Web-based tools for data analysis and quality assurance on a life-history trait database of plants of Northwest Europe

Most data mining techniques have rarely been used in ecology. To address the specific needs of scientists analysing data from a plant trait database developed during the LEDA project, a web-based data mining tool has been developed. This paper presents the DIONE data miner and the project it has been developed in. It addresses the nature of plant trait data from a data mining perspective and points out problems that arise when preparing data for this process. The availability of a large amount of high quality data is an essential prerequisite for successful data mining. To ensure this, a software aided reviewing process has been integrated into the LEDA Traitbase system. The process enables third-party contributors to easily commit their data to LEDA, while assuring adherence of the data to the LEDA standard. The paper concludes with information about data mining results on plant trait data achieved so far and gives an outlook on the applicability of data mining to the fields of ecology. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.