at 11:00 am. Dr. Kai Chan presented a talk on the Golden Rule and duties to non-human organisms. Also in attendance was Nathan and Lara. At 3:30 pm I met with Dr. Kai Chan and discussed about the structure of the survey, Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Program (MURP), Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC), and graduate schools.

2007, September the 21st

Veronica Lo and I discussed about the suggestions we received from beta testers. Incorporating the input from beta testers, a new survey (an MS Excel file) is being created. The development of the Gamma Version of the survey is part of the 'Design of the Survey' phase of the project.

2007, September the 20th

This morning, the BREB sent an e-mail to the principal investigator, Dr. Kai Chan. The e-mail states that the application (project H07-02087) was assigned for 'Expedited Review,' and that we will be notified by e-mail when the review is complete. Veronica Lo expects that the review will be completed by mid-October.

2007, September the 18th

I am now officially registered for the two terms directed studies (BIOL 448, D 006). Applications for the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Program (MURP) 07/08 is due by October the 9th. The application form can be downloaded at http://www.murp.ubc.ca/.

2007, September the 14th

The our project application (research number 34566) was completed and submitted to the BREB. I typed up a general protocol of the project for the application package and general circulation between Dr. Kai Chan, Veronica Lo and myself. Both Dr. Kai Chan and Veronica Lo commented on and edited the protocol for the BREB application.

Certificate of Completion

2007, September the 12th

This morning I completed the "Introductory Tutorial for the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS)." At the end of the on-line tutorial I received a "Certificate of Completion." Veronica Lo added me as a study team member through RISe for the SLAP project (H07-02087, research number 34566).

2007, September the 6th

This morning I registered and logged-in to my Researcher Information Services (RISe) account at http://rise.ubc.ca/. The RISe system is used to submit our project application to the BREB. In the afternoon, I registered and started work on the on-line "Introductory Tutorial for the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS)" at http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/english/tutorial/.

2007, September the 5th

The directed studies registration form is now submitted to the Biology Office. Dr. Kai Chan signed the form in the morning as my supervisor, and Dr. Gary Bradfield in the afternoon as my Biology Program Advisor. The protocol for the directed studies project needs to go through an ethics review. A document outlining our protocols needs to be created and submitted to the Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BREB) by September 14th. BREB's application deadlines for project review can be found on their website at http://www.ors.ubc.ca/ethics/behavioural/.

2007, September the 4th

The write-up component of my application for directed studies with Dr. Kai Chan is now completed. Dr. Kai Chan and I exchanged several e-mails before the summary of our proposed project and method of evaluation was finalized. For more information about what is happening in Dr. Kai Chan's Lab visit the lab's web page at http://wiki.ubc.ca/index.php/Kai's_lab.

Websites of Interest

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/geog376/students/class06/conyers/

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/undergrad/klaw/

List of Invasive Tunicates

The list is prioritized according to available abundance data that I have and OBIS distribution maps.

High Priority Invasive Tunicates

Styela clava

Medium-High Priority Invasive Tunicates

Botrylloides violaceus

Ciona intestinalis

Ciona savignyi

Didemnum sp. A

Medium-Low Priority Invasive Tunicates

Ascidia sp.

Ascidia zara

Molgula manhattensis

Styela plicata

Low Priority Invasive Tunicates

Botrylloides perspicuum

Botryllus schlosseri

Microcosmus squamiger

Polyandrocarpa zorritensis

Styela canopus

Symplegma reptans

Project Protocol

This version is dated September 18th, 2007.

Summary

The protocol of this expert judgement elicitation project is briefly separated into three sections.

  • Section 1 - Preparation of elicitation
    • Stage 1 - Define purpose of elicitation
    • Stage 2 - Identify target variables
    • Stage 3 - Design the survey
    • Stage 4 - Ethics review
    • Stage 5 - Test the survey (a. k. a. dry-run exercise)
    • Stage 6 - Identify and select experts
  • Section 2 - Elicitation period
    • Stage 7 - Contact experts
    • Stage 8 - Consent from expert to participate
    • Stage 9 - Notify experts to return completed surveys
  • Section 3 - Post-elicitation
    • Stage 10 - Process returned and completed surveys
    • Stage 11 - Analyze data and compile information into database
    • Stage 12 - Document results

The general structure is a highly modified version of the protocol provided by Cooke and Goossens (2004). The “preparation of elicitation” section is the first part of the protocol that deals with the preparatory work required before we can elicit expert judgements from participating experts. The “elicitation” section is the second part of the protocol that deals with the stages involves during the time when we are eliciting expert judgements from participating experts. Lastly, “post-elicitation” is the third and final part of the protocol that deals with data processing, analyses and documentation. Please note that we are communicating with experts via emails and we are eliciting expert judgements through a survey created as an electronic-document (MS Excel).

