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Story: ECAT Seed Money Awards for 2004
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In 2004, the ECAT seed money programme has awarded a total of US$501,610 to 15 taxonomic projects. Using this funding, 8 Global Species Databases, 5 geographic checklists, and 2 nomenclators will be completed. The taxonomic distribution of the awards is 15 Animalia, 11 Plantae, and 1 Protista; the project investigators and their collaborators are located in 26 different countries.
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| Released on: |
16 December 2004 |
| Contributor: |
Meredith Lane |
| Language: |
English |
Spatial coverage: |
Not applicable |
Keywords: |
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| Source of information: |
GBIF Secretariat |
| Concerned URL: |
http://www.gbif.org/prog/ecat |
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ECAT4web
The ECAT Request for Proposals for seed money awards solicited the
following types of projects:
- Those that support international initiatives, for example the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation,
- Those that incorporate collaboration among institutions, especially if the partnerships include both developing and developed countries, and
- Those that have coverage targeted to fill recognised taxonomic or geographic gaps in the catalogue of scientific names.
In response to the Request for Proposals, 54 preproposals were received by the GBIF Secretariat and 27 of the projects were asked for full proposals. The proposals were evaluated for scientific excellence. In addition, they
were evaluated on how well they supported the GBIF philosophy by
demonstrating a commitment to making the resulting data freely
available using recommended GBIF information architectures. Review criteria also included:
- cost-efficiency
- goodness of fit to the types of projects solicited
- earliness of access to large data sets
- leveraging of funding
- linking regional datasets to creat a global species database,
- training and capacity building, and
- adherence to preparation and submission instructions
The titles of the 15 projects that were awarded seed money serve as links to
more detailed information below.
Project
Coordinator: Alessandro Minelli
Amount: $20000
Managing Institution: Department of Biology University of Padova, Padova Italy
A World Catalogue of Centipedes (Chilopoda) for the Web
Abstract: A complete catalogue of the known centipedes (Chilopoda) of the world will be compiled and made freely available through the World Wide Web. There are ca. 500 accepted genus and 3300 species-group taxa out of around 700 and 5000 available names respectively. Information to be compiled for each valid genus- and species-group taxon (updated as to 2004) will include: Scientific name, author and year, original combination, recognised synonyms, geographical distribution in abridged form, and additional citations (major biological and taxonomic references). The catalogue will be produced as a fully electronic database in accordance with GBIF standards and recommendations, and interoperable with other databases available through GBIF.
Additional Institutions and individuals: Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Biologia, Padova, Italy [Alessandro Minelli, Lucio Bonato, Rosario Dioguardi]; Università della Tuscia, Dipartimento di Protezione delle Piante, Viterbo, Italy [Marzio Zapparoli]; Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, La Plata, Argentina [Luis A. Pereira]; Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia [Gregory D. Edgecombe]; National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, Bulgaria [Pavel Stoev]; The Natural History Museum, London, UK and Somerset County Museum, Taunton, UK [John G. E. Lewis]; North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, USA [Rowland M. Shelley]; Museu Nacional/ UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil [Amazonas Chagas Jr.]
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Project
Coordinator: David Remsen
Amount: $21000
Managing Institution: MBLWHOI Library of The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Digitizing and Parsing Nomenclator Zoologicus
Abstract: The result of the work will be a digitized version of Volumes 1-9 of Nomenclator Zoologicus consisting of approximately 280,000 data records representing the majority of zoological genera described between 1758 and 1994. A data record consists of the genus name, the original author and bibliographic citation, nomenclatural comments and cross-references to other data records.
Additional Institutions: American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard University), ITIS, the Zoological Society of London and the International Association of Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers.
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Project Coordinator:
Werner Greuter
Amount: $45738
Managing Institution: Freie Universitaet Berlin, ZE Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem
Queenswood, South Africa
Implementation of an extensible register of the European and Mediterranean Compositae
Abstract: The project will compile a sound electronic taxonomic checklist of the Compositae for Europe and the Mediterranean area using editing software for the Berlin Taxonomic Information Model (http://www.bgbm.org/biodivinf/docs/bgbm-model/). The final product as well as intermediate versions of the checklist will be published on the World Wide Web. GBIF connectivity will be established with an xml web-service providing the project's outcome in a GBIF name standard compliant data format.
