>Prepared BC Coastal Waterbirds Survey dataset:Imported excel worksheets "BCCWS raw data 1, raw data 2, raw data 3" from Coastal Waterbird Survey data '99-'08.xls into a geodatabase. To join tables to spatial, created new field, SITECODE, in all 3 tables. Using field calculator, populated SITECODE field with following formula: [RegionCode]& [SiteNumber]. Create one field storing date (ymd) rather than 3 fields. Populated field using field calculator with the following formula: [Year_]&"/"& [Month_]&"/"& [Day_]. To combine all 3 tables into one table, used the Append tool and appended raw data 2 and raw data 3 to raw data 1 table. Deleted "Year_" Month_" and "Day_" fields using Delete Field tool. Added 3 new fields using Add Field tool: Feature, Data_Source, Dataset_ID. Populated fields using Calculate Field tool. Feature field calculated to equal the SpeciesCode field. Standardized the Feature field naming convention to equal the common name of the marine species rather than the abbreviated species code. Data_Source field calculated to equal the name of the dataset from which data was derived. Dataset_ID field calculated to equal the common dataset identifier as categorized by BCMCA.
>Reviewed MBAOI, Moulting Sea Ducks, Burger, Ferry, LBCS and PSS data:MBAOI dataset was not used as all data within MBAOI had already been received and processed. All other dataset were not used for feature creation as all Anas sp. species identified did not meet the specified "winter" month feature requirements.
>Created Final Processed File:Overlaid merged feature polygons with BCMCA planning units using Spatial Join tool. Tool parameter example: Target Feature = BCMCA PU, Join Features = feature layer, Join Operation = Join_One_to_Many, Match Option = Intersects. To create the final processed file, summarized data by planning unit ID and calculated the sum of the total surveys, the sum of the surveys species sighted, and the sum of the density. Added a new field: AVG_DENSITY_km2. Calculated field using the following formula: [sum_DENSITY_km2] / [sum_SURVEYS_TOTAL].
>Created Marxan File:Reviewed the distribution of the data in the final processed file. Since there was limited data for feature, the step to delete data falling within the bottom quartile were not applied.