1. NeMys: an evolving biological information system, a state of art Deprez, Tim (UGent) Vincx, Magda (UGent) Vanden Berghe, Edward (VLIZ) Mees, Jan (VLIZ)

2. Introduction... FIELD GUIDE Mysid Shrimp: More then 1000 species... Pictures Keys Maps...

3. What is NeMys.. Taxonomical research tool – web application A system in which any type of data about taxa can be brought together in a fully digital way... –Literature –Morphology –Morphometry –Collections –Pictures –Molecular data –Observations –Links –Notes –... Easy in use... Do not expect all taxonomist (biologists) to become informaticians

4. 21000 taxa Several datasets (5 under development) –World mysids (1200 sp) –Marine Free Living Nematodes (5600 sp) –Peperomia (3700 sp) –... 14700 pictures 11000 literature references 12000 geographical records 7500 morphological records 5600 morphometrical records 4000 locations (georeferenced) 700 collection specimens Data in NeMys...

5. The history of NeMys... 1997: first steps taken in creation of a biological database for Nematoda biodiversity 1999: NemasLan (first official version), access-based LAN application 2000: MysidLan (same as Nemaslan but for Mysida) 2000: Taxonlan (Generic Lan version of Nemaslan – Mysidlan) 2002: First steps taken in putting the data online (as shown on COD) 2003: First version of NeMys with mirror site on VLIZ 2004: NeMys was connected to biodiversity data portals through a DIGIR provider

6. The structure of NeMys TAXONOMY Literature Collections Geography Morphology Morphometry Genetics Pictures Comments... Webapplication: http://intramar.ugent.be/nemys/ all data consultation online all data input online all dataset maintenance online  Database with datasets fully Consultable and managable in the WAN-environment  Users do not need to know how to work with databases Distributed data-input and data-maintenance DIGIR VLIZGBIFOBIS ERMS...

7. The Mysida dataset as an example This dataset is the largest and most documented dataset running on NeMys now. Taxonomy: 1108 species with 217 synonyms. Literature: 3935 references of which 1265 are in PDF format accessible through the VLIZ library. Media: 2845 pictures 400 collection items Records: all european species have morphological and geographical data

26. Some technical aspects... Technology used: SQL-server + ASP Gradually moving into PHP Online entry-modules, management modules,... offer a more user- friendly environment BUT are hard to program and controll on data- input must be implemented in the program code. The system now uses a taxonomic hierarchy as its base although in many cases it may be usefull to add more taxonomic views! HOW TO HANDLE THIS - INTEROPERABILITY –e.g. Complete phylogenetic based taxonomy (morph, mol) –Partial phylogenetic systems (e.g. For a genus, family) Generic structure: creating a new dataset takes 10 minutes

27. Some technical aspects... Identification module (Characters, States, Measurements) Webbased identification based on the data entered in the database... –For small datasets online modules work reasonable (100 species) –Bigger datasets this becomes to slow (e.g. Nematoda dataset) Key-generator: create keys for regions, selected taxa,... Online phylogenetic analysis –(New Hampshire – NemATOL project) Observation – modules  enter observations on specimens, field observations (not based on literature source) Lat-long coordinates – country: how to define in which country a certain location is located (Suggestions???) –Creation of regional checklists...

28. Conclusions... 1200 species  digital information system  3 taxonomists-man-year Number of taxonomist is going down URGENT need to start digitising data/knowledge into taxonomical information systems Not only for: handsome groups (fishes, birds, whales) But more urgently also for: Nematodes, Amphipodes, Tardigrades, Sipunculids, Cumaceans,... People should start to see the scientific value of this kind of research http://intramar.ugent.be/nemys/