Paleobiology Database User Guide Version 1.0

1. Introduction 1.1 What is the Paleobiology Database? The Paleobiology Database (PBDB, paleobiodb.org) is an online, non-governmental, non-profit public resource for paleontological data. It is organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. Its purpose is to provide global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for organisms of all geological ages, as well as data services to facilitate access to data for independent development of analytical tools, visualization software, and applications of all types. The PBDB’s broader goal is to encourage and enable data-driven collaborative efforts that address large-scale paleobiological questions (Uhen et al. 2013). 1.2 History of the Paleobiology Database The history of the Paleobiology Database began in the US-based National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)-funded Phanerozoic Marine Paleofaunal Database initiative, which operated from August 1998 through August 2000. The original working group included: John Alroy, Richard Bambach, Karl Flessa, Mike Foote, Steven Holland, Scott Lidgard, David Jablonski, Charles Marshall, Michael McKinney, Arnold Miller, Mark Patzkowsky, David Raup,Kaustuv Roy, Jack Sepkoski, and Peter Wagner. The PBDB was supported from 2000 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2013 by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and has continued to receive funding from various sources within the NSF over the years. It has also received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Research Data Alliance. In addition, many science-driven projects have been funded by grants to individuals and research groups around the world, primarily to enter data into the PBDB for research purposes. The PBDB has also benefited from science education grants from the NSF to develop systems to leverage data in the system for educational purposes. Ongoing funding information can be found here. John Alroy was particularly instrument