Additional Institutions: Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics Plant Science Laboratories The University of Reading Reading, UK; Laboratorio di Sistematica, Fitogeografia ed Ecologia vegetale Dipartimento di Scienze Botaniche Università degli Studi di Palermo Palermo, Italy
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Project
Coordinator: Connal Eardley
Amount: $15000
Managing Institution: Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa
Electronic Catalogue of the bees (APOIDEA) of sub-Saharan Africa and the East Indian Ocean Islands
Abstract: The project will provide a comprehensive species catalogue of the Afrotropical bees through SABIF (the South African node for GBIF). The catalogue will contain the valid name of every species, the invalid names, the reference to every publication not included in DALLA TORRE, C.G. de. 1896 (Catalogue Hymenopterorum huscusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus 10, I-VII & 1-643. Leipzig), the countries in which they occur, the names of the plants they visit, their parasites and their hosts (for cleptoparasitic bees).
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Project
Coordinator: P. Oosterbroek
Amount: $18000
Managing Institution: ETI Bio-Informatics Center University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Catalogue of the Crane flies of the World (Insecta, Diptera, Tipuloidea) (CCW)
Abstract: Aim of the project is to make available and allow free access to the Catalogue of the Craneflies (Insecta, Diptera, Tipuloidea) of the World (CCW) by putting this large database on the web, as well as to make available and allow free access to all Genus- and Species-group names of Craneflies by way of GBIF. --- The CCW is a unique and highly up-to-date digital catalogue of all genera (201), subgenera (312), species and subspecies (over 15.200) and synonyms (some 1.500) of the Tipuloidea, a very large, world-wide, and monophyletic group of Nematocerous Diptera, comprising four families: Pediciidae, Limoniidae, Cylindrotomidae, and Tipulidae. --- In addition to the standard taxonomic information, the CCW includfes for every species and subspecies a number of additional items, an important one being the detailed information on distribution, specified in countries, islands, and for the large countries, states or provinces, all according to the present-day political borders.
Additional institution and individual: J. Stary, Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Science , Palacky University, Czech Republic.
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Project
Coordinator: John Irish
Amount: $31156
Managing Institution: Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia
Namibian Biodiversity Database - Biosystematics Component
Abstract: The project forms a subset of a wider initiative to provide Namibian biodiversity stakeholders with relevant biosystematics data, and will concentrate on verifying and expanding the checklist of Namibian insects and arachnids through targeted scanning of literature, and collaboration with taxonomic experts. Names will be publicly available in a searchable database on www.biodiversity.org.na.
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Project
Coordinator: Aaron P. Davis
Amount: $49936
Managing Institution: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK
Completion and dissemination of a World Rubiaceae Checklist
Abstract: The goal of the GBIF project is to produce a high quality, scientifically rigorous global taxonomic checklist for Rubiaceae. Dissemination will be in a format interoperable with other data and made available through GBIF, via the Internet. The World Rubiaceae Checklist will comprise c. 13,000 accepted species names (c. 650 genera) and their synonyms, providing access to c. 35,000 names. The checklist will include scientific name, full bibliographic reference (including journal, vol., pages, and year of publication); synonyms (with references), common names (where available), distribution (by country and TDWG code), and conservation assessments (where available).
Additional Institutions: Prof. Dr Bonaventure, Sonké Université de Yaoundé I, Cameroun; Franck Rakotonasolo, Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza, Madagascar; Prof. Elmar Robbrecht, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Belgium; Dr Estrela Figueiredo, Centro de Botanica, Lisboa, Portugal; Dr Charlotte M Taylor, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, USA; Dr Lennart Andersson, Botanical Institute, Göteborg University, Sweden; Dr Osia Gideon, School of Natural and Physical Sciences, Papua New Guinea. This list represents only a selection of partner institutes.
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Project Coordinator:
Yuri Roskov
Amount: $25500
Managing Institution: International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS)
Completing the World Legume checklist: adding the last 24% of species to the World Database of Legumes
Abstract: The family Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) is one of the most important flowering plant families and the third largest in the world. The World Database of Legumes has being compiled by the ILDIS Project (International Legume Database & Information Service) since 1995. The current version (ver. 8.0, November 2003) includes a synonymic checklist of 15,582 species and covers 76% of the estimated species diversity of Legumes. The remaining of species will be completed in this GBIF Seed Money project, from the regional data resources that are still not present in the database (major part of continental Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Madagascar) and from recent global taxonomic revisions. The database will complete all areas of the world, and increase coverage from 76% to 98% of the estimated legume diversity. New data will be publicly available via LegumeWeb, the Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, and the GBIF Data Portal.
Additional Institutions: Komarov Botanical Institute RAS, St.Petersburg Russia; National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, India; Institute of Botany CAS, Beijing, China; Missouri Botanical Garden, St.Louis, MO, USA; Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK.
