Biodiversity Informatics in Biodiversity Informatics in Sustainable Resources Management: Sustainable Resources Management:

Challenges and PotentialsChallenges and Potentials

International Conference on Biodiversity and Livelihoods26-26 March 2009Coonoor, INDIA

Vishwas ChavanGBIF

Earth…. Only known ‘Planet’ that nurtures life….

But, it’s changing fast….

….and is affecting biodiversity

Coral bleaching

….and is affecting human beings

….and is affecting human beings

“Biodiversity knowledge Catastrophe”

….but the worst catastrophe is knocking

Where can I find information about

Lions, Tigers, Frogs, and….

What is needed……....

Content

Content

Content

Content

Content

Content

ContentContentContent

Content

Content

Content

infrastructure

Connectivity

“a priori model” than “a posteriori model”

DataData

Data

Data

Data

DataData

Data

Data

Data

Data

Communication skills

Content

Content

DataData

Data

Data

DataData Data

Teaching skills

syllabus

Uses of Primary Biodiversity Data

Current suitability for agriculture

Future suitability for agriculture

18 GCM models, A2a scenario

Change in global suitability

Number of crops that lose out

Number of crops that gain

More Examples

Gmin: 60, Gmax: 100Ttmp:0, Tmin: 7, TOPmn: 16, TOPmx: 27, Tmax: 32Rmin: 220, ROPmn: 350, ROPmx: 900, Rmax: 1500

Current suitability for common beanCurrent suitability for common bean

Gmin: 60, Gmax: 100Ttmp:0, Tmin: 7, TOPmn: 16, TOPmx: 27, Tmax: 32Rmin: 220, ROPmn: 350, ROPmx: 900, Rmax: 1500

Future suitability for common beanFuture suitability for common bean

Change in bean suitabilityChange in bean suitability

Hence, we must recognize Bio(Diversity), Hence, we must recognize Bio(Diversity), Informatics as corner stone for future Informatics as corner stone for future economy, social, and environmental economy, social, and environmental well being.well being.

Biodiversity Informatics: Definition and History

“the application of information technologies, to the management, algorithmic exploration, analysis, and interpretation of primary data regarding the life, particularly at the species level of organization”

Soberon and Peterson (2004)

Historical Context1992 – Rio de Janeiro “Earth Summit” –Convention on Biological Diversity

- CBD Article 17, 18(3) – Clearing House Mechanism (CHM)- John Whiting used the term “Biodiversity Informatics”

1996 - OECD Megascience Forum on Biological Informatics2001 - Global Biodiversity Information Facility2003 - The Global Biodiversity Challenge – “2010 Targets”2004 - International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB)

- DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference2007 - G8+5 Environment Ministers – Postdam Initiatives

- SpeciesBase: Global Species Information System- Encyclopedia of Life

2008 - GBIF sets goal of discovery of 5bn and mobilisation of 2bn data records by 2011

- GEO-BON2008 - eBioSphere 09 conf at London, June 1-3, 2009

Biodiversity Informatics: The State of the ArtEarly work in BI could be traced back to 1970 – Australian

Herbarium Digitization

Mobilizing Biodiversity Data– Catalogue of Known Biota– Specimen and Observation Data– Environmental and Ecological Data

Standards, Protocols, and Tools– Standards and Protocols –TDWG promoted standards– Collection Management Tools– Data Cleaning Tools– Modeling Tools– Web Services and Computational tools

Informatics Infrastructure BuildingERIN, HISPID, CONABIO, INBio, BIN21, US NBII, OBIS, GISIN, CBD-CHM, ERMS, ENHSIN, BioCASE, TDWG, ENBI, LifeWatch, ETI, Fauna Europea, CRIA (Brazil), ITIS, Species2000, NatureServe, TaiBIF, BioGIS (Israel), CBIF (Canada), ILDIS, IABIN, NABIN, InfoNatura, EoL, EDIT, LifeWatch, GEO-BON, Scratchpads, etc.

