HydroServer Lite as an open source solution for archiving and sharing environmental data for independent university labs

Managing, archiving, and sharing large amounts of data are essential tasks in ecological laboratories, and detailed data management plans are now required by major funding agencies. Many independent research labs may lack the technical or financial resources needed to support some of the more comprehensive data management solutions that have become available. In this paper we describe an open-source solution to data management, archiving, and sharing that can be implemented and customized by someone with limited computer programming experience using free software and standardized web services. This software, HydroServer Lite, is a light-weight database and data management web-based application that integrates with and makes data available on a large data sharing network developed by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI). The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System facilitates data sharing through a network of local HydroServers that are registered with the central registry. Each HydroServer may contain a variety of ecological and climate data, stored in a standardized relational database model. Someone searching for data that are registered in the central registry can query the network by source, location, variable type, and dates. These data can be downloaded from the local HydroServer to a computer in an office or lab where they can be manipulated and analyzed without compromising the data in the archives. We offer this HydroServer Lite case study as a possible solution for independent research laboratories looking for a data management system that requires little technical expertise or initial cost to set up.