* * Chair OBIS International CommitteeChair OBIS International Committeem.costello@auckland.ac.nzm.costello@auckland.ac.nz

Ocean Biogeographic Information System

Evolution and challenges in Evolution and challenges in creating OBIScreating OBIS

Mark J. Costello (Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland) * Fred Grassle and Yunquing Zhang (Rutgers University)Karen Stocks (University of California San Diego)Tony Rees (CSIRO Hobart)

Today’s challengesToday’s challenges

Global scale impacts Global scale impacts • Over-fishingOver-fishing• Invasive speciesInvasive species• Climate changeClimate change• PollutionPollution

Do not know what, where Do not know what, where and when without the and when without the facts (the data)facts (the data)

How do we know anything? Knowledge from data !

• Empirical basis of scienceEmpirical basis of science• No knowledge without dataNo knowledge without data• More data leads to more knowledgeMore data leads to more knowledge• Facts remain despite changing theoriesFacts remain despite changing theories

• More irreplaceable with timeMore irreplaceable with time• Always increases in value Always increases in value • Future value may not be anticipated Future value may not be anticipated

New technologies enableNew technologies enable

• Data collectionData collection over large areas over large areas– Satellites, acoustic seabed mappingSatellites, acoustic seabed mapping– ROV video, telemetryROV video, telemetry

• Data managementData management and exchange and exchange– GISGIS– World wide webWorld wide web

New interdiscipinary New interdiscipinary science of Ocean science of Ocean Biodiversity informaticsBiodiversity informatics

Using information technologyUsing information technologyto better manage to better manage marine biodiversity and marine biodiversity and environmental environmental data and informationdata and information

Opportunities provided by Opportunities provided by informaticsinformatics

• Increase communication Increase communication

• Make data widely available to scientific Make data widely available to scientific communitycommunity

• Rapid publicationRapid publication

• Data mining and explorationData mining and exploration

• Low cost publication of maps and imagesLow cost publication of maps and images

• Interactive and/or user-defined readabilityInteractive and/or user-defined readability

• Data management tools widely available at little Data management tools widely available at little to no costto no cost

Are there other opportunities ?

Informatics helps Informatics helps managementmanagement

• Make Make metadatametadata more accessible more accessible

• Make Make datadata more accessible more accessible

• Enable better useEnable better use of existing data of existing data

• Identify gapsIdentify gaps in data that may need in data that may need fillingfilling

• Better communicationBetter communication for data and for data and environmental managementenvironmental management

Species informatics aids Species informatics aids research research

Globally accessible species registers:

Help minimise nomenclatural confusionFree up experts time to describe new speciesRepatriate data to developing countriesProvide a low cost rapid medium for the publication

of images, sounds, data and syntheses Rapid (automated) calculation statistics “how

many?”

Is biodiversity informatics Is biodiversity informatics launching a new era in marine launching a new era in marine biology?biology?

Always local scale, Always local scale, efforts of a fewefforts of a few

• 200 years of 200 years of “natural history”“natural history”

• 50 years of 50 years of “ecology”“ecology”

• 10 years of 10 years of “biodiversity”“biodiversity”

Recent top papers in Recent top papers in marine biologymarine biology

• address ocean scale address ocean scale impacts of fisheriesimpacts of fisheries

• Ability to combine Ability to combine large datasets large datasets collected by many is collected by many is transforming our view transforming our view of the oceansof the oceans

Examples at large spatial Examples at large spatial scalesscales

Shark declines (Pacific long-line Shark declines (Pacific long-line fishery)fishery)

From Baum, Myers, Kehler, Worm, Harley & Doherty. Science. Jan. 2003

Related biodiversityRelated biodiversity

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

• Taxonomic Data Working Group (TDWG)

• Species 2000

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)

Species lists need Species lists need contextcontext

Distribution is the most important Distribution is the most important attribute of species, and can be used attribute of species, and can be used toto

• map resources (e.g. fisheries)map resources (e.g. fisheries)

• observe trends in timeobserve trends in time

• provide insights into provide insights into

- evolutionary history of faunas - evolutionary history of faunas

- factors contributing to - factors contributing to biodiversitybiodiversity

Photo-montage by Pal Mortensen

Reef

Transition zone

Coral debris

How important are deep-sea cold-water coral reefs as a habitat in the North Atlantic?

Deep sea coral reefs (Lophelia)

Records of Lophelia pertusa from Rogers (2001)– a significant habitat

Reefs can be 40km long!