Stage 1 - Define purpose of elicitation

This stage of the protocol envisions what the outcome of the project will be like. The general scope of the project is defined and framed into a research question. The purpose of elicitation, which overlaps with the objectives for this study, is three-folds:

  • Purpose 1 - To elicit expert judgements (qualitative abundance values and population size estimates over space and time) from experts (biologists) around the world via a survey
  • Purpose 2 - To apply and tailor the technique called ‘expert judgement elicitation,’ which is commonly used in risk assessment and risk management, for use in the biological sciences
  • Purpose 3 - To develop and evaluate strategies to ensure high response rates from experts via a survey

Stage 2 - Identify target variables

Variables that we are targeting to elicit from experts are identified at this stage of the protocol. Loosely, the variables we will be collecting from experts are grouped into “primary variables” and “secondary variables.” Primary variables are essential variables and they are collected because of the nature of the research question. Secondary variables are useful details that experts may feel compelled to provide as they see fit. It is hoped that important information and the quality of expert judgement can be preserved; therefore, space such as the “comment box field” is available in the survey.

Stage 3 - Design the survey

After identifying the variables that we need to elicit from experts, the survey needs to be constructed. The survey is an electronic-document created using MS Excel. At this stage, the variables are expanded and materialized as input fields in the survey.

The design of the survey involve a number of other considerations such as (1) placement, labels and size of the fields and text boxes, (2) use of styles (size of font, font type, colours, organization), (3) development of a survey guide, (4) hyperlinks from the survey to the guide and (5) miscellaneous MS Excel format to resolve automatic changes and data input ambiguities. To date, we have developed three surveys: the alpha version, the beta version 1 and the beta version 2.

Stage 4 - Ethics review

This project involves fully competent adult subjects (our experts) to complete a survey. We hope that the application for this project can be submitted for a Minimal Risk Review.

The application for this project will be submitted for September the 14th, 2007.

Stage 5 - Test the survey (a. k. a. dry-run exercise)

Alpha testing was conducted on August the 10th, 2007 by volunteers in the Philippines. Subjects enrolled for alpha testing were: Christine C., Christine D., Ivy, Jeniffer, Kenny, Luvie, Marianne and Patricia. Alpha testers used dummy information they found in scientific literature to test (1) ease of inputting data, (2) relevance of input fields, (3) use of terminologies and wording, and (3) organizational aspects of the survey including style. Beta testing will be conducted after the ethics review. We aim to ask experts researching here at UBC to voluntarily test the survey and ask for feedback. Beta testers are experts who will use their own data to test the survey. Like alpha testers, beta testers are testing for (1) ease of inputting data, (2) relevance of input fields, (3) use of terminologies and wording, and (3) organizational aspects of the survey including style.

Stage 6 - Identify and select experts

Authors identified as experts are listed as potential people to contact and participate in this study. This list of identified experts will be a product of browsing for experts in databases such as FishBase and SeaLifeBase, and browsing for experts in literature. It is likely that other names of experts will be encountered while preparing for elicitation and during the elicitation period.

From the list of identified experts, we will select experts who we will be asking to voluntarily participate in this study. Of the experts we will have selected and contacted, it is expected that only a smaller group of experts will participate.

Experts who we have communicated and consented to volunteer and participate in this study will be formally enrolled as a subject.

Stage 7 - Contact experts

This study of the protocol involves sending an e-mail to selected experts. The e-mail will introduce to the experts what the nature of the project is about. Additionally, several documents will be attached such as: the survey as an electronic-document (MS Excel) and other supporting documents may be provided. It is important for us to keep the size of the e-mail light so that it is easy to download the files.

The e-mail will also need to outline the experts’ role in this project and how the information that they provide via the survey will be used. It will also explicitly state what level of protection we are offering to them and their survey responses.

What information is protected?

