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 (NOPP) to Daphne G. Fautin and Robert W. Buddemeier DEB , DEB (PEET) to Daphne G. Fautin Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ, an IGBP project) Students and colleagues who have contributed data, time, and ideas -- especially Adorian Ardelean

Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals ( An on-line information resource system that consists of two interactive databases one 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 * * * * 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

illustrations from original descriptions original photomicrographs of type material original photos 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 places the species might occur, including habitats 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 and ACCURACY Of locality and 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 growing inventory 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 wide range of users, disciplines, and problems “Hexacoral” and its partners are members of OBIS

Systems used ORACLE COLDFUSION ArcIMS

Oceanographic data acquired electronically Differ from biological data in being relatively homogeneous continuous Lack taxonomic resolution Lack 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.”

“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.”

SOURCES OF TAXONOMICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY RESOLVED DATA Museum specimens Published literature Field work

REQUIRES HUMAN INTERVENTION In the field In museums In publication/capture from publication = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Is no more costly than remote sensing Is essential to many scientific and societal issues

Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals