GBits

no. 33 Mar 2013

SCIENCE AND POLICY � � � � � � 1
free and open access to biodiversity data

Brazil surveys data
holdings
The new national biodiversity information system for Brazil,
SiBBr, has launched a survey of the data on biodiversity
and ecosystems held by more than 200 institutions in thecountry.
The survey, carried out online through the website www.
sibbr.gov.br, will also assess the informatics infrastructureof potential partners in the system, including universities,
research centres and other scientific bodies.

CAPACITY BUILDING � � � � � � � � 2
GBIF Japan trains Indonesian node in data
publishing
Boost for biodiversity informatics capacity inSouthern Africa

AROUND THE NETWORK � � � � 2
Data portal on algae and protozoa launched
So many fish, one great map – ALA launches
FishMap
Dashboard provides data overview on GBIF.es

NEW DATA � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3
Colombia
Chinese Taipei/Taiwan
Netherlands
Spain
NorwayUnited Kingdom
United States
CanadaINFORMATICS � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4
User feedback invited on GBIF platformSiBBr aims to integrate biodiversity and ecosystem datafrom diverse sources and make them available for researchand policy formulation in Brazil. One of its principalpartners, the National Centre of Scientific Computing(LNCC) also hosts the GBIF national node.

UPCOMING EVENTS � � � � � � � � 4Meetings and workshops
Training events

Read full story…

SCIENCE AND POLICY
As usual, recent uses of GBIF-mediated data aresummarized in the GBits Science Supplement, which can be
downloaded here. The current issue highlights research onprojections for spread of a highly-allergenic invasive plantin Europe, on the impact of climate change on threatened
fish species in United Kingdom waters, and on modelling
the range of a rare bird species in Mexico.

To subscribe to the newsletter, please contact info@gbif.org

GBitsCAPACITY BUILDINGAROUND THE NETWORKGBIF Japan trains Indonesian node indata publishing

Data portal on algae and protozoa
launched

Professionals from various agencies in Indonesia
have become more familiar with the tools available
to provide access to the country’s biodiversity data,
thanks to a mentoring project involving GBIF Japan.

The Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum BerlinDahlem (BGBM), which coordinates the GBIF nodes
in Germany, has launched a new special interest data
portal on algae and protozoa.

Seventy participants took part in a workshop on
integrated management of biodiversity data held in
February in Cibinong, Indonesia, to introduce GBIF
infrastructure, tools and standards. The participants
were from the Ministry of Agriculture, the National
Planning Agency, the Ministry of Research andTechnology, and various research centres of theIndonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) which hosts theGBIF national node.

The portal uses BioCASe (Biological Collection AccessService) portal software and provides access to 7.4
million observation and specimen records publishedthrough the GBIF network. The portal enriches therecords with additional information, including images,
not currently displayed in the GBIF data portal.

The workshop is part of the mentoring project inwhich GBIF Japan is helping LIPI establish a network
for the management of biodiversity information inIndonesia. It is one of three projects approved underthe 2012 GBIF mentoring programme, which brings
together Participant nodes to share expertise.

Boost for biodiversity informatics
capacity in Southern Africa

A new agreement in South Africa should help to buildmuch-needed skills in managing information aboutbiodiversity in the region.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute(SANBI), which hosts the GBIF national node, hassigned a Memorandum of Understanding with theUniversity of the Western Cape (UWC) to underpin
development of a post-graduate research hub for
biodiversity information management.
The MoU is a step towards the longer-term goal of
a Southern African Centre of Excellence, aiming tomeet a desperate need for research and skills in thefield, especially among African countries that aremaking increased efforts to understand and monitor
biodiversity.
Among the fruits of the collaboration are two postdoctoral fellowships. Each is funded by SANBI andbased at UWC.

Photosynthetic algae and heterotrophic protozoa
play a key role in many ecosystems and habitats.
They form a wide range of diverse taxonomic
groups, morphologies and life forms, ranging frommicroscopic cells in soils, ponds and lakes to kelps inoceans.
The data portal was set up with funds from theGerman Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
It can be accessed at http://protists.gbif.de/protists/
For details, please contact gbif-d@bgbm.org

So many fish, one great map – ALAlaunches FishMap
Australia’s marine fish species are now at yourfingertips thanks to FishMap, launched in February by
the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), the GBIF node in
the country.
FishMap is a free online mapping tool that allows
users to find out which fish occur at any location
or depth in the waters of Australia’s continental
shelf and slope. Users can also create species lists
for any region, with photographs and illustrations,distribution maps and current scientific and commonnames.
The tool, which includes stunning images, provides
the geographical and depth ranges of more than
4500 species, including 320 sharks and rays, based on
expert knowledge.

The GBIF nodes in Africa have identified developmentof research priorities and a curriculum for biodiversity
information management as key issues for theregion, and this is expected to be a focus of the Africa
regional meeting from 16-18 April.
Rough Dreamer (Oneirodes sabex) from FishMap

FishMap can be accessed at http://fish.ala.org.au.
22Aug 2011

Dashboard provides data overview on
GBIF.es

no 33 Mar 2013This dataset of 3529 records, covering 631 fishspecies, was the subject of a data paper publishedin ZooKeys journal. It used the workflow enabling
researchers to generate manuscripts for academic
journals at the same time they author the metadata
associated with a dataset using GBIF publishingsoftware.
The data paper can be found at
http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/
article/3032/abstract/a-dataset-from-bottom-trawlsurvey-around-taiwan, and the data can be viewed
through the GBIF portal at http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14682/.

