Online Prairie Data
Data Collection & Entry Preparations

Before your students can enter data from a prairie other than Fermilab, you must: Step-By-Step Details
  1. Send email to prairie-data@fnal.gov to get the username and password you need to add information to the prairie data database.
  2. Do a plant survey of your prairie with your prairie expert.
  3. Check whether the plants in your prairie are currently in the database. Look at Prairie Plants and Invasives in the database. Follow the instructions on those pages to include new plants in the database.
  4. There are currently 14 slots for native plants and and 10 slots for invasives on the data entry page. There are two additional slots for unidentified prairie plants to be used when students come across a plant that you and the prairie expert did not find in your survey. If you have more than 12 prairie and 10 invasives in your quadrats, notify the data manager (prairie-data@fnal.gov) to allow for more plants on the data entry page.
  5. A prairie can consist of subdivisions, "plots" which can be studied. For example, at Fermilab, we have the Fermilab prairie which consists of over twenty different plots. Students are doing studies of Plot 15 and Plot 16. The information in the prairie database is for the whole prairie while the information in the study database pertains to a particular part of the prairie. You will probably need help from your prairie expert in filling in the information. The more information you can supply the richer the database for other students looking at your data. Search the Prairie Database for your prairie and particular study. If you do not find it, enter the prairie and study information in the database. Be sure not to miss the bottom of the page where you enter the study information. If you are studying your whole prairie, then enter "Site" for the Plot.
  6. Enter your school/group name and teacher/leader name in the database of teachers/schools if they aren't there.
    • Check the School/Group database.
      • To see all school/groups, click Find All or limit your search for your school/group by using the search capabilities provided on this page.
      • If you see your school/group, click on its name.
      • If you do not see your school/group, click Add a School/Group and enter the data for your school/group and click Add a School/Group.
    • You should see an entry with your school/group and a list of all teachers/leaders involved in SIMply Prairie from your school/group.
    • To add a teacher/leader, fill out the bottom of the form. You will have to know the prairie plot the teacher is studying. Click Add Teacher/Leader. Note: if a teacher has students studying two different plots, then you will have to add the teacher twice with the name altered slightly. (e.g., with last names Marshall16 and Marshall17 where 16 indicates plot 16 and 17, plot 17.
    • Continue to add teachers/leaders until all the names are entered.
  7. Set up the Data Collection Sheet for Prairie Plants and Invasives. Here is an Excel spreadsheet you can tailor for your prairie. Add the plants and plant codes you want your students to use. They do not have to be the same as the codes used in the Fermilab study. If you have trouble, contact the prairie database manager, listed below. A pdf version of the sheet is also available.