1. Corals and sea anemones on line: a functioning biodiversity database D. G. Fautin R. W. Buddemeier University of Kansas: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Natural History Museum, Kansas Geological Survey

2. National Science Foundation grants OCE 00-03970 (NOPP) to Daphne G. Fautin and Robert W. Buddemeier DEB95-21819, DEB 99-78106 (PEET) to Daphne G. Fautin LOICZ

3. Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals (http://www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral/) 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 both served and 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!

4. “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

5. 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

6. In addition to the data listed at right, fields have been added for: nematocysts symbionts and associates substrate type reproduction skeletal type common name * * * *

7. 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

8. illustrations from original descriptions original photomicrographs of type material original photos of type specimens IMAGES

9. 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

10. “Hexacoral” as a research tool to predict habitats that might be vulnerable to invasion

11. 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

12. The combined search page yields an extended form of the “Hexacoral” species data link page

13. Joint search products “Hexacoral” dynamic location maps of NMITA fossil occurrences NMITA stratigraphy

14. An On-line Atlas of Marine Diversity and a growing inventory of others

15. 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

16. Anemones of most species seldom occur without fish symbionts Anemonefish never occur without a host anemone “Hexacoral” as a research tool

17. 87 half-degree cells contain 516 usable anemone records

18. 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)

19. Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral