Corals and sea anemones on line: a functioning biodiversity database D. G. Fautin and R. W. Buddemeier University of Kansas: Department of Ecology and.

Corals and sea anemones on line: a functioning biodiversity database

D. G. Fautin and R. W. Buddemeier

University of Kansas:Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,

Natural History Museum, Kansas Geological Survey

NOAA Library, 21 November 2002

National Science Foundation grants OCE 00-03970 (NOPP)

to Daphne G. Fautin and Robert W. Buddemeier

DEB95-21819, DEB 99-78106 (PEET)to Daphne G. Fautin

Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ, an IGBP project)

Students and colleagues whohave contributed data, time,

and ideas -- especially Adorian Ardelean

Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals (http://www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral/)

An on-line information resource system that consists of

two interactive databasesone dealing with taxonomy and biogeography of

hexacorals (corals, sea anemones, and their allies)

one dealing with environmental information for the marine environment

linked by front ends offering user support for searching, analyzing, and downloading the data

Useful biological ‘databases’ cannot be just collections of

numbers – nor can the databases that support and interact with

them!

SOME CONTENT

A BIT OF SOFTWARE DETAIL

PHILOSOPHY AND SUGGESTIONS

FUNCTIONALITY

“Hexacoral” serves literature-derived, specimen-based distributional and environmental data on living hexacorallians of all orders

Holdings are most complete for the soft-bodied taxa, but data on Scleractinia are expanding rapidly and in coordination with NMITA

961 genera and 7602 binomens and trinomens

2612 original descriptions 2712 valid species

1648 type specimen lots (on line; about as many waiting to be entered)

4404 images

In addition to the data listed at right, fields have been added for:

•nematocysts

•symbionts and associates

•substrate type

•reproduction

•skeletal type

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THE CORE PAGE

SYNGRAPH: a synonymy tool with both graphical and tabular outputs

Developed by Adorian Ardelean, Syngraph has been fully implemented for actinians, and is being applied to other groups as the database expands

illustrationsfrom originaldescriptions

originalphotomicrographs of type material

originalphotos of type specimens

IMAGES

Occurrence records displayed on a map use symbols of a different color for each synonymous name. This function can be used for investigating whether a synonymy is justified.

“Hexacoral” as a research tool

For taxa with georeferenced records, a query of the companion global 30’ environmental database produces summaries of general environmental conditions for individual entries or a summary for the taxon

“Hexacoral” as a research tool

to predict other placesthe species might occur,includinghabitats that might be vulnerable to invasion

Occurrence data are scarce

To increase number of records per taxon > collect more (from museums, field, literature)

few museum records are on line, many are taxonomically dubious, or both

> include synonyms

Anemones of most species seldom occur without fish symbionts

Anemonefish never occur without a host anemone

“Hexacoral” as a research tool

87 half-degree cells contain 516 usable anemone records

There is good overlap. Non-overlap is because of biological reality (fish do not occur in Hawaii), and sources of data (e.g. publications on anemonefish in Japan are not vouchered by specimens, research on anemones is scarce in South Africa)

PRECISION andACCURACY

Of localityand taxonomy

To minimize problems> a centralized database> from the published record

The combined search page yields an extended form of the “Hexacoral” species data link page

Joint search products

“Hexacoral” dynamic location maps of NMITA fossil occurrences

NMITA stratigraphy

An On-line Atlas of Marine Diversity

and a growinginventory of others

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System provides a “system of systems” –

biological and environmental databases, geospatially and taxonomically resolved,

with tools to meet the needs of a widerange of users, disciplines, and problems

“Hexacoral” and its partners are members of OBIS

  Systems used

ORACLE

COLDFUSION

ArcIMS

Oceanographic data acquired electronicallyDiffer from biological data in being

relatively homogeneouscontinuous

Lack taxonomic resolutionLack historical dimension

“Two beautiful SeaWiFS satellite images of blooms off Newfoundland in the western Atlantic, the left-hand on 21st July 1999, the right-hand one

on 16th July 2000.”

http://www.soes.soton.ac.uk/staff/tt/eh/satbloompics.html

“Two more stunning SeaWiFS satellite images of a probable (no ships have ever taken water samples to confirm them there) coccolithophore bloom cradling the Falkland Islands (Patagonian Shelf), the left-hand one on 29th November 1999, the right-hand one two weeks later on 13th December. Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and ORBIMAGE.”

http://www.soes.soton.ac.uk/staff/tt/eh/satbloompics.html

SOURCES OF TAXONOMICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY

RESOLVED DATA

Museum specimens

Published literature

Field work

REQUIRES HUMAN INTERVENTION

In the fieldIn museumsIn publication/capture from publication

= $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Is no more costly than remote sensing

Is essential to many scientific and societal issues

Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals

www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral