听Updating the Southern Ontario Floral Inventory Analysis (SOFIA)听
糖心直播 (UTRCA) staff have updated a unique open-source macro-enabled Microsoft Excel spreadsheet called SOFIA (Southern Ontario Floral Inventory Analysis).听 SOFIA was written by biologist/ecologist Dan Lebedyk and other staff at the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) a few years ago. It was designed to allow botanists and ecologists to enter floral inventories of natural areas into a system that quickly tabulates, analyzes and automates the information. It generates statistics and charts on the quality of the site, as well as many other indices including wetness and rare species. 听
The program contains the provincial vascular plant list, downloaded from the (NHIC) website. The latest version of SOFIA (3.56) contained the plant list from 2020, but the status and names of plants continues to be updated. Dan Lebedyk retired in 2024 and, currently, no one agency is responsible for keeping it up to date. SOFIA is available currently on the Tallgrass Ontario website () as a shareable program.听听
The UTRCA wished to see the software updated with the latest NHIC vascular plant list. Craig Irwin, UTRCA Water Quality Specialist, worked with Dan Lebedyk at ERCA in the past and was familiar with the workings of the program and, therefore, was able to make the updates.听 He inserted the 2024 NHIC vascular plant list and made the appropriate adjustments to the SOFIA formulas. 听
The UTRCA has shared the updated version (version 4) of SOFIA with Tallgrass Ontario to be posted on their website and available to download for free.听 It will also be shared with other conservation authority staff.听
