Integrated Taxonomic
Information System (IT IS)
ITIS is a comprehensive taxonomic database.
Species 2000
Species 2000 has the objective of enumerating all known species of
plants, animals, fungi and microbes on Earth (‘The Catalogue of
Life’) by 2011. It will constitute the baseline dataset for studies
of global biodiversity. Users worldwide will be able to verify the scientific
name, status and classification of any known species through species
checklist data drawn from an array of participating databases. It presently
regroups a federation of 18 database organisations. Members relevant
to marine scientists include:
CoralBase
FishBase
ProkaryoBase
BIOSIS Resources
ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System)
UNESCO-IOC Register of Marine Organisms
Universal Virus Database
ETI (Expert Centre for Taxonomic Identification)
Ocean Biogeographic
Information System - OBIS
OBIS is an on-line portal to marine species distribution data (centralised
and federated databases). OBIS partners are the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility (GBIF), the International Biodiversity Observation
Year 2001-2002, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
OBIS is currently composed of 13 members (The Academy of Natural Sciences
Philadelphia, BATS Zooplankton, Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals, CSIRO
Marine Research, CephBase, FAO Catch and Aquaculture Production, FishBase,
Fishnet, Gulf of Maine Biogeographic Information System, National Ocean
Data Center (NODC), OBIS-SEAMAP, Seamounts Online and ZooGene). It will
develop as a global network of databases providing ocean geospatial
survey data, synoptic ocean environmental data, and species-specific
data (taxonomy, specimen, DNA sequence, etc.).
AlgaeBase
Algae Base is a searchable database storing taxonomic and distribution
information on seaweeds and seagrasses.
ANT’PHIPODA
ANT’PHIPODA is the reference centre biodiversity data for Antarctic
Amphipoda at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
ChEssBase
ChESSBase is a site for deep-water hydrothermal vent and cold seep
species, a centralised source of information for deep-water chemosynthetic
ecosystems.
European Register
of Marine Species
European Register of Marine Species is list of species, identification
guides and database of taxonomic experts.
MASDEA
MASDEA is a marine species database for Eastern Africa
MarLIN
Marine Life Information Network is an initiative of the Marine Biological
Association of the UK in collaboration with major holders and users
of marine biological data. Provides information about marine habitats,
communities and species around Britain and Ireland.
SAHFOS
Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) database
SAHFOS site provides plankton abundance in the North Sea and North
Atlantic since 1931.
Fishbase
Fishbase is a database management system for storing and analysing
trawl survey and related data maintained by FAO, World Fish Centre and
the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia.
Reefbase
ReefBase is the world's premier online information system on coral
reefs, and provides information services to coral reef professionals
involved in management, research, monitoring, conservation and education.
NASA's
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
GCMD provides descriptions of Earth science data sets and services
relevant to global change research. The GCMD database includes descriptions
of data sets covering agriculture, the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere
and oceans, snow and ice, geology and geophysics, paleoclimatology,
and human dimensions of global change.
Sea-Search
Sea-Search is a pan-European network for marine and oceanographic
data and information management providing access to the European Directory
on Marine Environmental Datasets, the inventory of research cruises
and the European Directory in Marine Environmental Research Projects.
