Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) [Photo: Image courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]
The Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is the most abundant sea turtle species found in U.S. coastal waters. Due to a number of threats caused by human-related changes to marine environments, the loggerhead was listed as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act in 1978. The turtle is also considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
OBIS-USA is a one-stop source for data on marine species in U.S. waters and oceanic regions--the Arctic, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. The OBIS-USA database brings together highly distributed marine species data sets, documenting where and when species were observed or collected, and allows them to be searched and mapped by geographic location. Results include species occurrence data over space and time in the form of customizable, dynamically generated tables or maps.
OBIS-USA is the U.S. regional node of the global Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). Established in June 2006, OBIS-USA began with collections featuring marine life of the Hawaiian Islands and the Gulf of Maine. Currently its database incorporates over 1.7 million records from 17 data providers, with both components increasing over time. OBIS-USA is specifically designed for use by environmental managers, researchers, and students.
Since the recent launch of OBIS-USA, much has been achieved--but much remains to be done. Its success rests on a network of partners, which includes government agencies, universities, and research institutions. To achieve its goal of providing comprehensive data coverage for the U.S. marine regions, OBIS-USA is committed to expanding its partnerships and contributor base.
Future development plans include the incorporation of additional environmental marine data to improve our understanding of species abundance and distribution for all marine areas of interest to the United States.
Partnerships and Affiliations
Census of Marine Life (CoML) - an international initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. OBIS was created by CoML to serve as an international infrastructure for marine data sharing.
National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) - a broad, collaborative program for providing increased access to data and information on U.S. biological resources. The NBII hosts OBIS-USA, which serves as an access point to marine biodiversity data for U.S. waters and research programs. The NBII makes OBIS-USA available through its Marine Theme portal.
OBIS-USA Data Providers - are organizations and persons that serve data through the OBIS-USA portal. These data maybe held by themselves or served on behalf of others. For a complete list of data providers and more information about them, visit the Data Sources and Providers page.
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) - an expanding, open-access, coordinated global information system for digitized marine biodiversity data, supported by a network of Regional OBIS Nodes (RONs). These marine data are published for technical, educational, scientific, and resource management purposes. OBIS-USA is a regional OBIS node for the U.S. region.
U.S. National Committee for the Census of Marine Life - a national organizational component of the CoML, which identifies national research and data priorities for marine biodiversity within the scope of CoML and the guidance of the international Scientific Steering Committee. The committee advises OBIS-USA on data priorities.
What is OBIS?
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is an evolving strategic alliance of people and organizations sharing a vision to make marine biogeographic data from around the world freely available over the Web. OBIS, which was established by the Census of Marine Life program (CoML) http://www.coml.org/, is not limited to data from CoML-related projects. Any organization, consortium, project, or individual may contribute to OBIS. OBIS provides, on an "open access" basis through its international Web portal at http://www.iobis.org:
taxonomically and geographically resolved data on marine life and the ocean environment,
