Anchoring Biodiversity Information: From Sherborne to the 21st century and beyond

Biodiversity Informatics – GBIFs role in linking information through scientific names.

David RemsenSenior Programme OfficerGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

28 October 2011

BIODIVERSITY INFORMATICS

“All accumulated information of a species is tied to a scientific name, a name that serves as a link between what has been learned in the past and what we today add to the body of knowledge.”

PRIMARY BIODIVERSITY DATA

PRIMARY BIODIVERSITY DATA

Primary Biodiversity Databases

GBIF ISA FEDERATED NETWORK

A “network of networks”

COMMON COMMUNICATIONSREGISTRY

GLOBAL DATA INDEX

310,132,149 data records9,290 datasets

6,112,683 “names”

DATA PORTAL

DISCOVERY

ACCESS

Use of Primary Biodiversity Data

Build Provisional Species Lists

Validate range maps

Predict species distributon

Change in suitability for cultivating common bean across the world, from present to 2020, showing a global loss in suitability, especially in Africa.

Predict distribution changes

CBD Access & Benefit Sharing (Nagoya) Protocol

Challenges to presentingTaxon-oriented data

Tealia crassicornis (Müller)

Urticina crassicornis (Müller)

Urticina felina (Linnaeus 1767)

Tealia felina, Tealia felina, Urticina crassicornis, Urticina columbiana, Tealia crassicornis, Urticina felina, Urticina coriacea, Stomphia churchiae, Rhodactinia crassicornis, Tealia lofotensis, Leiotealia spetsbergensis, Madoniactis lofotensis, Tealia tuberculata, Bolocera eques, Tealia greenii, Cereus coriaceus, Actinia felina, Bunodes crassicornis, Actinea tuberculata, Actinea coriacea, Actinia gemmacea, Actinia crassicornis, Actinia dævisii, Actinia coriacea, Actinia holsatica,

Gap in Synonymies

UNTRUSTWORTHY SCIENCE

Trochilidae

UNTRUSTWORTHY TAXONOMY

TRUSTED TAXONOMY

BETTER SCIENCE

Plantae Magnoliophyta Magnoliopsida Apiales Umbelliferae Oenanthe

Plantae Oenanthe Oenanthe

Plantae Magnoliophyta Magnoliopsida Apiales Apiaceae Oenanthe

? Orchidaceae Oenanthe

Animalia Chordata Aves Passeriformes Muscicapidae Oenanthe

Animalia Chordata Aves Passeriformes Turdidae Oenanthe

Unraveling Homonyms

Oenanthe

Difficult for user to interpret

Accurate search results

Yesterday

Today

Unraveling Homonyms

A need for nomenclators

Actinobacillus actimomycetemcomitansActinobacillus actimycetemcomitansActinobacillus actinmycetemcomitansActinobacillus actinomicetemcomitansActinobacillus actinomyActinobacillus actinomyceActinobacillus actinomycemcomitansActinobacillus actinomyceremcomitansActinobacillus actinomycetamActinobacillus actinomycetamcomitansActinobacillus actinomycetecomitansActinobacillus actinomycetemcmitansActinobacillus actinomycetemcomintansActinobacillus actinomycetemcomitance

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitansActinobacillus actinomycetemcomitantsActinobacillus actinomycetemcommitansActinobacillus actinomycetemocimitansActinobacillus actinomycetencomitansActinobacillus actinomycetumActinobacillus actinomyctemcomitansActinobacillus actinomyectomcomitansActinobacillus actinomyetemcomitansActinobacillus actinonmycetemcomitansActinobacillus actionomycetemcomitansActinobacillus actynomicetemcomitansActinobacillus antinomycetemcomitans

…and TaxaMatch

Agalinus paupercula borealisAgalinus pauperculum borealisAgalinis paupercula var. BorealisAgalinus pauperculum var. borealisAgalinus paupercula var. borealisAgalinus paupercula var. borealis PennellAgalinus paupercula Britton var. borealis PennellAgalinus paupercula (Gray) Britt. var. borealis PennellAgalinis paupercula (A.Gray) Britton var. borealis PennellAgalinus paupercula (Gray) Britton var. borealis (Pennell) Zenkert 1934

Issues of Orthography

Reconciling different forms of the same name

Parsing

Dictionaries

Rapidly mines names from literature

Effective Biodiversity Informatics requires

Taxonomic and nomenclatural authority files & services

• Classification to organise• Status to perpetuate proper

use• Synonymy (Objective and

Subjective) to group• Homonymy to disambiguate• Orthography for consistency

A GLOBAL NAMES ARCHITECTURE

Another federated network

• Global Resource Discovery• Uniform Access• Integration

• Consolidated nomenclatural index• Use

• Biodiversity Information Services