Building: Main Building 1st Floor
Room: Salone degli Oceani
Last modified: 2013-10-08
Abstract
Authors: Peter Schalk, Wouter Addink, Yuri Roskov.
Species 2000
Launched in 1996, the Catalogue of Life (CoL) fosters one of older Virtual Communities in biodiversity science. A worldwide network of 135 Global Species Databases provide peer-reviewed input on taxonomic sectors of the CoL that is updated monthly. The CoL versions are available in the form of webservices and downloads, and an Annual Checklist, that ‘freezes taxonomy on a year by year basis’ is released on DVD-ROM. The September 2013 version of the CoL lists over 1,4 million species and millions of synonyms. The production of the CoL is realized by Species 2000 in collaboration with ITIS.
Recent European investments resulted in an improved ICT infrastructure to (semi-automatically) build and update the CoL and a range of tools and services to interact with the user community. A cross-mapping tool supports fast comparisons of biodiversity databases against the CoL and reports on similarities and differences. A Piping Tool funnels unlisted names back to the GSDs for processing and updating. An extensive cross-mapping exercise with the major biodiversity information resources (GBIF, EoL, IUCN, CBOL, EBI-EMBL) promotes data harmonization in the community and improves interoperability.
The CoL is a true product of the collaborating global taxonomic community. It serves millions of users through its own websites and many more through other biodiversity information systems such as GBIF, EoL, LifeWatch who deploy it as taxonomic backbone. The growing number of users and dependence of others on the CoL demand a stable basis for continuity and sustainable services.
Species 2000 has assured long term stability and sustainability for the CoL through a hosting agreement with Naturalis Biodiversity Center in The Netherlands, flanked by a substantial sponsoring contract. The various task and responsibilities for the CoL are realized through a distributed secretariat properly embedded in the global taxonomic community. A true virtual organization.