The experts’ personal and contact information and their original completed surveys will be protected. Also protected are the electronic dialogues (e-mail).

How is the information protected?

Experts’ will be informed on how their personal and contact information, their original completed survey, and electronic dialogues are protected. Protected information will circulate internally in password protected networks only for the purposes of this project. Any printed documents containing protected information and other sensitive information will be stored in locked cabinets at the end of the working day at the Aquatic Environments Research Lab at UBC Vancouver Campus.

Support

We will offer experts support during elicitation period. Support can be answering questions, guiding experts, sending additional documents as per request, and directions of faxing the survey (should the expert cannot access their e-mail service and or the MS Excel program).

Stage 8 - Consent from expert to participate

Once experts have consent to voluntary participate in this study, they will be given 2 weeks to complete the survey and return it to the research team. The consent may also allow participating experts to donate their expert judgements (data) to databases such as FishBase and SeaLifeBase. In which case, the data will be shared with the database(s) and the expert will be duly recognized for their contributions. For the purposes of this project, the data will be treated anonymously (i. e. numbers will still be assigned etc.).

Stage 9 - Notify experts to return completed surveys

Each participating expert will be notified by e-mail to return their completed surveys. The e-mail will offer time extensions and ask them to complete the surveys at a comfortable pace. Our project timeline, however, allows for 3 to 4 months for the elicitation process.

Stage 10 - Process returned and completed surveys

We expect that surveys will be returned to the research team at different times. As we received them through e-mail from experts, the surveys will be first converted into PDF and archived into a CD. This ensures that the original data will not be accidently modified during data processing. The CD will be stored at AERL, UBC, for several years. Access to this CD and information inside the CD, and other protected information will be accordingly regulated.

Each expert’s response of a set of abundance measures over a time course pertaining to a particular species at a particular location will be assigned a number. This number is associated with the expert, but this information will be protected so that the expert judgements remain anonymous. The survey includes a section where experts are invited to provide feedback on the project. The main purpose of the feedback section is to help us determine which of the strategies that we employ are most effective (in the experts’ opinion) to help ensure high response rates.

Stage 11 - Analyze data and compile information into database

The anonymous information that we will have elicit from expert will be transferred into a database for further analyses. We will analyze the data with biological information available in FishBase and SeaLifeBase to understand factors that can allow aquatic invasive species to reach extreme abundance levels (a. k. a. ‘superabundance’).

Stage 12 - Document results

This stage of the protocol involves archiving the data on to write-protected CDs, which will be stored at AERL. Analysis of the protected data will then commence.

BIOL 448 - Directed Studies Registration Form

Project Proposal (Directed Studies)

Summary of proposed project

By eliciting expert judgements via a novel survey, the project aims to provide crucial missing data to test existing abundance hypotheses for 'aquatic invasive species' (AIS) at a general scale. We aim to determine the conditions that facilitate AIS to extreme abundance levels, which often cause considerable harm to ecosystems and economies. Ideally, we will collect abundance data from places where AIS are at various levels of abundance and at times in history from first introduction until 'superabundance.' Although first records of AIS are published, observations of the species' abundance over time are rarely reported in literature. Thus, although biologists have 'expert knowledge' regarding the abundance of AIS over space and time, there are missing data that are crucial for testing hypotheses about the causes and consequences of AIS superabundance. This project attempts to elicit that information.

A formal survey will be designed to elicit qualitative abundance values and population size estimates over space and time from biologists around the world. This survey will be sent via e-mail, providing global access to biologists around the world. It is also inexpensive and employs user-friendly technologies, namely MS Excel and e-mail. We hope that this project will taylor the technique called 'expert judgement elicitation,' which is commonly used in risk assessement and risk management, for use in the biological sciences. Additionally, the project will use various strategies to ensure high response rates from biologists. For instance, a website will be built to demonstrate that biologists' expert opinions and contributions are sources of invaluable information that will be used for good purposes, and to communicate the benefits of collaboration. Feedback from biologists (including beta testing) will help us evaluate the effectiveness of the survey and strategies.

Evaulation

  • Written paper 50%
  • Presentations at lab meetings:
    • Clarity and presentation style 6 %
    • Context (in the real world and academic literature) 6 %
    • Analysis 10%
    • Discussion of implications 8 %
  • Website 10 %
  • Initiative, independence, problem solving, and punctuality, etc 10 %

Cover Letter (Robert Caton)

October the 15th, 2007

Robert Caton Scholarship

c/o RWDI AIR Inc.

