Journal article
An online database and desktop assessment software to simplify systematic reviews in environmental science
JA Webb, KA Miller, MJ Stewardson, SC de Little, SJ Nichols, SR Wealands
Environmental Modelling and Software | Published : 2015
Abstract
We describe software to facilitate systematic reviews in environmental science. Eco Evidence allows reviewers to draw strong conclusions from a collection of individually-weak studies. It consists of two components. An online database stores and shares the atomized findings of previously-published research. A desktop analysis tool synthesizes this evidence to test cause-effect hypotheses. The software produces a standardized report, maximizing transparency and repeatability. We illustrate evidence extraction and synthesis. Environmental research is hampered by the complexity of natural environments, and difficulty with performing experiments in such systems. Under these constraints, systemat..
View full abstractRelated Projects (2)
Grants
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We salute the pioneering efforts of the late Professor Richard Norris in the development of the Eco Evidence method. Development of the Eco Evidence software was funded by the eWater Cooperative Research Centre (projects B1 'Multiple drivers of river ecosystems', R2 'Ecological modelling platform', and 'Ecological management'), with most of the programming for the Eco Evidence Analyser completed by Patrick Lea. This paper was funded by Australian Research Council project LP100200170 and the MDBfutures Collaborative Research Network project 'Using an evidence-based approach in the optimisation of water allocation decisions'). Author contributions: J.A.W., M.J.S., S.J.N developed the Eco Evidence method. S.R.W. developed the Eco Evidence Database and the workflow therein, and contributed to programming of the Eco Evidence Analyser. J.A.W. led writing of the manuscript, with K.A.M. providing the case-study application of Eco-Evidence and S.C.dL providing the section on the Eco Evidence Database. All authors contributed to the final version.