1. A decadal view of biodiversity informatics: challenges and priorities
- Author
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Alex, Hardisty, Dave, Roberts, Wouter, Addink, Bart, Aelterman, Donat, Agosti, Linda, Amaral-Zettler, Arturo H, Ariño, Christos, Arvanitidis, Thierry, Backeljau, Nicolas, Bailly, Lee, Belbin, Walter, Berendsohn, Nic, Bertrand, Neil, Caithness, David, Campbell, Guy, Cochrane, Noël, Conruyt, Alastair, Culham, Christian, Damgaard, Neil, Davies, Bruno, Fady, Sarah, Faulwetter, Alan, Feest, Dawn, Field, Eric, Garnier, Guntram, Geser, Jack, Gilbert, Grosche, David, Grosser, Bénédicte, Herbinet, Donald, Hobern, Andrew, Jones, Yde, de Jong, David, King, Sandra, Knapp, Hanna, Koivula, Wouter, Los, Chris, Meyer, Robert A, Morris, Norman, Morrison, David, Morse, Matthias, Obst, Evagelos, Pafilis, Larry M, Page, Roderic, Page, Thomas, Pape, Cynthia, Parr, Alan, Paton, David, Patterson, Elisabeth, Paymal, Lyubomir, Penev, Marc, Pollet, Richard, Pyle, Eckhard, von Raab-Straube, Vincent, Robert, Tim, Robertson, Olivier, Rovellotti, Hannu, Saarenmaa, Peter, Schalk, Joop, Schaminee, Paul, Schofield, Andy, Sier, Soraya, Sierra, Vince, Smith, Edwin, van Spronsen, Simon, Thornton-Wood, Peter, van Tienderen, Jan, van Tol, Éamonn Ó, Tuama, Peter, Uetz, Lea, Vaas, Régine, Vignes Lebbe, Todd, Vision, Duong, Vu, Aaike, De Wever, Richard, White, Kathy, Willis, Fiona, Young, Experimental Plant Systematics (IBED, FNWI), School of Computer Sciences & Informatics [Cardiff], Cardiff University, National History Museum of London, European Union 7th Framework Programme within the Research Infrastructures group (283359 261532), and Fady, Bruno
- Subjects
QA75 ,0106 biological sciences ,data sharing ,Information Dissemination ,Biodiversity ,Biodiversity informatics ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Ecosystem services ,03 medical and health sciences ,Environmental Science(all) ,Correspondence ,research infrastructure ,11. Sustainability ,Animals ,Humans ,informatics ,Sociology ,Ecosystem ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,biodiversity ,030304 developmental biology ,General Environmental Science ,0303 health sciences ,GE ,Food security ,e-Infrastructure ,Ecology ,QH ,Computational Biology ,15. Life on land ,[SDV.BIBS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Quantitative Methods [q-bio.QM] ,systems approaches ,Data sharing ,decadal vision ,grand challenge ,13. Climate action ,Informatics ,Sustainability ,[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology - Abstract
Biodiversity informatics plays a central enabling role in the research community's efforts to address scientific\ud conservation and sustainability issues. Great strides have been made in the past decade establishing a framework\ud for sharing data, where taxonomy and systematics has been perceived as the most prominent discipline involved.\ud To some extent this is inevitable, given the use of species names as the pivot around which information is\ud organised. To address the urgent questions around conservation, land-use, environmental change, sustainability,\ud food security and ecosystem services that are facing Governments worldwide, we need to understand how the\ud ecosystem works. So, we need a systems approach to understanding biodiversity that moves significantly beyond\ud taxonomy and species observations. Such an approach needs to look at the whole system to address species\ud interactions, both with their environment and with other species.\ud It is clear that some barriers to progress are sociological, basically persuading people to use the technological\ud solutions that are already available. This is best addressed by developing more effective systems that deliver\ud immediate benefit to the user, hiding the majority of the technology behind simple user interfaces. An\ud infrastructure should be a space in which activities take place and, as such, should be effectively invisible.\ud This community consultation paper positions the role of biodiversity informatics, for the next decade, presenting\ud the actions needed to link the various biodiversity infrastructures invisibly and to facilitate understanding that can\ud support both business and policy-makers. The community considers the goal in biodiversity informatics to be full\ud integration of the biodiversity research community, including citizens’ science, through a commonly-shared,\ud sustainable e-infrastructure across all sub-disciplines that reliably serves science and society alike.
- Published
- 2013
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