830, 999 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC 557 1K5

Dear friends of the late Bob Caton,

I am applying for the Robert Caton Scholarship because I believe that there is a real need to support research that assesses the risk of invasion by invasive species. As a senior undergraduate at UBC, I have developed a genuine interest in, and appreciation for, ecology.

From my ecology courses, I enjoyed studying the theories and how they are applied. The two core ecology courses (1) explored the biology of populations, communities and ecosystems, (2) fostered my initial passion for ecology, and (3) compelled me to think critically about the interconnectedness of abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem. I completed these two courses with a B+ and an A-.

Courses in conservation, moss ecology, and forest wildlife ecology and management demanded an in-depth understanding of ecological issues. I wrote essays on topics such as ‘advocating against the consumptive use of grizzly bears in BC’ and ‘the urgency of the mountain pine beetle outbreak in Canada.’ I completed these courses with a B in conservation, a B+ in moss ecology, and a B+ in forest wildlife ecology and management.

Courses exploring the diversity of plants and invertebrates supplemented my studies in ecology. My final grades were a B- in invertebrates, an A- in non-vascular plants, and an A- in vascular plants.

Last summer, an ecology field course took me to an intact tropical rainforest in Costa Rica to conduct a diverse variety of field experiments and statistical analyses. This hands-on course was taught by Dr. Diane Srivastava and Canadian biologist Dick Cannings. I executed my own research and wrote a paper on the comparison of fish populations and benthic insect fauna between stream-trail junctions, pools, and riffles in the streams of Costa Rica. The tentative final grade for this course is an A-.

Currently, I am devoting my academic term to my directed studies project with Dr. Kai Chan as my supervisor. He is an assistant professor at the Institute for Resources, the Environment and Sustainability (IRES). This project involves eliciting expert judgements via a novel survey, which aims to provide crucial missing data to test existing abundance hypotheses for 'aquatic invasive species' (AIS). I aim to help determine the conditions that facilitate AIS to extreme abundance levels, which often cause considerable harm to ecosystems and economies. For this project, I designed a formal survey to elicit qualitative abundance and population size estimates over space and time from biologists.

For my next academic term, I will begin a course with renowned marine biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly called Darwin’s Fishes. Also, I will be taking courses in evolutionary genetics and in fish conservation and management. By April 2008, I will have completed my program in ecology and environmental biology to graduate from UBC with a Bachelor’s in Science.

With my bachelor’s degree, I aim to continue my studies in a master’s program. With my education, I hope to establish myself with expertise in aquatic invasion ecology and to build a career as an invasion ecologist. I hope to incorporate my research interests in AIS, invasion theories, and invasion risk assessments of AIS into a career that can have a beneficial impact to society.

To accomplish my career goals, I am determined to pursue opportunities outside my coursework. Last semester, I had Dr. Kai Chan as my mentor through the Tri-mentoring Program. Initially I was invited to volunteer in Dr. Chan’s lab with his graduate student Veronica Lo. Later I was employed as a research assistant at the IRES to collaborate on the Sea Around Us Project (SAUP) with Dr. Maria Palomares at the Fisheries Centre and to conduct research for the Sea Life Abundance Project (SLAP) with Dr. Chan and Veronica. This experience stimulated and cultivated my research interests. Like many students and scientists who were mentored by the late Robert Caton, I am grateful for the mentorship roles Dr. Chan, Dr. Palomares, and Veronica have assumed and I recognize the immense impact they have in my professional development.

My commitment to ecology can be demonstrated by the various projects I was involved in. I worked with Ph.D. student, Jack Teng, as his field assistant. We randomly sampled deer mice at sites that were managed under different land use. Jack’s research is a land management project on broader scale, which advocates conservation efforts for the rare semi-natural habitats in the South Okanagan, British Columbia. Also, I volunteered with Ramona de Graaf, M.Sc., in White Rock, as a field assistant to conduct random sampling of eelgrass and forage fish. It was Ramona who taught me how to use the GPS and to conduct random sampling with quadrats.