Ocean Biogeographic Ocean Biogeographic Information SystemInformation System

Mapping marine Mapping marine life life

over the internetover the internetwww.iobis.org

OBIS networkOBIS network

• Marine scientists and organizations around over the world collaborating

• Data from museums, fisheries, universities and ecological surveys, including CoML field projects

• Unique network for marine biogeography at a global scale

• Associate Member of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility

GBIF, IODE, IOC

IOOS, Ocean.US NODC

Species 2000, ITIS, TDWG

IABO, SCOR

CSIRO, DFO, NOAA, NMFS, ICES, FAO

MARBEF (EurOBIS), EuroCAT, BioCASE, CORONA

FundingFunding

• Launched by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (New York) as the data management component of the global Census of Marine Life

• CoML is until 2010, but OBIS will continue

• International Committee members obtain funding from NSF, EU, national agencies

• US$30 million committed to 2006, funding proposals submitted on a project by project basis

2000 2005 2010

Online data served

Demo

Interoperable

Major data capture and rescue Modellin

g

Global census of fish

Global census of marine life

Currently on-line in OBISCurrently on-line in OBIS

Global Global • corals and anemones• squid and octopus• mammals, turtles, birds (SEAMAP)• plankton (NODC, ZooGene, • SAHFOS-CPR)• Fish (FishBase, FishNet)• Species from global seamounts

FisheriesFisheries Canadian fishery surveysCanadian fishery surveys Historical fish data back to 1600 Historical fish data back to 1600

(HMAP)(HMAP)

anemones

Indo-pacific snails and bivalves

Australian Antarctic sea mammals and birds

Bermuda Atlantic Time Series zooplankton (BATS)

Mid-water animals from Southampton Oceanography Centre databaseCentre database

BioMar benthos from IrelandBioMar benthos from Ireland Belgium North Sea dataBelgium North Sea data Ghent taxonomic dataGhent taxonomic data NOAA benthic inventoryNOAA benthic inventory USA EPA EMAP dataUSA EPA EMAP data

Regional data in OBISRegional data in OBIS

OBIS data sourcesOBIS data sources

Databases centered on Databases centered on

• Taxonomic group (literature Taxonomic group (literature sources)sources)

• Field surveys (benthos, plankton)Field surveys (benthos, plankton)

• Fishery surveysFishery surveys

• Museum collectionsMuseum collections

OBIS Data Sources (November 2004) Total Records

SAHFOS_CPR_ZOOPLANKTON 1,467,694

NODC WOD01 Plankton 1,281,125

FishBase 793,318

SAHFOS_CPR_PHYTOPLANKTON 721,921

OBIS-SEAMAP 281,735

History of Marine Animals (HMAP) 242,384

NWAGSCOL (Canadian Regional Node) 228,519

Elephant Seal Sightings, Macquarie Island 199,499

NBI 154,458

Atlantic Reference Centre, Canada 127,876

AADC_seabirds 101,289

Southampton O.C. Discovery Collections 93,350

BIOMAR Project Ireland 92,959

DFO Scotian Summer Research Trawl 60,109

EPA EMAP DATABASE 41,703

Canadian Museum of Nature - Fish 39,920

Taxonomic Info. System Belgium 36,936

Hexacorals Database 27,438

Gwaii Haanas Invertebrates 24,311

OBIS Data Sources (November 2004) Total Records

Ifremer BIOCEAN deep Sea Benthos 23,876

AADC_weddell_sightings 17,588

Indo-Pacific Mollusks 16,261

AADC_herbarium 10,204

Generic Taxonomical Database System 9,745

SeamountsOnline 7,394

AADC_whale_catch 7,122

Gwaii Haanas Marine Plants 6,353

Eastern Canada Benthic Macrofauna 5,650

AADC_weddell_census 4,603

Ichthyoplankton Scotian Shelf of N.America 4,169

CephBase 3,175

Bay of Fundy Species 2,381

AADC_ellie_sightings_heard 1,794

Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre 1,365

BATS Zooplankton 635

Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History 579

Marine Invertebrate Diversity Initiative 295

ZooGene 114

Where is OBIS data Where is OBIS data from?from?

