Mark J. Costello & Gerhard Pohle

Atlantic Reference Centre

Huntsman Marine Science Centre,

St Andrews, Canada

Ocean Biogeographic Information SystemOcean Biogeographic Information System

(OBIS)(OBIS)

Why?Why?1.1. To provide access to data for new and historical data To provide access to data for new and historical data

amassed by the CoMLamassed by the CoML2.2. To provide a portal to biological oceanography data at a To provide a portal to biological oceanography data at a

global scaleglobal scale

11stst OBIS Workshop November 1999 OBIS Workshop November 1999 USA NOPP 2000, 8 projects,15 countries, $3.7 million USA NOPP 2000, 8 projects,15 countries, $3.7 million 22ndnd OBIS Workshop September 2000 OBIS Workshop September 2000 International Steering Committee formed May 2001International Steering Committee formed May 2001 NSF, Rutgers hub funded June 2001 – 1NSF, Rutgers hub funded June 2001 – 1stst website proves concept website proves concept Joins GBIF as marine Associate Member July 2001Joins GBIF as marine Associate Member July 2001 NOPP 2002, up to $6.0 million NOPP 2002, up to $6.0 million

Ocean Biogeographic Information SystemOcean Biogeographic Information SystemOcean Biogeographic Information SystemOcean Biogeographic Information System

Ocean Biogeographic Information SystemInternational Steering Committee

• Mark J. Costello, Canada - Chair • Neil Ashcroft, United Kingdom• Geoff Boxshall, United Kingdom• Daphne Fautin, USA• Kim Finney, Australia• Rainer Froese, Germany• Dennis Gordon, New Zealand • J. Fredrick Grassle, USA• Yoshihisa Shirayama, Japan

Website manager: Yunqing (Phoebe) Zhang

Research Associates: Karen Stocks, James Wood

Present OBIS content: data FishNet – fish in museums FishBase – all about fish CephBase – all about squid & octopus Hexacorallia – anemones to corals Indo-Pacific molluscs Seamounts – species ecology BATS zooplankton – Bermuda long-term monitoring ZooGENE – calanoid copepods GMBIS – Gulf of Maine NODC plankton 

Biological Structure – Gulf of Maine

Seasonal climatologies & BIO groundfish database

Bottom Temp, Avg.Cod abundance[20yr]Summer, NE.GOM

Overlay: [Chl-A] imagery, flow fields, bathymetrySpring, S.GOM/Georges Bank

• links b/w areas [phytoplankton], local circulation & topography • phytoplankton concentrated at Georges Bank & along coast

• distribution of cod generally constrained to rel. narrow bottom temperature range• within this spatial autocorrelation/local structure observed that is not explained by Temperature• note: considerable temporal variability in spatial abundance distributions of cod

The The IllexIllexSquid Squid

collapsecollapse

from Gulf of from Gulf of Maine BISMaine BIS- a part of - a part of

OBISOBIS

Data on the way to OBIS Nemertea Aplacophora Mammals, birds, turtles Hydroids Southampton Oceanography Centre pelagic HMAP TIES (Chesapeake Bay)

+ NEW MEMBERS ON THE WAY!!

Present OBIS content: tools

Mapping OBIS Dynamic Mapper

(ARC-IMS) EASy Netviewer C-Squares

System building DODS, OPenDAP Species Analyst / DiGIR 

Prediction /analysis WhyWhere GARP, LifeMapper LOICZ view

Species names Names species and places Name Servers Syngraph

OBIS progress and future OBIS progress and future

More More 1.1. data being added to portal (400,000 records 2002)data being added to portal (400,000 records 2002)2.2. ocean environment overlays ocean environment overlays 3.3. tools for GIS and data analysis tools for GIS and data analysis

Standards developmentStandards developmentGazetteersGazetteersGlossaryGlossary

All open-access on website portalAll open-access on website portal

www.iobis.org

An achievable vision All valid marine species names on-line within 10 years All known species listed in the Catalogue of Life Global standards and protocols in species informatics Species guides (descriptions and images) on-line Species distributions on-line Improved quality control in identification and taxonomy Data archiving a standard ‘good’ practice Electronic ‘publication’ integrated into science culture Increased rate of species being described New understandings of role of biodiversity in ecosystems