Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
Encyclopedia of LifeBiodiversity Synthesis Center –
Accelerating the pace of scientific discovery
Torsten Dikow
Biodiversity Synthesis CenterField Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
◊ Encyclopedia of Life – EOL
◊ Biodiversity Heritage Library – BHL
◊ Biodiversity Synthesis Center – BioSynC
◊ LifeDesk
◊ Sharing images with EOL
◊ EOL Fellows Program
Hoplistomerus nobilis, Asilidae
Overview
“The Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about all life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world” (www.eol.org)
www.eol.org blog.eol.org
✝ Schildia martini, Dominican amber Schildia fragilis, extant
Encyclopedia of Life
◊ 1.8 Million species pages
◊ A web-site for every species that roams or roamed the earth
◊ Freely available – Customizable by user – Common portal
2 mm 2 mm
◊ Five components• Secretariat• Biodiversity Informatics Group• Scanning & Digitization Group• Species Site Group• Education & Outreach Group• Biodiversity Synthesis Group
◊ Cornerstone institutions• Smithsonian Institution• Field Museum of Natural History• Harvard University• Marine Biological Laboratory• Missouri Botanical Garden• Biodiversity Heritage Library• Atlas of Living Australia
Encyclopedia of Life
Washington, DC, USAWoods Hole, MA , USAWashington, DC, USAWashington, DC, USABoston, MA, USAChicago, IL, USA
Washington, DC, USAChicago, IL, USABoston, MA, USAWoods Hole, MA , USASt. Louis, MO, USAWashington, DC, USACanberra, ACT, Australia
◊ General need for accurate species information
◊ Information displayed comes from• aggregation (mash-up) of data from online sources• sharing data with existing online databases• workbench LifeDesk to upload information
◊ Not another Wikipedia
◊ Private foundations have funded initial development
Encyclopedia of Life
◊ Useful for scientists and general public• Scientific community
– assembles & authenticates scientific information
• General public– submits photos, data, other information– scientists review information– best media etc. brought into authenticated page
Encyclopedia of Life
Teacher develops lesson plans on conservation.
Port inspector uses EOL and molecular barcoding to monitor ballast water.
Climate researchers link changes in butterfly populations to climate change.
Taxonomist in a developing country accesses literature to describe new species.
Eco-tourist downloads electronic field guide to prepare for trip to
Himalayas.
Encyclopedia of Life
Biodiversity Heritage Library – BHL
www.biodiversitylibrary.org
James Dwight DanaZoophytes. Atlas, 1849
BHL – An International Consortium
• Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London, UK
• Natural History Museum, London, UK
• American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
• New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY, USA
• Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
• Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
• Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, USA
• Harvard University – Botany & Ernst Mayr Libraries, Boston, MA, USA
• Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Searchable online and linked through EOL
BHL – Scanning of entire taxonomic literature
◊ Core literature pre-1923 (out of copyright in the USA)• 400,000 titles = 80 million pages
◊ All pre-1923 literature• 600–750,000 = 120–150 million pp.
◊ All taxonomic literature• 1.4–1.6 million = 280–320 million pp.
◊ High-resolution
◊ OCR text PDF – copy/paste descriptions etc.
BHL – Downloading
BHL – Downloading
BHL – Scanning the literature of your interest
◊ Community-vetted bibliography
◊ Scanning priority• Diplopoda
◊ Scan institutional journals• ZSM journals
◊ Copyright• institutions might be willing to waive• Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Corydalis cava, Fumariaceae
◊ One of five components of the EOL
◊ Based at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL
◊ BioSynC is one way for scientists to directly take advantage of and support the EOL
Biodiversity Synthesis Center – BioSynC
synthesis.eol.org
◊ Accelerate the pace of scientific discovery in taxonomy, biodiversity, & evolution.
◊ Support the growth of the EOL by facilitating cross-disciplinary involvement of the scientific community.
◊ Provide a central meeting location for biologists to explore new ideas & develop tools for synthetic analysis of biodiversity.
BioSynC – Goals
Cactaceae
BioSynC – Synthesis Meetings
◊ Topics proposed by international community
◊ Bring together groups for specific goals
◊ Budgets of up to US$ 50,000
◊ Content for research and EOL
◊ Tool development for research and EOL
◊ New questions or Ideas
Corydalis cava, Fumariaceae
BioSynC – Tree of Life Visualisation
www.adobe.com/xd/eol
BioSynC – Megadiverse & Understudied Taxa
◊ BryozoaDec 2007
◊ DecapodaJun 2008
◊ DipteraOct 2008
◊ HeteropteraFeb 2009
◊ DiplopodaMar 2009
◊ Hotspot mapping
◊ Regional & habitat searches within EOL
◊ Educational efforts in biodiversity
◊ Biodiversity conservation & preservation
BioSynC – Conservation Biology
Biodiversity hotspotssensu Conservation International
◊ Proposalsreceived = 27, approved = 18
◊ Submissions• 46 individuals from 30 institutions in 11 countries
Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States
◊ Participants• 177 from 89 institutions in 31 countries
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Kingdom, and United States
• 99 faculty, professors, or curators• 31 students (high school, undergraduate, and graduate)• 47 other (e.g., programmers, educators, or collection managers)
BioSynC – Statistics
• Early land plants – liverworts• Scleractinia corals• Fossil Marine Tetrapoda• Biogeography tools
TreeViz Dec 2007 San Francisco, CA, USABryoZone Dec 2007 Chicago, IL, USAMegaTrees April 2008 Chicago, IL, USAIEDG May 2008 Berkeley, CA, USADecapoda June 2008 Keelung, TaiwanI Dig Tanzania June 2008 Chicago, IL, USALifeDesk September 2008 Chicago, IL, USADiptera October 2008 Chicago, IL, USATDWG October 2008 Fremantle, WA, AustraliaHeteroptera February 2009 Riverside, CA, USADiplopoda March 2009 Munich, Germany
Planned synthesis meetings
BioSynC – Previous synthesis meetings
• Peracarida• Fossil fishes• Fish MegaTree
LifeDesk – Public Accesslifedesk.eol.org/leptogastrinae
LifeDesk – Scientists Access
LifeDesk – Classification editor
Share photos with EOL through flickr.com
◊ Rules• image set to public• image is licensed with public domain or CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-NC-SA http://creativecommons.org/about/license/
• image is tagged using machine tags– binomial scientific name– genus name– family name
◊ Additional data• common name• geographic information
– “geo:lat=”; “geo:lon=”– “geo:alt=”
Grazia tincta, Pentatomidae
www.flickr.com/groups/encyclopedia_of_life/
taxonomy:binomial=“Grazia tincta“taxonomy:genus=Graziataxonomy:family=Pentatomidae
Encyclopedia of Life – Fellows Program
◊ Cofunding of EOL contributor through Species Sites Group• salary of up to US$ 20,000 annually• institutions or grants provide matching funds• directly contributing to EOL content (250 species pages)
◊ Competetive applications from around the world
◊ Great outreach component for grants !
◊ Starting September 2009
Damalis speciosa, Asilidae
Encyclopedia of Life – Funding◊ John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation◊ Alfred P. Sloan Foundation◊ J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation◊ Harris Family Foundation◊ MaryEllen and Richard Keyser◊ Lewis Manilow◊ Antonio Gracias
