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Data management and best practice for plant science

Nature Plants volume 3, Article number: 17086 (2017) Cite this article

Plant research produces data in a profusion of types and scales, and in ever-increasing volume. What are the challenges and opportunities presented by data management in contemporary plant science? And how can researchers make efficient and fruitful use of data management tools and strategies?

Policies that encourage ‘open data’ are gaining support around the globe, and are now enforced by prominent funders and publishers, including Nature and the Gates foundation1–3. This has enormous potential for transforming the production, management and dissemination of scientific knowledge, particularly by enabling researchers to interrogate and reuse existing datasets4,5. However, realizing this potential is not straightforward6. As in other scientific domains, plant scientists across the world generate data of various types (quantitative, qualitative, text, computed values) in diverse formats and in ever-increasing abundance. The analysis of field-level agriculture may require the integration of a variety of data as broad as in any other discipline, ranging from the multiple growth parameters of individual plants, through to field-level analysis of hydrodynamics and gas exchange, to soil- and climate-level data that affect regional and global growth rates. These datasets are of tremendous importance for research on crop production, food security, climate change resilience, nutrition for health, and sustainable agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology & Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences, Byrne House, Exeter University, Exeter, EX4 4PJ, UK

    Sabina Leonelli

  2. School of Humanities, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005, Australia

    Sabina Leonelli

  3. The Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UG, UK

    Robert P. Davey

  4. Bioversity International, Parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Cedex 5, Montpellier, France

    Elizabeth Arnaud

  5. GARNet, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK

    Geraint Parry & Ruth Bastow

  6. Global Plant Council, 1a Bow Lane, London, EC4M 9EE, UK

    Ruth Bastow

Authors
  1. Sabina Leonelli
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  2. Robert P. Davey
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  3. Elizabeth Arnaud
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  4. Geraint Parry
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  5. Ruth Bastow
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Correspondence to Sabina Leonelli.

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Leonelli, S., Davey, R., Arnaud, E. et al. Data management and best practice for plant science. Nature Plants 3, 17086 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.86

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