1. Key Components and Urgent Needs of the Global Species Information System Rainer Froese IFM-GEOMAR

2. Background The GSIS idea has been around for a while (FAO SpeciesDAB, early FishBase, Sp2000, GBIF SpeciesBank, RF proposals to GBIF and OBIS, Ed Wilson -> EoL, EC SpeciesBase proposal) Potsdam Initiative G8+5, March 2007, called for GSIS First Coordination Meeting Brussels, April 2007, with Communiqué on collaboration and data sharing First portals planned for early 2008

3. Purpose of this Meeting Identify key components and urgent needs of GSIS Identify existing key players (who does what already) Identify additional players (who can contribute or fill gaps) Organize the European contribution to GSIS

4. What is GSIS Public online information system Presenting key information –Names, images, maps, distribution, diagnosis, life history traits, importance to humans Based on best scientific knowledge (i.e. with source / credit) With input from the public (pictures, occurrences, other observations & comments) On eventually all organisms on earth

5. Key Components: Find the Species Identification tools: GSDs, KeyToNature, ETI, Lucid Phoenix, Discover Life, Coordinator? All common names in all languages: CoL as repository (400,000), other initiatives to collect, connect, classify, rank. Coordinator?? Portals in eventually all languages (national/regional initiatives, GBIF nodes. How to translate common texts (global distribution, diagnosis, biology)?

6. Key Components: Summary Page 1 Scientific names as backbone: CoL network with over one million species, add missing species in common use, add LSIDs, add full synonymies, add tools for matching, … Common names Photos: good photos for all species, all life stages, sex differences, diagnostic characters, behaviors, videos. GSDs, museums, portals, public, Coordinator? Main diagnostics: Coordinator?

7. Key Components: Summary Page 2 Distribution: Summary text, list of countries, list of large ecosystems. GSDs, needs standards, Coordinator? Maps: point maps (GBIF, OBIS, LifeWatch), range maps (FishBase & SealifeBase & OBIS for sea life?, GBIF for freshwater & terrestrial?) Biology summary text: (GSDs, portals, public, Coordinator?) Standardized biology data: –Required: maximum size (CoL, GSDs, ??) –Desired: trophic level, maturity, fecundity, diet, resilience. GSDs, topic databases, dedicated journals, ??? –Optional: growth, LWR, sequences, … GSDs, topic databases (Genbank, BoL, …), dedicated journals, Coordination?

8. Key Components: Summary Page 3 Other data (not standardized): all data ever produced relating to a species. GSDs, archives, donor agencies, scientists, public, Coordination? Importance to humans: Food, agriculture: GSDs, FAO, CGIAR, public. Game: Game associations, public. Pets: public. Pests. Coordination? Status of threat: globally IUCN, nationally? All references: GSDs, CoL, BHL, ZR, journals, Google Scholar All web sites: portal owners, public, IT, coordination?

9. Key Components: IT Issues ‘Did you mean…’ for scientific names and common names Machine Translation of free text GRID computing for mapping (259,200 * 1,800,000 = 5 10 11 cells on half-degree basis) Thematic maps in real time Online query construction

10. Questions? Comments? Let’s Do It!