Users of GBIF Spain’s website can now see at a glancea summary of the biodiversity data being publishedfrom the country’s institutions. A new dashboard
feature includes information such as the leading
publishers, types and numbers of records, location ofcollections and trends in data publication and usage.

NEW DATA
Colombia
Since the last issue of GBits, Colombia has publishedtwenty-five biodiversity datasets from seveninstitutions, comprising nearly 100,000 records.
The datasets include:• ants, birds and plants surveyed in coffee
plantations, published by the National Federationof Coffee Growers in Colombia;• vertebrate fauna from surveys of two energy
production centres, published by the utility
company ISAGEN;• more than 30,000 insect records from theentomological collection of Universidad del Valle,
the third largest university in Colombia;• ferns and fauna recorded by Corantoquia, thebody responsible for managing natural resourcesin the Antoquia department of Colombia; and• reptiles, amphibians and plants published fromthe collections of Universidad de la Salle inBogotá.

Chinese Taipei/Taiwan
The Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility, TaiBIF,
has published data recording more than 600 fish
species from a four-year survey of the coastal waters
around the island.
The survey was the largest-ever study of bottomdwelling fish in the region. It collected data on fishcaught by trawlers between 2000 and 2003, andaimed to evaluate the impact of a ban on trawlingwithin three nautical miles of the shoreline, whichcame into force in 1989. As part of the survey, fish
specimens collected from trawling were counted andtheir body weight measured.

Netherlands
The Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, whichholds the fifth largest natural history collection inthe world, has published nearly a million records ofmolluscs, beetles, moths, butterflies, sawflies, wasps,
bees and ants. Data come from specimens held at theNaturalis museum.

Spain
GBIF Spain has published more than half a million
georeferenced plant records from the Third National
Forest Inventory (IFN3), conducted by the Ministry ofEnvironment, Rural and Marine Affairs from 1997 to2006. The data, covering 326 species, were gatheredfrom fieldwork throughout mainland Spain, theBalearic and Canary Islands.

NorwayThe Norwegian Institute for Nature Research has
published over 87,000 records of 1,100 aquatic
species found in Norway, including water beetles,
water fleas, plankton and molluscs.

United Kingdom
The UK National Biodiversity Network, which acts as
the GBIF national node, has published 18 datasetswith a total of 25,000 records. Most of the data
were gathered from surveys, and include records forlichen, plants, moths and micro-moths, ladybirds,grasshoppers and crickets, wood grouse, water voles,
otters and gwyniad – a freshwater fish native to Bala
Lake in North Wales.

United States
The Emporia State University, in Kansas, has publishedover 17,000 records of North American flora fromits herbarium. The collection specializes in native
regional plants, especially species associated with theremaining tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills of Kansas.
The data were published through the VertNet datanetwork.
33

GBitsCanada

McGill University, located in Montreal, Canada, haspublished over a quarter million records of insect
and spider specimens in its Lyman EntomologicalMuseum. Data were published through theCanadensys data network.

INFORMATICS
User feedback invited on GBIF platform
GBits readers are invited to explore and ‘test drive’a prototype platform for collaborative development
and maintenance of vocabularies for biodiversity
informatics.
The GBIF Terminology Platform, http://terms.gbif.org,
is based on MediaWiki, the open source wiki engine
that underpins Wikipedia, and uses the Semantic
MediaWiki extension. This allows data items to betagged and queried within the wiki pages.
The prototype is currently populated with a numberof vocabularies including Darwin Core and Audubon
Core. Feedback is sought on ease-of-use, generalusefulness, and suggestions for enhancement.
Please try out the platform and report back on yourexperience via the GBIF community site.
You will need to create an account on the GBIF
community site if you want to edit the platform –then you can comment directly in the discussion
associated with each wiki page.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Meetings and workshops
African regional nodes meeting
16-18 April 2013, Pretoria, South Africa
2nd OpenUp! Annual Meeting
24-26 April 2013, Prague, Czech RepublicMore information…
Pro-iBiosphere meetings
21-23 May 2013, Berlin, Germany
More information…

Training events
Workshop on biodiversity information forenvironmental conservation by I3B
15-18 April 2013, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica
More information…
Training course in Biodiversity information - session
2013, by RMCA
3-28 June 2013, Tervuren, Belgium
More information…
VertNet Biodiversity Informatics Training Workshop II
24-28 June 2013, Boulder, United States of America
More information…

Development of the terminology platform was fundedby the European Union ViBRANT project, throughwhich GBIF collaborated with the Julius-Kühn Institutin Berlin.
For further information, and to submit feedback,please contact:
Éamonn Ó Tuama (eotuama@gbif.org)
Dag Endresen (dag.endresen@nhm.uio.no)
Gregor Hagedorn (g.m.hagedorn@gmail.com)

VISION OF GBIF: A world in which biodiversity
information is freely and universally available forscience, society, and a sustainable future.

MISSION OF GBIF: To be the foremost global resourcefor biodiversity information, and engender smart
solutions for environmental and human well-being.

GBIF Secretariat
Universitetsparken 15
DK-2100 Copenhagen ØDenmark

Tel: +45 35 32 14 70
Fax: +45 35 32 14 80
E-mail: info@gbif.org

http://www.gbif.org/
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