Research applications of primary biodiversity databases in the digital age

Abstract

We are in the midst of unprecedented change—climate shifts and sustained, widespread habitat degradation have led to dramatic declines in biodiversity rivaling historical extinction events. At the same time, new approaches to publishing and integrating previously disconnected data resources promise to help provide the evidence needed for more efficient and effective conservation and management. Stakeholders have invested considerable resources to contribute to online databases of species occurrences and genetic barcodes. However, estimates suggest that only 10% of biocollections are available in digital form. The biocollections community must therefore continue to promote digitization efforts, which in part requires demonstrating compelling applications of the data. Our overarching goal is therefore to determine trends in use of mobilized species occurrence data since 2010, as online systems have grown and now provide over one billion records. To do this, we characterized 501 papers that use openly accessible biodiversity databases. Our standardized tagging protocol was based on key topics of interest, including: database(s) used, taxa addressed, general uses of data, other data types linked to species occurrence data, and data quality issues addressed. We found that the most common uses of online biodiversity databases have been to estimate species distribution and richness, to outline data compilation and publication, and to assist in developing species checklists or describing new species. Only 69% of papers in our dataset addressed one or more aspects of data quality, which is low considering common errors and biases known to exist in opportunistic datasets. Globally, we find that biodiversity databases are still in the initial stages of data compilation. Novel and integrative applications are restricted to certain taxonomic groups and regions with higher numbers of quality records. Continued data digitization, publication, enhancement, and quality control efforts are necessary to make biodiversity science more efficient and relevant in our fast-changing world.

Check list of the Venezuelan millipedes species

“…Rather recently, biodiversity occurrence data have entered the digital age (Ball-Damerow et al 2019). Natural history museums invested heavily in digitizing the occurrence data of their holdings, employing a variety of databases.…”

Awareness and use of biodiversity collections by fish biologists

“…Current understanding of how fish biologists use biodiversity collection data for research is largely inferred from reviews of published literature, analyses of institutional collection records, or a combination of the two (Abrahamson, ; Ball‐Damerow et al ., ; Bradley et al ., ; Carine et al ., ; McLean et al ., ). While these approaches provide insight into the use of collections, they fail to capture all uses of collections as researchers often neglect to adequately cite use of collections data in published reports (Ball‐Damerow et al ., ; Mooney & Newton, ) and some kinds of publications ( e.g ., government reports) are not readily discovered using existing search tools.…”

Ecology, distribution and expansion of a Mediterranean native invader, the fireworm Hermodice carunculata (Annelida)

“…The collection of a high number of quality records is critical to investigate the current distribution and range expansion for a species in a region of interest (Ball-Damerow et al, 2019). In this study, we provide a reconstruction of the past and present distribution of H. carunculata through an exhaustive collection of existing information on its life and feeding habits.…”