ORAL - Kraberg

KrabergMarine biology is at a cross-roads. While traditional biodiversity research projects remain of course of vital importance, the task of disseminating, searching for and analysing marine biodiversity information is increasingly carried out online. The online database system PLANKTON*NET, which at present consists of four individual nodes (planktonnet.awi.de, planktonnet.sb-roscoff.fr, plankton-net.fc.ul.pt and plankton.ocean.org.il) is designed to facilitate the quick retrieval of information on a score of marine and freshwater plankton taxa and currently contains roughly 5000 images (including 1000 observation records) and 750 glossary terms. Originally conceived mainly as an image database, a major redesign of the PLANKTON*NET data model and software in 2007 has produced an extremely flexible database system with a much greater scope that can accommodate not only plankton images and glossaries but also taxonomic information (authorities, taxonomic references in addition to descriptions), biogeographic information and dynamic links to external resources all of which can be viewed simultaneously via the taxon sheets generated for each taxon in the database. Data input of historic data and current research results is also possible not only by PLANKTON*NET partners but also external contributors who can create sets of images inside PLANKTON*NET. These image records can be entered as pure images or as an observation record including biogegraphical information such as co-ordinates and water depth. In addition, a portal has been designed which allows the harvesting of metadata from the 4 existing and any future nodes via OAI-PMH. By combining strictly taxonomic information with information on the distribution of these organisms we have produced a comprehensive system with a wide range of applications from studying the taxonomy and distribution of harmful algae or invasive species to the production of comprehensive species lists for a number of geographic areas. In this talk the latest improvements and tools and their use for marine biodiversity research will be presented.

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