Biodiversity informatics

[1] Modern computer techniques can yield new ways to view and analyze existing information, as well as predict future situations (see niche modelling).

Biodiversity informatics is a term that was only coined around 1992 but with rapidly increasing data sets has become useful in numerous studies and applications, such as the construction of taxonomic databases or geographic information systems.

This goal has been achieved to a large extent by the Catalogue of Life project which lists >2 million species in its 2022 Annual Checklist.

One proposed solution to this problem is the usage of Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) for machine-machine communication purposes, although there are both proponents and opponents of this approach.

[13] GBIF, OBIS, and IUCN are large web-based repositories of species spatial-temporal data that source many existing biodiversity maps.

Such information may be in the form of retained specimens and associated information, for example as assembled in the natural history collections of museums and herbaria, or as observational records, for example either from formal faunal or floristic surveys undertaken by professional biologists and students, or as amateur and other planned or unplanned observations including those increasingly coming under the scope of citizen science.

As a secondary source of biodiversity data, relevant scientific literature can be parsed either by humans or (potentially) by specialized information retrieval algorithms to extract the relevant primary biodiversity information that is reported therein, sometimes in aggregated / summary form but frequently as primary observations in narrative or tabular form.

In common with other data-related disciplines, Biodiversity Informatics benefits from the adoption of appropriate standards and protocols in order to support machine-machine transmission and interoperability of information within its particular domain.

Data Flow Diagram for Biodiversity Map data collection. Shows: Collectors and Maintainers of Spatio-Temporal Species Data and types of data used in Biodiversity Maps. Individual contributors supply range maps for species, common habitats for a given species, and local adaption information. Larger organizations supply aggregated checklists and distribution information from individual contributors as well as any survey data from studies. Point databases hold point records that describe exact location, species, and characteristics of a sighting.
A species richness map is a type of Biodiversity map that uses color to show quantity or density of species in an area. This map shows the counts of bird species across the Americas. Darker blues represent richer areas.