Improving nomenclatural consistency: a decade of experience in the World Register of Marine Species

Abstract

Abstract. The World Register of Marine species (WoRMS) has been established for a decade. The early history of the database involved compilation of existing global and regional species registers. This aggregation, combined with changes to data types and the changing needs of WoRMS users, has resulted in an evolution of data-entry consistency over time. With the task of aggregating the accepted species names for all marine species approaching completion, our focus has shifted to improving the consistency and quality of data held while keeping pace with the addition of > 2000 new marine species described annually. This paper defines priorities and longer-term aims that promote standardisation within and interoperability among biodiversity databases, provides editors with further information on how to input nomenclatural data in a standardised way and clarifies for users of WoRMS how and why names are represented as they are. We 1) explain the categories of names included; 2) list standard reasons used to explain why a name is considered 'unaccepted' or 'uncertain'; 3) present and explain the more difficult situations encountered; 4) describe categories of sources and notes linked to a taxon; and 5) recommend how type material, type locality and environmental information should be entered.

Advancing Marine Biological Observations and Data Requirements of the Complementary Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) Frameworks

“…While individual studies collect additional data for their own purposes, key observations can be compared (Althaus et al, 2015). Another example is the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), which is expert-controlled, flexible and allows for rapid updates (Horton et al, 2017). Consistent use of WoRMS by the marine community, such as applied within OBIS for taxonomic assessment, has led to important advances in biogeography (Appeltans et al, 2016).…”

Marine natural products

“…A timely review discusses the importance of expert taxonomic knowledge, consistent data entry, and nomenclature as they relate to the WoRMS. 4 Two reviews discuss the chemistry and chemical ecology of nudibranchs 5 and the structures and structure determination challenges associated with the chemistry of crinoids. 6 Analysis of trends in chemical diversity of microbial and MNPs reported between 1941 and 2015 illustrates that the discovery of new scaffolds has plateaued but also that there is still a high likelihood for novel chemical discoveries.…”

Access to Marine Genetic Resources (MGR): Raising Awareness of Best-Practice Through a New Agreement for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)

“…Most databases listed provide additional functionality to their core remit as data repositories, and are therefore useful for both curating as well as sourcing data. WoRMS is a comprehensive checklist of marine species names, curated by around 300 taxonomists in accordance with best-practice (Horton et al, 2017;WoRMS Editorial Board, 2019). It also provides data on species traits as well as distributions (Vandepitte et al, 2018).…”