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Topic Name: World’s biodiversity to be stored digitally to understand the impact of climate change on the Earth
Category: Environmental engineering
Research persons: Dr Alastair Culham, Mr Chris Yesson
Location: School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Details
Biologists and computer scientists have appealed for more information on the
world’s biodiversity to be stored digitally so it may better be used to
understand the impact of climate change on the Earth’s flora and fauna.
A study, funded by the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and conducted by biologists at
the University of Reading and computer
scientists at the University of Cardiff, has
revealed large gaps in data available to the Global
Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – the world’s largest single
data network which gives access to millions of current digitised biodiversity
records.
The paper was published in the November 7 issue of the online, open-access
journal PLoS ONE.
The team, which included Dr Alastair Culham and Mr Chris Yesson from the
University of Reading’s School of Biological Sciences, used the Legume family
as a test case to review the quality of this huge data set.
Dr Culham said: “GBIF provides a fantastic resource that may prove vital in
understanding the impacts of global climate change at this critical time.
However, the large gaps in data that exist in the GBIF network are a clarion
call for the governments of the world's developed nations to invest more money
to support institutions and scientists around the world in their quest to
digitise, publish and upload more of the data presently hidden in museums.
We put particular emphasis on the quality of location information stored with
each specimen record, and the breadth of coverage for known species. In our
research we found that over 500 000 records for Legumes are available within the
GBIF 'super database'. “
Mr Yesson said: “Although this seems at first glance to be a large dataset,
our research revealed major gaps in the coverage of this data. Many Legume
species, around 70%, have never been formally recorded in digital collections,
or have too few good quality records to be useful. Also, many of the specimen
records that are available online have issues that make the location information
associated with these records unusable for many purposes. In many cases the most
biologically diverse regions of the world have little or no data available
online.
A focussed effort on these areas will create a truly global resource that
creates unparalleled opportunities for understanding the world's
biodiversity."
Note for Climate change
Climate change refers to the variation in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time. It describes changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by processes internal to the Earth, external forces (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity) or, more recently, human activities.
In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term "climate change" often refers to changes in modern climate which according to the IPCC are 90-95% likely to have been in part caused by human action. Consequently the term anthropogenic climate change is frequently adopted; this phenomenon is also referred to in the mainstream media as global warming. In some cases, the term is also used with a presumption of human causation, as in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC uses "climate variability" for non-human caused
variations.
For information on temperature measurements over various periods, and the data sources available, see temperature record. For attribution of climate change over the past century, see attribution of recent climate change.
Note for Fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.
Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna".
Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils.
About Researcher:
Dr Alastair Culham
Environmental Biology Academic Staff
Email: a.culham@reading.ac.uk
Telephone: 0118 378 6390
Room Number: 108 PSL
Research Areas: Biodiversity and Systematics
Research Interests:
My research interests lie in the intersection of traditional plant taxonomy and biosystematics with modern techniques of molecular biology, phytogeography and cladistics.
About Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is a British Research Council supporting several scientific research institutes and university research departments in the UK. Receiving its funding through the Office of Science and Innovation, the BBSRC's responsibility is to increase basic knowledge and understanding in biology and develop biological technology and applications.
The BBSRC's head office is at Polaris House in Swindon; its annual budget was £516 million in financial year 2003/2004. The BBSRC was created in 1994, replacing the earlier Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) and taking over the biological science activities of the former Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). The BBSRC also manages the joint Research Councils' Office in Brussels - the UK Research Office (UKRO).
About Global Biodiversity Information Facility
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the world; GBIF's information architecture makes these data accessible and searchable through a single portal. Data available through the GBIF portal are primarily distribution data on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes for the world, and scientific names data.
The mission of the Global Biodiversity information Facility (GBIF) is to facilitate free and open access to biodiversity data worldwide to underpin sustainable development. Priorities, with an emphasis on promoting participation and working through partners, include mobilising biodiversity data, developing protocols and standards to ensure scientific integrity and interoperability, building an informatics architecture to allow the interlinking of diverse data types from disparate sources, promoting capacity building and catalysing development of analytical tools for improved decision-making.
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