One of the major components of building the STOICH database is the ecological stoichiometry academic literature review. At the start of the project in spring of 2021, ~ twenty thousand academic papers were identified that contained words or data relating to the research objectives of the STOICH project. These academic papers are being reviewed to determine whether they include data that could potentially be included in the STOICH database.
The team working on the academic literature review is led by Casey Brucker (Database Technician at UWYO) and Elise Ehlers (Data Technician at UNL) and includes undergraduate and graduate students.
“We are at a huge foundational point for the database,” says Elise. “This is because those working on this aspect of the project are simultaneously gathering data as well as communicating what is going on within the data collection. The biggest changes that have been happening within the literature review revolve around gathering a team to review more academic literature and creating a more efficient process for everyone working on reviewing academic papers. The process is becoming more efficient due to high energy among team members as well as increased communication.”
The literature review team has made significant progress since the start of the STOICH Project. The team is just about to start the verification process, which involves re-analyzing the papers to determine whether they include data applicable to the STOICH project.
In May, STOICH project trainees Katie Bearden and Angela Zhu from UWYO presented a poster at the 2022 Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Grand Rapids, MI. They discussed some of the current gaps in the vertebrate data that they have found in the literature review, as well as some possible implications of this missing data.
The literature review team is excited about how they have been progressing and are ready to keep up the high energy in Summer 2022!
Learn more about the STOICH project at www.stoichproject.org.
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