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Project
Coordinator: Stephan M. Blank
Amount: $50000
Managing Institution: Leibnitz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschafts- und Landnutzungsforschgung e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
ECatSym: Electronic World Catalog of Symphyta (Insecta, Hymenoptera)
Abstract: ECatSym presents the first complete web database on the ca 10,000 Symphyta taxa of the world. Symphyta or sawflies, a group of Hymenoptera, are economically important as agricultural, forest, and horticultural pests and beneficial as biological control agents against invasive plants. ECatSym will make ca 100,000 data subunits on names, valid taxa, biogeography and literature references freely available on the web. This includes previous 15 year investment on a large global and already highly standardized database, which will be brought together with several regional datasets. ECatSym hires major driving forces behind Symphyta taxonomy, which will form a consensus on competing taxonomic systems and thus reduce the serious taxonomic impediment for this group. This will allow users to retrieve various combinations of names occurring in literature. The ECatSym web service will be hosted on the DEI / ZALF server (http://www.zalf.de). Mirrors will be established at the partner institutions in China, Japan and the USA.
Additional institutions and individuals: Dr. Akihiko Shinohara, National Science Museum (NSM), Department of Zoology, Tokyo, Japan; Dr. David R. Smith, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution / United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, USA; Prof. Dr. Meicai Wei, Central South Forestry University (CSFU), Institute of Entomoresology Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, China; Andrew D. Liston, Amselweg 84, 84160 Frontenhausen, Germany.
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Project Coordinators:
Ian Gordon and Scott E. Miller
Amount: $50000
Managing Institution: Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC USA
Sharing Biodiversity Information through Web-based Checklist of African Insects
Abstract: The Checklist of Afrotropical insects is a cooperative venture between the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), based in Nairobi, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), in collaboration with many specialists. This is the first comprehensive summary of insects known from Subsaharan Africa, and will be a major contribution to the much-needed database of global insect names, which is a major gap in planning for ECAT. When complete, the Afrotropical database will include about 100,000 valid species names plus synonyms and basic taxonomic information. The GBIF project will add an estimated 25,000 valid names and 25,000 synonyms to the database, focusing on the beetles (Coleoptera except Curculionidae), and to upgrade management and dissemination of the existing data through migration to the NMNH data management system (EMu).
Additional Institution: International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) Nairobi, KENYA
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Project
Coordinator: James Mallet
Amount: $49980
Managing Institution: Department of Biology, University College London, England
Global Butterfly Names
Abstract: We will undertake an international collaboration to produce, within 18 months, a >99% complete, online, freely-available database of butterflies (Rhopalocera), consisting of genus- and species-group names (including valid subspecies as well as complete data on available junior synonyms, invalid, and unavailable names) together with their classification according to world-class expert opinion. Our database will act as a Data Node for remote nameservers such as those envisaged by GBIF, Species 2000 or other programmes. Global Butterfly Names should do for butterfly taxonomy what GENBANK did for genetics, and will allow world data repatriation based on collections and information at the NHM and elsewhere.
Additional Institutions: The Natural History Museum, London (NHM) UK; Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru; University College London (UCL) UK; Academia Sinica; University of Alberta, Canada; National Museum of Natural History; Leiden, The Netherlands; Oregon State University (Corvallis), USA; Stockholm University, Sweden; US National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), Washington, USA; GloBIS; LepIndex/VIADOCS Card Index Digitization Project; The Lepidoptera Taxome Project.
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Project
Coordinator: Vishwas Chavan and S. Krishnan
Amount: $25000
Managing Institution: National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, INDIA
Electronic Catalogue of Known Indian Fauna
Abstract:India harbors about 90000 species of animals. NCL Center for Biodiversity Informatics (http://www.ncbi.org.in/) has initiated development of IndFauna, web accessible ECAT of known fauna of India. Other than scientific names, synonyms IndFauna collate information on common or local names and records on occurrence (from published sources). An innovative model of virtual network of taxonomists is being encouraged to validate and authenticate the information. Such a network would facilitate collection, collation and free-flowing exchange / sharing of data / information on other aspects of Indian faunal diversity and the ecosystems which habitat them. During the period of next 18 months baseline information about 45000 species belonging to the groups Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera would be made availble to in GBIF recommended archietecture. Most of the GBIF grant would be used for *"taxonomic scrutiny"* so that baseline data on these groups is validated, current and authentic. Keeping in tune with GBIF philosophy, resulting data would be freely available using GBIF recommended architecture. This project would contribute significant volume of new data to the existing Catalogue of Life.
