Integrated Global and Regional Taxonomies

Professor Alex Gray

Species 2000 and Cardiff University

A tribute to Frank Bisby

The Diagram

Users

CoL

GSDs

Lists

Conceptual Idea

• Simple

• Easily understood

BUT • Difficult to implement

• Development needed meeting of minds

• Diversity of data

• Scalability

Implementation

• Prototyping

• New tools

• Tools to support taxonomy

• 15 years ongoing development

• Continual revision and extension

1. What is the Catalogue of Life?

• A Resource…

• an electronic synonymic species checklist,

• a tightly integrated taxonomic hierarchy,

• intended for all 1.9 M extant known species.

• ….constructed by international networking

• both checklist and hierarchy constructed from sectors from

many networked databases around the world

• and integrated using an international panel of experts

Organisation Structure

membership

board secretariat Project team

Taxonomic group

IS group

Ownership

organisation

Organization units

• Project Team (science policy, think tank)

– Taxonomy Group (Team members + advisors)

– Information Technology Group (Team members + advisors)

– User Forum, GNA Group (Team members + advisors)

• Secretariat (Reading) & Executive Director – Supporting activities, administrative tasks

• Board of Directors – legal framework, connection to international efforts, politics

Organization units

Global CoL Team 2011

Guy Baillargeon (Chair) Canada (Executive Secretary) Wouter Addink, Netherlands Jerry Cooper, New Zealand Dennis Gordon, New Zealand Nicolas Bailly, Philippines Hugo Navarrette, Ecuador Richard White (Convenor ISG), UK Tom Orrell, USA

Mike Ruggiero, USA

Heimo Reiner, Austria Mark Costello, China

David Eads (Interim Chair), USA Thierry Bourgoin, France Edward Vanden Berghe, USA

Li-qiang Ji, China Thierry Bourgoin, France Edward Vanden Berghe, USA The Team can be 10-20 people strong Subgroup Taxonomy Subgroup Information System

CoL – Progress by year

0

200.000

400.000

600.000

800.000

1.000.000

1.200.000

1.400.000

1.600.000

1.800.000

2.000.000

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013

Year

Number of species by year

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

-

Members

• Currently 46 members

• There are now 100 participating databases

• Potential is an estimated 150 databases and partners

• Aim is to increase number of members and databases

• Species Database Access Agreement

• Species Database Licence Agreement

Members

Species 2000 is interested in hearing from

any individual or organisation which has a

database which (or is intended) to cover the

world's species within one particular group –

a global species database.

Membership of Species 2000 is open

to any individual, project or institution.

Please contact the Secretariat:

sp2000@sp2000.org.

Indexing for Life

New multi-hub architecture

World-wide Multi-Hub Network, with Regional Hubs

1. Species 2000 China Node (BioD. Com. CAS)

Keping Ma & Liqiang Ji

2. Australian Hub (ABRS with ALA/CSIRO)

Cameron Slatyer & Donald Hobern

3. New Zealand Hub (NZOR)

Jerry Cooper

4. Catalogo da Vida Brasil (MST/ CNPq/ CRIA)

Vanderlei Canhos

5. ITIS N. America (Smithsonian NMNH)

Tom Orrell

6. Sp2000 Euro-Hub (PESI/ Pan European Species List)

Thierry Bourgoin & Yde de Jong

Challenges for the future

• Filling the gaps with proto-GSD

• Improving coverage of existing GSD

• Improving number synonyms/related terms

• Updating existing GSD

• Expand multi-hub regional network

• Expand coverage to ranks above species

• Include fossils

The crossmapper

• Tool being developed in i4Life

• Aims to compare lists with other lists/GSD

• Produces names only in 1 list

• Suggests relationships between terms

• Output passed to taxonomists

• Approved terms added to GSD

• Terms can be added to regional lists

Part of Flora do Brasil family Lis_Brasil sp2000 Diferença

Apocynaceae 2556 144 2412

Bignoniaceae 2150 88 2062

Melastomataceae 1963 114 1849

Lamiaceae 2116 663 1453

Verbenaceae 1363 216 1147

Malvaceae 1049 346 703

Malpighiaceae 736 61 675

Rutaceae 770 177 593

Acanthaceae 762 179 583

Lauraceae 628 80 548

Begoniaceae 552 16 536

Convolvulaceae 703 184 519

Piperaceae 591 95 496

Sapindaceae 523 75 448

Eriocaulaceae 1786 1400 386

Loranthaceae 390 13 377

Clusiaceae 415 110 305

Polypodiaceae 360 64 296

Ochnaceae 289 14 275

Lythraceae 329 57 272

Turneraceae 284 12 272

Polygalaceae 329 81 248

Moraceae 328 81 247

Lecythidaceae 569 346 223

Cyatheaceae 243 31 212

Olacaceae 210 9 201

Comparison Brasil Flora and CoL

Melhores familias para serem testadas

family Lis_Brasil sp2000 Diferença

Apocynaceae 2556 144 2412 Lista do brasil tem MAIS spp

Melastomataceae 1963 114 1849

Lamiaceae 2116 663 1453

Verbenaceae 1363 216 1147

Malvaceae 1049 346 703

Poaceae 2299 12385 -10086 Lista do brasil tem MENOS spp

Orchidaceae 10203 29310 -19107

Fabaceae 5835 25711 -19876

Asteraceae 3649 31448 -27799

Rosaceae 63 44060 -43997

Relationships

Time line in OpenBio

• Stage 1 – prepare xmapper for OpenBio

• Stage 2 – run xmapper on Flora Brasil &GSD

• Stage 3 – pass output to taxonomy group

• Stage 4 – enhance GSD

• Stage 4 – enhance Flora Brasil

Thank you for listening

Demonstration after this session