November 2004

Seabed – benthosOpen water – pelagos, plankton

Most data in OBIS for fish

Invertebrates200,000 species

described

Fish

30,000 speciesdescribed

Names, species and records in OBIS Nov. 2004

Category Number marine names,

OBIS + CoL

Number of records

Number species with

point data

All categories 118709 4138297 36856

Vertebrates 17472 1411929 13318

Mammals 133 160977 70

Birds 385 218617 187

Reptiles 12 11760 7

Fishes 16942 1020575 13054

Invertebrates (any) 66673 1689979 20465

Some invertebratesSome invertebrates

Tunicates 460 20787 166

Sea squirts (ascidians) 430 9107 147

Echinoderms 1302 15683 597

Bryozoans 1238 7510 455

Crustaceans 23433 1260502 4909

Chelicerates 1259 478 89

Annelids 5011 91973 2650

Polychaetes 4327 90735 2516

Molluscs 14551 134311 5307

Gastropods 10442 89792 3564

Bivalves 2749 27257 1145

Nematodes 4268 4126 1949

Cnidaria, plants, protists, Cnidaria, plants, protists, microbesmicrobes

Anthozoans 4645 31165 2638

Sea anemones 2410 13771 2145

Stony corals 1547 15824 398

Hydrozoans 2274 49452 673

Sponges 1647 9986 297

Seagrasses 53 121 4

Macroalgae (seaweeds) 11946 25186 881

Microalgae 20206 993520 1957

Dinoflagellates 1542 341919 690

Diatoms 8964 609485 905

Unicellular green microalgae

4167 4128 101

Protozoans 2036 10330 191

Cyanobacteria 33 7201 33

Distributed, cached, indexed Distributed, cached, indexed data systemdata system

Features Features seamless access of data from multiple seamless access of data from multiple

sources to the user sources to the user federated federated interoperable interoperable user-friendly user-friendly data portabilitydata portability low hardware and software dependancylow hardware and software dependancy

December 2004, OBIS serves:December 2004, OBIS serves:

In cacheIn cache• 5.6 million records 5.6 million records • 40,000 species40,000 species• 60,000 names60,000 names• 38 source 38 source

databasesdatabases

• March 2004March 2004 – 2.8 million – 2.8 million records records

• October 2003October 2003 – 1 million – 1 million recordsrecords

In Index (edited data)In Index (edited data)• 4.1 million records 4.1 million records

at genus levelat genus level• 37,000 species37,000 species• 119,000 names 119,000 names

(CoL)(CoL)

amongst largest data providers to the amongst largest data providers to the Global Biodiversity Information FacilityGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility www.gbif.orgwww.gbif.org

Present OBIS toolsPresent OBIS tools

Mapping over environment Mapping over environment featuresfeatures

• KGS Mapper (ARC-KGS Mapper (ARC-IMS)IMS)

• C-Squares C-Squares

System buildingSystem building• DiGIR DiGIR • XMLXML

Prediction /analysis KGS Mapper range finder WhyWhere

Species names Species name service (using Catalogue of Life)

Green or shore crab, Carcinus maenas

Invasive species in west North Atlantic

KGS Mapper – maps where similar environmental conditions occur

Major surveysMajor surveys

• British benthic British benthic marine life (MarLIN)marine life (MarLIN)

• New Zealand BryozoaNew Zealand Bryozoa

• East Mediterranean & East Mediterranean & Black Sea Black Sea

• Chemosynthetic Chemosynthetic Ecosystems (ChEss)Ecosystems (ChEss)

• Other CoML field Other CoML field projectsprojects

Global marine taxaGlobal marine taxa

• Aplacophora (primitive Aplacophora (primitive molluscs)molluscs)

• Nemertea (ribbon worms)Nemertea (ribbon worms)

• Trematode (flukes) Trematode (flukes) parasites of fishparasites of fish

• Turbellaria (flatworms)Turbellaria (flatworms)

• Porifera (SpongeBase)Porifera (SpongeBase)

• Seaweeds and other algaeSeaweeds and other algae

• Serpulidae (tube worms)Serpulidae (tube worms)

• Ostracoda (clam-like Ostracoda (clam-like crustaceans)crustaceans)

Data captureData capturecoming soon to OBIScoming soon to OBIS ! !

OBIS questionsOBIS questions

How to globalize OBIS?

