Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) - Outline of the global network and the Australian OBIS Node Tony Rees & Alicja Mosbauer CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research (CMAR) and National Oceans Office (NOO) 13 July 2005

OBIS Outline – July 2005 What is OBIS? OBIS – the Ocean Biogeographic Information System  Single access point for distribution records for marine species from multiple sources over the internet, with onward access to analytical tools and maps  Designated role as the data and information management component of the Census of Marine Life  Currently accessed from a central OBIS Portal at Rutgers University, USA (

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Where does OBIS data come from? (8 databases in 2002, 46 as at June 2005, total 5m records so far...) Key to numbered contributing databases: 1: BATS Zooplankton 2: Hexacorals Database 3: CephBase 4: DFO Scotian Summer Research Trawl Survey 5: FishBase 7: History of Marine Animals (HMAP) 8: Indo-Pacific Mollusks 9: NODC WOD01 Plankton Database (NODC) 10: SeamountsOnline 11: ZooGene 12: Southampton Oceanography Center Discovery Collections Midwater Database (SOC) 13: OBIS-SEAMAP 14: AADC_seabirds 15: AADC_ellie_sightings_heard 16: AADC_weddell_census 17: AADC_weddell_sightings 19: SAHFOS_CPR_ZOOPLANKTON 20: SAHFOS_CPR_PHYTOPLANKTON 21: AADC_herbarium 22: AADC_whale_catch 23: Taxonomic Information System for the Belgian coastal area (EUROBIS) 24: Generic Taxonomical Database System 25: EPA's EMAP Database 26: NBI 27: Ifremer BIOCEAN database (Deep Sea Benthic Fauna) 28: Eastern Canada Benthic Macro Fauna (Canadian Regional Node) 29: Atlantic Reference Centre (Canadian Regional Node) 30: Electronic Atlas of Ichthyoplankton on the Scotian Shelf of North America (Canadian Regional Node) 31: Gwaii Haanas Marine Plants (Canadian Regional Node) 32: Canadian Museum of Nature - Fish Collection (Canadian Regional Node) 33: Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre (Canadian Regional Node) 34: Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History - Marine Birds, Mammals, and Fishes (Canadian Regional Node) 35: Gwaii Haanas Invertebrates (Canadian Regional Node) 36: Bay of Fundy Species List (Canadian Regional Node) 37: Marine Invertebrate Diversity Initiative (Canadian Regional Node) 38: ECNASAP (Canadian Regional Node) 39: Resolute Passage Copepod Distribution 40: Benthic fauna in the Pechora Sea (EUROBIS) 41: Temporal cover of N3, a station in Kiel bay (EUROBIS) 42: MedOBIS (EUROBIS) 44: Biogeography Scheldt Estuary (EUROBIS) 45: Macrobel: Long term trends in the macrobenthos of the Belgian Continental Shelf (EUROBIS) 46: Meiobenthos of subtidal sandbanks on the Belgian Continental Shelf (EUROBIS) 47: BioMar (EUROBIS) 48: The SERTC Invertebrate Database: Invertebrates of the southeastern United States 49: Grand Manan Basin Benthos

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Value of OBIS to the data user...  User can browse to see what distribution data are currently available (via the OBIS network) on any marine species  OBIS system does the work of interconnecting the remote data sources, user does not need to know in advance where the data reside or worry about formats, permissions, etc.  OBIS will:  preview the data as “quick maps”  download the data to the user’s browser  provide access to online mapping / modelling tools (an area for future expansion)

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Value of OBIS to the data provider...  OBIS will expose your data to the world (if that is what you want)  OBIS permits seamless integration of your data with that from other providers (build synoptic datasets for the first time – cf. common practice in oceanographic research)  Access to OBIS tools is a degree of “value adding” – expected to become more significant through time  OBIS provides data standards, formatting advice, etc. (cooperative development environment)

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Example OBIS data search – Balaenoptera (a whale genus)

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Example OBIS data search – min. 0 records, max. 43,000 records per species (in this case)

OBIS Outline – July 2005 “Quick map” shows data integration from 5 sources (in this instance)...

OBIS Outline – July 2005 “Get OBIS Data” downloads the records to the user’s browser

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Current range of OBIS tools  “Community development” model allows members of the OBIS community (or others) to contribute new tools as available

OBIS Outline – July 2005 New for 2005 – Regional OBIS Nodes  8 Regional OBIS Nodes (RONs) to be established in , 5 in S. hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, India, Sub- Saharan Africa, S. America)  Australian node will take lead in “region of interest” – e.g. including surrounding oceans  A key role of a RON is to promote and assist the flow of regional data into the OBIS system (fill “gaps on the map”)  Our interest is to provide a regional perspective (e.g. Australia- specific context and other content / tools) as well as a source of expertise to bring Australian content providers online

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Australia’s Regional OBIS Node  National Oceans Office and CMAR are co-sponsoring the Australian Regional OBIS Node (RON) – website  Initial activity will be serving up 0.25m CMAR records (research survey data) as an example dataset  Australian node staff will be available to assist potential data providers to either:  connect their data directly to the master OBIS system, or  provide copies of data to the RON to be hosted and served on their behalf (keeping identity of the original provider)  Node staff will also be investigating ways to add value to the Australian content e.g. by making environmental overlays, etc. specific to the Australian region.

OBIS Outline – July 2005 Further information  Visit the Australian OBIS Node website (  Contact the Australian RON Manager: Thank you!