Report prepared for the Experts Meeting Towards the Implementation of a Global Invasive Species
Information Network (GISIN), 6-8 April, 2004. Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Page 86
8/30/2004
Examples of these reference databases
include taxonomic authority files (TAF)
supporting descriptions of organisms,
thesauri that support ecosystem or process
descriptions, and digital gazetteers that
contain location information about the data.
The Institute had to build new taxonomic
authority files because of the high degree of
undescribed biodiversity in Colombia, and
the need to provide taxonomic information
in Spanish. The SIB does not have the
capacity to develop a digital gazetteer, but it
does have an online digital directory of the
gazetteers that are currently available. An
online methods and attributes catalog was
also built by the Institute as part of this
project.
Every biological record in the model refers
to a reference or a contact, or both. In terms
of a database of invasive species, the
‘What’ question is answered with species
name, taxonomic category, or common
name. ‘Where’ is answered with names of
places, coordinates (if available), and other
biogeographical information. ‘Who’
concerns information about the data source
including geography, project, person, or
organization. The question of ‘When’ is
satisfied by the inclusion of dates and times
while ‘How’ involves information such as
descriptions of invasion patterns, impacts,
or biological and ecological conditions.
The CISD is not currently online, but the
Institute is continuing to develop the SIB
search engine and portal where information
on people, organizations, projects,
documents, news, taxonomic information,
and metadata can be located by keyword
online in Spanish at
ervicios/jsp/buscadorsib2/. Metadata
catalogs are available for each data set to
describe the data provider and content.
However, the data itself is not yet available.
Conclusion
There is still more work to be done. An
infrastructure needs to be built to make the
data available online. To insure the success
of the project, capacity building must be a
priority and a trusting relationship must be
developed between the Institute and data
providers. Financial support and the
availability of skilled people that are
interested in working on this project are also
key factors that will effect the continued
development of the system. The Institute
also welcomes and encourages comments
and recommendations. The SIB will
continue to be developed as a national
alliance among people and institutions, with
the goal of facilitating data and information
management, and efficiently supporting
research, education, and decision making
processes related to knowledge,
conservation, and sustainable use of
Colombian biodiversity.
Selected References:
Noss, R. F. 1990. Indicators for monitoring
biodiversity : a hierarchical approach. Conservation
Biology 4(4):355-364.
Metadata
Contact
Reference
Thesaurus
M&A
Cat
Atributes
Who?
Where?
When?
How?
What?
BR
Methods
TAF
DG
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