Last modified: 2011-09-09
Abstract
Digitization of ornithological content at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) through a Rubenstein Fellowship (URL 1) contributes to the goal of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). EOL wants to describe and illustrate all species known to science, via a freely accessible online information system (URL 2), as a partnership between the scientific community and the public.
To create or enrich EOL taxon pages about Afrotropical birds, we integrate biological information and images from various sources via a new LifeDesk (URL 3). Therefore, we summarize scientific content (including descriptions of species and ecological, distributional, genetic and conservation aspects) from publications (such as specialized papers and handbooks about birds) and online resources (such as BirdLife International, URL 4). Extra information from digitized old literature can be linked via Biodiversity Heritage Library (URL 5). Beside contributions of professional or amateur photographers, images are assembled from the RMCA’s photographic archives, including historical grayscale pictures of living birds. Generally, the current names are according to one of the most important modern classifications of birds, namely The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World (Dickinson (ed.), 2003).
The taxa selection is especially based on Louette’s ongoing research (such as on Accipiter raptors and Ploceus weavers), endemism and threat status of birds in the Congo Basin and surroundings and on presence in the ornithological collection at the RMCA. This collection is one of the most important in the world for the avifauna of tropical Africa especially due to its type specimens. Through a digitization project funded by the Belgian Science Policy, the RMCA’s 130 name-bearing types were photographed and made available via a Zoomify application (e.g. URL 6) in the framework of the Semantic web-based Thematic European Reference Network Application (URL 7). This bird type data set is already accessible online via a BioCASE portal (URL 8 for the general interface) using the Access to Biological Collection Data (ABCD) Schema (URL 9 for an example of a specific web page with metadata about the type specimens linked via XML) thanks to RMCA cybertaxonomy unit’s experience in Biodiversity Information Standards. Besides, through the European Network for Biodiversity Information, the Albertine Rift Birds data set contains additional taxa of specimens (URL 10) which are photographed and of which georeferenced occurrence records have already been provided to GBIF (URL 11), on which EOL based some distribution maps.
All this online access to knowledge about the remarkable Sub-Saharan avifauna will be valuable for scientists and birders. Besides, it may act to enliven collaboration among African experts and help conservation and management in some of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
URLs (06/09/2011):
URL 1: http://eol.org/info/fellows
URL 2: http://eol.org
URL 3: http://afrotropicalbirds.lifedesks.org
URL 4: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/search
URL 5: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
URL 6: http://biology.africamuseum.be/STERNAImages/Ornithology/SternaRMCADetails.php?image=_PHM8132
URL 7: http://www.sterna-net.eu
URL 8: http://193.190.223.47/biocase_rmca/querytool/main.cgi?dsa=STERNA_gbifmapping
URL 9: http://biology.africamuseum.be/STERNA_BioCASE/spec/RMCA A.24144
URL 10: http://projects.bebif.be/enbi/albertinerift/birds/taxalist?sort=as_image