Additional Institutions: Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; Andhra University, Department of Zoology, Visakhapatnam; Annamalai University, Center for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology, Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu; Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore; Bahauddin Science College, Junagadh; Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai; Group for Nature Preservation and Education, Coimbatore; Indian Institute of Sciences, Center for Ecological Sciences, Bangalore; Institute of Advanced Study in Science & Technology, Guwahati; Institute of Science, Mumbai; Institute of Wood Science & Technology, Bangalore; Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; Lady Brabourne College, Kolkatta; Madras Christian College, Chennai; Modern College of Arts & Science, University of Pune, Pune; National Institute of Oceanography, Goa; National Center for Biological Sciecnes, GKVK Campus, Bangalore; Natural History Museum, London; Oxford College of Science, Bangalore; Poornaprajna College, Udapi; Punjabi University, Patiala; Rajasthan Agricultural University, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan; SPK Center for Environmental Sciences, M; S; University, Tamil Nadu; St; Thomas College, University of Calicut, Trichur; Sun Agro Tech Research Center, Chennai; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore; Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, Tripura; University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore; University of Baradwan, Buradwan; University of Calcutta, Department of Zoology, Kolkatta; Vector Control Research Center, Pondichery; Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal; Wildlife Information & Liaison Development Society, Coimbatore; Wildlife Protection Society of India, New Delhi; Zoo Outreach Organization, Coimbatore; Zoological Survey of India, Dehradun; Zoological Survey of India, Kolkatta; Zoological Survey of India, Pune
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Project
Coordinator: Don E. Wilson
Amount: $30000
Managing Institution: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
Cataloguing Mammalian Taxonomy: Creating an Up-to-date, Interoperable, and Dynamic database for the 21st Century
Abstract: The project aims to create an up-to-date and dynamically-maintained database of mammalian taxonomic information. These data will be freely available to the public via the internet in a variety of ways and usable formats, and will, at a minimum, include the most recent taxonomic information for all 5416 currently recognized mammal species from the third edition of Mammal Species of the World, A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (D.E. Wilson & D. M. Reeder, eds.), which will be published in Spring, 2005. For each species, the following data will be made available: accepted scientific name (with author and citation), common name, higher taxonomic categories, a comment field summarizing the latest taxonomic scrutiny, and a list of synonyms. Additional data such as type specimen information, digitized distributional maps, authority and other information for the roughly 33,600 synonyms, etc. will be added to the information from the print edition of Mammal Species of the World. The database will include over 9100 references.
Additional Institutions: American Museum of Natural History, the Australian National University, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Elephant Research Foundation, the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the National Museum of Natural History, The Natural History Museum (London), the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, the University of Adelaide, the University of Cape Town, the University of Vermont, the Zoologisches Forschunginstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Arizona State University, Bethel College, Boston University, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), University of Virginia, Institute of Applied Ecology/ University of Rome, NatureServe, Conservation International/CABS, World Wildlife Foundation, and the Institute of Zoology-ZSL/Imperial College-UK.
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Project
Coordinator: Scott Lidgard
Amount: $45300
Managing Institution: The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
A Global Species Database for Phylum Bryozoa
Abstract: A global bryozoan species database is the fundamental goal of this initiative. This web-served database will include searchable nomenclatures and synonymies for described living species (ca. 5,700-6,000). Our second linked product is a consistent and up-to-date taxonomy of bryozoan families and genera that will provide a centralized open-access framework for subsequent taxonomic revisions as they occur. Our third product is a linked reference list for all relevant taxonomic literature in the database. Achieving these goals will make information about bryozoan species much more accessible to a biodiversity and conservation audience via biodiversity portals such as GBIF. The database will also lay the foundation for future development of a web-accessible SEM image library of bryozoan species, illustrated glossary of bryozoan terminology, and global species occurrence tables.
Additional Institutions and individuals: Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [Dr. Rolf Schmidt, Mr. Philip Bock]; New Zealand National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand [Dr. Dennis P. Gordon]; Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, Virginia, USA [Dr. Judith E. Winston].
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Project
Coordinator: Paul C. Silva
Amount: $25000
Managing Institution: University of California, Berkeley, CA,USA
Creating Global Access to the Index Nominum Algarum, a Nomenclator Targeting All Algal Names
Abstract: We propose to improve the utility and accessibility of the Index Nominum Algarum, a comprehensive nomenclator and bibliography of algae by completing the index to card images and developing a browsable and queryable interface with hyperlinks. The product will be a comprehensive list of all 180,000 names in the Index Nominum Algarum with links to complete nomenclatural/bibliographic information in images or text databases.
Additional Institutions: California Academy of Sciences, AlgaTerra, AlgaeBase
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Please note that this story expired on 2005/01/31
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