Capacity Building, Outreach, and Open Access InitiativesCODATA, WSIS, CBD, GBIF, Gaikwad and Chavan (2006)

Over 1500 resources – BIR (Biodiversity Information Resources)

BIR: Analysis

Metadata of 1383 resources documented

Less resources on lower kingdomsAnimalia (50%), Plantae (30%), Fungi (8.39%), Bacteria (1.14%)

Less resources with local coverage

90% of resources are databases and databanks

Progress in biodiversity informatics is uneven and imbalanced similar to

biodiversity and biodiversity information

Geographic Scope

559

301 285239

0100200300400500600

Global National Local RegionalGeographic location type

Nu

mb

er o

f lo

cati

on

s

Database/Databank90.75%

Other9.25%

St/ Pr/ Sc0.65%

ST3.76%

IS/ IN4.84%

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Taxa

nom

ic

Nat

ural

His

tory

Imag

e

Ref

erra

l

Obs

erva

tiona

l

Geo

spat

ial

Gen

omic

Edu

catio

nal

Clim

ate

Phy

lloge

netic

PB

Rs

Types of databases/databanks

Nu

mb

er o

f re

sou

rces

Large volume of biodiversity data and information is in languages

other than English

Biodiversity Informatics

activities are concentrated in the North

Biodiversity Informatics in Mega-Biodiversity World: Why?

Three Arguments– Exploding Population – A National Challenge– Natural Resources based economics– Emerging Knowledge Catastrophe

Biodiversity Informatics in India - Status– Enormous data– Isolated, distributed, heterogeneous forms and formats– Data is in “prison”- cultural barrier of sharing data

Sporadic biodiversity initiatives in IndiaENVIS, BTISNet, ARISNETNBSAP called for implementation of Indian Biodiversity Information System (IBIS)NBDB – Indian Biodiversity Information NetworkBiological Diversity Act 2002 – Peoples Biodiversity RegisterFew institutions – NCL, ATREE, UAS, CES, FRLHT, NIO, etc.

Collectiondatabases

Observationaldatabases

Ecological andenvironmental data

Conservationdatabases

Literaturereferences and articles

GIS and remote sensing

data

?

Peoples BiodiversityAnd TKDL

Experts and Institutions

Current Scenario: Especially in Megabiodiversity WorldWealth of distributed data, heterogeneous, and isolated datasets !

GBIF Mandate

Priorities: mobilising biodiversity data, developing protocols and standards building a global informatics architecture promoting capacity building, and catalysing development of scientific analytical

tools for improved decision-making

-to facilitate free and open access to biodiversity data worldwide, via the Internet, to underpin scientific research, conservation and sustainable development.

Seamless integration of data from many sources

Searches Taxonomic Geographic, by

country, region, or bounding-box

By dataset or a combination of these

Taxonomic browse navigation using choice of classification

Web services

The GBIF Data Portal

GBIF primary biodiversity data

2 bn data records target......

Digital

Biodiversity Data

Data mobilisation is like moving mountains…….

Local Action is the key to achieve

‘Global Dreams’

IndFauna, Electronic Catalogue of Known

Indian Fauna

IndCollection – National Natural History

Management Information System

SaGrIS, Sacred Groves Information System

SaGrIS Mapper

SaGrIS would SaGrIS would encourage encourage efficient efficient conservation conservation and natural and natural resources resources management management of these of these specialized specialized ecosystems.ecosystems.

Talk the languages that people understand the

best

Data Exchange Standards are the key

Data Exchange Standards

Darwin Core (DwC) Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD)

Primary occurrence records

Natural history collections Natural Collections Descriptions (NCD)

Taxon level information Taxon Concept Schema (TCS) Species Profile Model (SPM) Plinian Core

Ecological data

Geospatial data

Ecological Metadata Language (EML)

Geography Markup Language (GML)

Success Mantras’

Think Globally – Act Locally Biodiversity Informatics is a ‘TeamWork’ Collaborations is the ‘Key’ to success Leverage upon past, present investment Plan for ‘Data Publishing Framework’ Domain Experts involvement is MUST ‘Discovery’ first, followed by ‘Mobilisation’ Work beyond ‘comfort’ zone Scope for every one Work with those willing to work Ready to be ignored treated as competitor

compulsive compliments SUCCESS! Dedication, Consistence, Perseverance

Species Forecast

Eco Report

BioAlert

SpeciesMonitor

Dreams can come true!!!

“Teaming Together”

Thank You!