This year, I strive to challenge myself by designing and conducting my own independent research that incorporates all my research interests. I am currently being supervised by Dr. Maria Palomares on an extracurricular project, which involves modelling and GIS mapping. Studying the invasive and colonial sea squirt, Didemnum sp. A., this project involves (1) mapping the spatial and temporal distribution, (2) modelling the theoretical and actual expansion rates, and (3) predicting the future geographic range. The results of this research will determine hotspots in British Columbia that is assessed to have high invasion risk by this ecologically destructive sea squirt.

After three years of part-time employment, I have decided to resign my position at HSBC Bank Canada to travel to Costa Rica as part of my ecology field course and to research with Dr. Kai Chan and Veronica Lo at IRES. I plan to devote the remainder of my undergraduate career to my directed studies with Dr. Chan and to my independent research on the invasion risk of sea squirts. The money awarded would support my future endeavours in research related to AIS and invasion risk assessments.

Sincerely,

Kevin Ma

B.Sc. Student

Ecology and Environmental Biology

University of British Columbia

Letter of Application (Leo Margolis)

November the 1st, 2007

The Leo Margolis Scholarship

Recognition Committee

Canadian Society of Zoologists

Dear Dr. Anthony Russell, Dr. Helga Guderley and Dr. Mike Belosevic,

I am applying for the Leo Margolis Scholarship because I believe that there is a real need to support research that assesses the risk of invasion by aquatic invasive species. Through my courses, volunteer experiences and research projects, I have developed a genuine interest in, and appreciation for, aquatic ecology.

My interests are held in two areas of aquatic ecology: (1) the conditions that facilitate AIS to extreme abundance levels and (2) the potential risks associated with invasive aquatic species (AIS). My research summary provides a more detail account of my research activities.

In January 2008, I will begin a course with renowned marine biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly called Darwin’s Fishes. Also, I will be taking courses in evolutionary genetics and in fish conservation and management. By April 2008, I will have completed my program in ecology and environmental biology to graduate from UBC with a Bachelor’s in Science. Just before I leave UBC in May 2008, I will be giving oral presentations at the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC) for two of my research projects. Bringing researchers and the public together, MURC is organized by the UBC Office of Vice President Research to showcase undergraduate research at the University of British Columbia.

With my bachelor’s degree, I aim to continue my studies in a master’s program. With my education, I hope to establish myself with expertise in aquatic invasion ecology and to build a career as an invasion ecologist. I hope to incorporate my research interests in AIS, invasion theories, and invasion risk assessments of AIS into a career that can have a beneficial impact to society.

My commitment to ecology can be demonstrated by the various projects I was involved in. I worked with Ph.D. student, Jack Teng, as his field assistant. We randomly sampled deer mice at sites that were managed under different land use. Jack’s research is a land management project on broader scale, which advocates conservation efforts for the rare semi-natural habitats in the South Okanagan, British Columbia. Also, I volunteered with Ramona de Graaf, M.Sc., in White Rock, as a field assistant to conduct random sampling of eelgrass and forage fish. It was Ramona who taught me how to use the GPS and to conduct random sampling with quadrats.

After three years of part-time employment, I have decided to resign my position at HSBC Bank Canada to travel to Costa Rica as part of my ecology field course and to research with Dr. Kai Chan and Veronica Lo at IRES. I plan to devote the remainder of my undergraduate career to my directed studies with Dr. Chan and to my independent research on the invasion risk of sea squirts. The money awarded would support my future endeavours in research related to AIS and invasion risk assessments.

Sincerely,

Kevin Ma

B.Sc. Student

Ecology and Environmental Biology

University of British Columbia

Research Summary (Leo Margolis)

Past Research

Last summer, an ecology field course took me to an intact tropical rainforest in Costa Rica to conduct a diverse variety of field experiments and statistical analyses. This hands-on course was taught by Dr. Diane Srivastava and Canadian biologist Dick Cannings. I executed my own research and wrote a paper on the comparison of fish populations and benthic insect fauna between stream-trail junctions, pools, and riffles in the streams of Costa Rica.

To diversify my research experience, I am determined to pursue opportunities outside my coursework. Last semester, I had Dr. Kai Chan as my mentor through the Tri-mentoring Program. Initially I was invited to volunteer in Dr. Chan’s lab with his graduate student Veronica Lo. Later I was employed as a research assistant at the IRES to collaborate on the Sea Around Us Project (SAUP) with Dr. Maria L. Palomares at the Fisheries Centre and to conduct research for the Sea Life Abundance Project (SLAP) with Dr. Chan and Veronica. This experience stimulated and cultivated my research interests.

