Adding a Site

Each experiment is conducted at a unique site. In the context of BETY, the term 'site' refers to a specific location and it is common for many sites to be located within the same experimental station. By creating distinct records for multiple sites, it is possible to differentiate among independent studies.

  1. Before adding a site, search to make sure that site is not already entered in database.
  2. search for the site given latitude and longitude
  3. to use an existing site, click 'edit' for the site, and then select current citation under 'add citation relatinships'
  4. if site does not exist, add a new site.

[inline]When not to enter a new site: When plants (or seeds) are collected from multiple locations and then grown in the same location, this is called a 'common garden experiment'. In this case, the location of the study is included as site information. Information about the seed source can be entered as a distinct cultivar.

Site name*
Site identifier, sufficient to uniquely identify the site within the paper
City
Nearest city
State
State, if site is in US
Country*
Longitude*
Latitude*
Latitude and Longitude must be in decimal form. To convert minute-second to decimal degrees, see the equation in tab:traitconversion.
Greenhouse*
set Greenhouse = TRUE if plants were grown in a greenhouse, growth chamber, or pots. If a 'warming chamber' or 'greenhouse' is used as the experimental manipulation, but is not used in the control treatments, Greenhouse = FALSE.
Soil
Soil class is entered as a categorical variable that describes the texture. If percent clay, sand, and silt are given, fig:soiltexture can be used to look up the class.
SOM
Soil organic matter (% by weight)
MAT
Mean Annual Temperature ($ ^o$C)
MAP
Mean Annual Precipitation (mm)
MASL
Elevation (meters above sea level, m)
Notes
site details not included above
Soilnotes
soil details not included above
Rooting Zone Depth
Depth of rooting zones in meters
Depth to Water Table
Depth to water table in meters

Figure 2: http://soils.usda.gov/education/resources/lessons/texture/USDA soil classification.
Image soiltexture

Figure 3: https://www.betydb.org/sites/new Form for entering a new site.
Image sites_new



Subsections
David 2011-10-07