An Evaluation of Species Status Assessments: Discovering Climate Information Themes, Understanding USFWS Scientists' Climate Information Needs and User Engagement with a Web-based Decision Support Tool

The overarching goal of Climate Analysis and Visualization for the Assessment of Species Status (CAnVAS) is to design and provide a web-based decision support system for United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists so that they can easily incorporate climate information into Species Status Assessments (SSAs). This research is being conducted in partnership with the Department of Geosciences at Auburn University, the State Climate Office of North Carolina (SCONC), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Southeast Climate Adaption Science Center (SECASC). This study is focused on the assessment and refinement of CAnVAS using a design-based research approach where evidence based decisions relevant to the design elements and content of the CAnVAS tool are informed by a rigorous evaluation process. This presentation will provide qualitative and quantitative research results from evaluation activities. Specifically, results from the thematic coding/rubric ratings of SSAs and interviews with authors of SSAs will be presented. The goal of the SSA coding and rubric analysis used in this study is to provide themes about what climate information is currently being used in SSAs. Subsequent interviews will provide additional insight about the climate information authors need when producing SSAs. The information gathered from SSA coding and author interviews will help to refine an initial prototype of CAnVAS which will be subsequently tested for user engagement patterns by employing eye-tracking approaches. The eye-tracking of CAnVAS will provide information about user eye-patterns and attention that will further refine this framework to benefit USFWS biologists. Results from an eye-tracking pilot study with an initial prototype of CAnVAS will be presented.