Current Research

Currently, I am devoting my academic term to my directed studies project with Dr. Kai Chan as my supervisor. He is an assistant professor at the Institute for Resources, the Environment and Sustainability (IRES). This project involves eliciting expert judgements via a novel survey, which aims to provide crucial missing data to test existing abundance hypotheses for 'aquatic invasive species' (AIS). I aim to help determine the conditions that facilitate AIS to extreme abundance levels, which often cause considerable harm to ecosystems and economies. For this project, I designed a formal survey to elicit qualitative abundance and population size estimates over space and time from biologists.

This year, I strive to challenge myself by designing and conducting my own independent research that incorporates all my research interests. I am currently being supervised by Dr. Maria Palomares on an extracurricular project, which involves modelling and GIS mapping. Dr. Palomares is a researcher at the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. Studying the invasive and colonial sea squirt, Didemnum sp. A., this project involves (1) mapping the spatial and temporal distribution, (2) modelling the theoretical and actual expansion rates, and (3) predicting the future geographic range. The results of this research will determine hotspots in British Columbia that is assessed to have high invasion risk by this ecologically destructive sea squirt.

Oral presentations for both my directed studies and my independent extracurricular projects will be given at the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC) in May 2008. MURC will be an amazing opportunity to meet researchers with diverse backgrounds and to speak to the general public about the importance of my research. I hope that this undergraduate research experience will provide me a good foundation to develop an interesting master’s thesis related to my research interests in aquatic invasive species (AIS), invasion theories, and invasion risk assessments.

Proposal (CZC 2008)

I. Name of Presenter

Kevin C K Ma, B.Sc. Student (Ecology and Environmental Biology, UBC)

II. Affiliation/ Organization of Presenter

Sea Life Abundance Project (SLAP)

Institute for Resources, the Environment and Sustainability (IRES)

University of British Columbia (UBC)

III. Name(s) and Affiliation(s) of Co-author(s) if appropriate

Dr. Kai M A Chan (IRES, UBC)

Dr. Maria L Palomares (Fisheries Centre, UBC)

Veronica Lo, M.Sc. Student (RMES, UBC)

IV. Title of Presentation

Elicitation of Abundance Data on Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS)

V. Mode of Presentation

Oral Presentation

VI. Conference Theme

Understanding Our Oceans and Coasts

VII. Conference Sub-theme

Supporting Informed Decision-Making in ICOM

VIII. Abstract

Information on the abundance of aquatic invasive species (AIS) is critical to management and policy, but it is not readily available. Data assembled from published scientific literature provide an incomplete understanding of the actual changes of AIS abundance on our coasts. Prominent Internet databases (e.g. OBIS and GBIF) commonly provide distribution data on marine species, but crucial abundance data are few if not missing. Field work to collect AIS abundance data can be expensive, time consuming, labour intensive, and redundant with information that has been gathered but not organized in a common database. Expert judgement elicitation, commonly used in risk assessment and management, presents an additional—and unexplored—method to obtain data on AIS abundance and its temporal and spatial variation. For this method to produce useful data for research and management, it must produce (a) a high rate of response and (b) high quality data (including estimates of uncertainty). To determine which aspects of surveys contribute most importantly to these needs, we have designed a survey to gather data on estimations of AIS abundances from scientists around the world. In this study, we (a) experimentally assess the influence of personal-tailoring of surveys on response rate, and (b) assess the usefulness of various components of the survey and the elicitation process (e.g., the website and a survey guide) by a secondary ‘feedback’ survey. We discussed the results of these tests in order to assist the development of methods to gather data on invasive species abundance from experts. We also present a selection of the AIS abundance data obtained from the survey to demonstrate the potential for this method to aid research, management and public education.

IX. Relevance to Conference Title, Theme and Sub-theme

This study brings to integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM) the prospect of improving our understanding of changing abundance levels of invading or potential invading marine species on our coasts using a novel method that promises to save time and money: expert judgement elicitation. This understanding of invasive species abundances is crucial for supporting informed management of invasive species in coastal zones.

X. Contact Information of Presenter

Mailing address (not disclosed)

Telephone (not disclosed)

E-mail address: kevinckma@gmail.com

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