1. Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
Building Synergies with IOC projects & related Initiatives
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
Robert Branton
Director of Data Management,
Ocean Tracking Network
Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada

3. Typical Use Scenarios What organisms have been found or observed here?
What organisms have been found or observed here?
Where has this organism been found or observed?
Oncorhynchus nerka / sockeye salmon

4. OBIS nodes (data assembly centres) are engaged in a wide spectrum of activities, which demonstrates that the role of OBIS is not limited to raw data encoding but also to develop tools and products and offering services (including capacity building) for data-science and science-policy activities on a local, regional to global scale.

5. OBIS Statisitics Number of datasets: 1,130
Number of valid species with data: 146,496

6. Discovery Metadata
Collaboration between OBIS and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) has resulted the OBIS Master Directory at GCMDhttp://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Home.do?Portal=OBIS&MetadataType=0
413 records

7. News Highlights
May Mike Flavell joined IOC Project Office for IODE, in Oostende Belgium to provide technical support to OBIS and marine biodiversity related activities at IODE.
Nov Second IODE Steering Group for OBIS meeting was held at IOC Project Office for IODE in Oostende, Belgium.
All OBIS activities previously at Rutgers University, USA were transferred to IODE in Oostende.

8. Relevance
OBIS is an evolving strategic alliance of people and organizations sharing a vision to make marine biogeographic data, from all over the world, freely available over the World Wide Web. 
OBIS is increasingly picked-up by the scientific community; scientific papers using OBIS data appear on a weekly basis (80 publications in 2012) and 50,000 people visited the data portal in 2012 (35% are returning visitors).

9. Crossover
ICAN …
OBIS …
Internet-accessible collections of digital maps and datasets with supplementary tables, illustrations and information.
Systematically illustrate coastal areas for the purposes of coastal zone management and planning, including marine spatial planning.
Portal to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been recorded.
Provide guidance and information for the identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant marine Areas.

10. Collaboration Opportunities
ICAN …
OBIS …
A range of communications tools will be developed and utilised to ensure information sharing within the ICAN community itself and to reach out, attract new members and inform potential users of the benefits of CWAs. These tools will include a dedicated set of web pages …
Will produce an IOC Manual and Guides for OBIS nodes that will include the definition of OBIS nodes, the terms of reference and procedure to establish OBIS nodes, standards and best practices (OBIS handbook) and a section on quality assurance, criteria and evaluation of OBIS nodes.

11. Filling Gaps In Ocean Knowledge
For example: invasive species like tunicates.
Didemnum vexillum
marine vomit
From broad maps, one sees that although more data is available from coastal areas than from open waters, less is known about smaller animals than larger ones and on the southern hemisphere than on the northern.
OBIS is an open-access database with data from every corner of the world, whereby any provider (individual, institution, or otherwise) who cares to upload to the server and contribute to the global maps OBIS seeks to fill out.

12. Ocean Tracking Network
Knowledge on where animals go and what they do.
And questions like: How might ocean warming affect animal behaviour? Will some species flourish while others die? Might some migrate to where the ocean is cooler? What is impact on fishery management plans.

13. Ocean Tracking Network Global Data Warehouse
53.0 million records
32,082,397 detections
31,178 known animals
52 species
15 ocean regions
164 projects
73 institutions
14 countries
OTN data managers at Dalhousie University and around the world are working to make the world's ocean tracking data and related information freely accessible without charge by the broader scientific community as well as respecting the intellectual property rights of its providers. 90% of these data are from unfunded contributors.

14. Thank You