Current Trends in Biodiversity Collection Description Neil Thomson The Natural History Museum

Summary Characteristics of biodiversity collections Collection descriptions at the NHM UK and European initiatives The wider picture – international and global initiatives Challenges

Biodiversity Collections Types of biodiversity collection Value of collections Benefits of data sharing Who are the users?

Institutional Level Collections and databases at the NHM CLD project

Reasons for CLD at the NHM " Access to collections" initiative. Speedier coverage than at item level Verbose records, complementing databases. Recording information provided by visitors Detailed records for researchers / audit Cross-searching of ALL collections at the NHM Strategic planning Re-uniting scattered collections Provides data for external initiatives

National Level Fenscore National Biodiversity Network BioCASE National Nodes –contain records for biological collections in the country whether or not a database exists. –NHM is the UK National Node

The BioCASE Collection- Level Profile 3 levels –Collection –Organisation –Network 4 main data blocks –Descriptive –Adminstrative –Keywords –Related

What does it look like? Currently at a very early stage of development. Software provided by Berlin Botanic Garden, based on a metadata profile developed at the NHM. Pre-seeded with data from the earlier BioCISE project. –Little data for each collection and mainly free text.

European Level BioCASE –Framework V funded –3 year project ending October 2004 –31 participating countries –Coordinated by the Berlin Botanic Garden

Two-level access BioCASE caters for information at unit level (specimen or observation) as well as at collection level. Unit-level records will be accessed directly in participating databases. Collection-level records will be accessed through each countrys National Node.

International & Global Levels ABCD –Access to Biological Collections Data –Adds North America and Australia GBIF –Global Biodiversity Information Facility –Promoting the use of global data standards

Challenges Addressing the needs of different audiences Organism names Place names Getting the data