Habitat vs Test Sites

Summary

OERCA's Environmental Management tools offer a great deal of flexibility to accommodate many different types of systems and operations.

Due to differences in nomenclature; however, there is sometimes confusion with understanding the distinction between Habitats and Test Sites (i.e. sample sites).  Each of these terms are defined below, as well as a graphical representation to help you understand the relationship between them.

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HABITAT

A Habitat is typically a location where animals are housed. Depending on your facility, other terms for Habitat may include tank, area, exhibit, paddock, enclosure, or lagoon. Habitats can be added in two ways:

• Through the Facility Settings menu by selecting the "Facility & Exhibit" button.

• Within the Animal & Habitat Workspace using the Habitat Profile tab.

If you plan to record environmental data for a Habitat, you must configure testing parameters for its associated Test Site.

TEST SITE

A Test Site is automatically created whenever a new Habitat is added to the system. By default, this Test Site shares the same name as the Habitat. A Test Site represents the sample location(s) where environmental samples are collected within the Habitat.

• The Test Site name can be changed, and multiple Test Sites can be assigned to a single Habitat if needed.

• Each Test Site inherits the environmental parameters and high/low ranges configured for its parent Habitat.

• All manual data entry tools, reports and analytics will display the name of the Test Site.

Example

Imagine an open ocean Habitat where samples are taken from two locations: the surface and mid-column. In this case:

• The Habitat is the open ocean.

• Two Test Sites exist: one for surface sampling and one for mid-column sampling.

NOTE:  Under most scenarios each HABITAT will have only one TEST SITE, and they most often share the same name.

TIP:  If you have multiple HABITATS that are all a part of a larger system; OERCA allows you to group them together into a single Location Group.  By doing this, data results recorded for a Primary Test Site will automatically be copied to any configured Secondary Test Sites.  See our Knowledge Base article "Location Grouping" to learn more.