• TaxonomicallyTaxonomically

• GeographicallyGeographically

• Institutionally Institutionally

• Foster expertiseFoster expertise

• Regional ‘nodes’Regional ‘nodes’

• PartnershipsPartnerships

OBIS priorities?• Data rescue• Data capture• On-line tools• Ocean data overlays• Species information (identification, genetic, images)

• Education & outreach• Other

Current OBIS activitiesCurrent OBIS activities

Data capture

• More species distribution data, e.g. EurOBIS

Technical development

• mapping, modeling, species name services, indexes, software tools

• standards for data sharing

• Time series data search

Management

• Regional nodes – global network

• Hire Programme Manager

• Intellectual property agreements

• User monitoring to guide development

• Quality control system

• Educational modules

OBIS Management Committee

= Regional Nodes Managers

AustraliaCanadaChinaEuropeIndiaJapanNew ZealandSouth America Sub-Saharan Africa

Public Accessibility

IOBIS

Global Datasets e.g.FAO, HexacoralliaFishbase &Seamounts

Data Found ByIOBIS Not FromGlobal Databases

Online Providers

Regional Node With Local DatasetsAnd Online Providers

RegionalSubset

All data

Regional Node With Local Datasets Only

GBIF

Global NodeRegional NodeProviderGlobal DatabaseRegional DatabaseProductsAll DataSubset of Data

OBIS Regional Node Architecture

RMB - March 14, 2004

OBIS informatics challengesOBIS informatics challenges

NomenclaturesNomenclatures• Authoritative species names Authoritative species names

directoriesdirectories– ambiguous and unambiguous ambiguous and unambiguous

synonyms, misspellings, synonyms, misspellings, misapplications, taxon splitsmisapplications, taxon splits

• Geographic (gazetteers) Geographic (gazetteers) – georeferencing and mapping of georeferencing and mapping of

place names place names

• Habitat classifications and standards Habitat classifications and standards (ecoinformatics)(ecoinformatics)

• Merging dataMerging data– Automated cross-checking of Automated cross-checking of

nomenclaturesnomenclatures

MappingMapping• Polygons Polygons • Lines (large Lines (large

animal tracks)animal tracks)• Integration with Integration with

ocean data mapsocean data maps

• Interoperability and portal functionInteroperability and portal function– Exclusion duplicates and redundant dataExclusion duplicates and redundant data– Checking outliers and irregularitiesChecking outliers and irregularities– Middleware (wrappers, cross-mapping)Middleware (wrappers, cross-mapping)– Data exchange protocolsData exchange protocols– Expanding standard data fields (Darwin Core)Expanding standard data fields (Darwin Core)– Crediting sourcesCrediting sources– Metadata accessibilityMetadata accessibility– IndexingIndexing– Cache Cache

OBIS informatics challengesOBIS informatics challenges

Data availabilityData availability

• most paid for by tax-payermost paid for by tax-payer

• accessibility variableaccessibility variable

• No incentives to make freely availableNo incentives to make freely available

e.g. citation of source into citation e.g. citation of source into citation indices,indices,

data publication at same time as data publication at same time as syntheses and analysessyntheses and analyses

5 science culture 5 science culture challengeschallenges

1. Data sharing part of scientific process in marine biology

2. Data publication on-line becomes standard practice

3. Quality control for scientific credibility

4. Recognition value on-line publication in individual’s research performance

5. Citation rankings of on-line publications

OBIS – future usesOBIS – future usesRevelations from new data analysisRevelations from new data analysis• Effects of climate change Effects of climate change • Predicting spread of invasive species Predicting spread of invasive species • Biodiversity hotspots at species and phylum levelsBiodiversity hotspots at species and phylum levels• Interconnected-ness of ocean regions (seascape ecology)Interconnected-ness of ocean regions (seascape ecology)• Phylo- and macro- geography – evolution of fauna and Phylo- and macro- geography – evolution of fauna and

flora at population and species levelsflora at population and species levels

Expanded infrastructure ?Expanded infrastructure ?• Catalogue of all marine life (CaML)Catalogue of all marine life (CaML)• Species identification and informationSpecies identification and information• Habitat classification and mappingHabitat classification and mapping

Achievable visionAchievable vision

All valid marine species names on-line within 7 yearsAll valid marine species names on-line within 7 yearsAll known marine species listed in the Catalogue of LifeAll known marine species listed in the Catalogue of Life

Species guides (descriptions and images) on-lineSpecies guides (descriptions and images) on-lineSpecies distributions on-lineSpecies distributions on-line

Improved quality control in identification and taxonomyImproved quality control in identification and taxonomyIncreased rate of species being describedIncreased rate of species being described

New discoveries and understandings of role New discoveries and understandings of role of biodiversity in ecosystems based on dataof biodiversity in ecosystems based on data