Data Models to share invasive species information through the Global Invasive Species Information Network (GISIN)Annie Simpson, Jim Graham, Elizabeth Sellers, and Michael Browne

Biodiversity Information Standards-TDWG2008 Annual Meeting, Fremantle, Australia

Unknown Species, Causing Harm

Sharing Invasive Species Info

Current Status of Info Sharing

Studies of Invasive Species Online DatabasesAbout 300 freely available

online, with invasive species information

Only about 30 countries have their own online invasive species databases

With about 195 countries in the world, we have large data gaps

Global Invasive Species Information NetworkHas been in existence since

2004 with the purpose of providing a platform to share IAS information via the Internet and other digital means.

http://www.gisinetwork.org

2004: Global Experts Meeting to implement GISIN (Baltimore)2005: Cooper & Browne create IAS-PS

Brief history of GISIN

2006: TDWG Invasive Species Interest Group2007: Test implementation of data sharing protocol at the GISIN portal2008: 1st and 2nd data providers' workshops (June & August)

GISIN Participant DiversityInvasive species information

managers can be roughly grouped into 3 categories:Online database owners/operatorsThose seeking to create an

invasive species information system

Scientists collecting invasive species information, but not databasing it

GISIN ProgressOur "standards options"

Part of the Observations Interest Group, or separate? (Separate)

Create a schema that is all inclusive like the IAS-PS, or minimalist like the GISIN protocol? (Both, but implement the simple one for now)

Use DiGIR to share information, or something new? (Something new)

Use the TAPIR protocol, or TAPIR-light? (TAPIR-light)

Darwin Core and Dublin Core and LSIDs and what taxonomic information service?

GISIN Workshop SponsorsGroup on Earth ObservationsUS National Biological

Information InfrastructureUS National Aeronautics &

Space Administration

GISIN Early Adopters Five data providers so far:

SERC-NEMESIS (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's National Exotic Marine and Estuarine Species Information System)

FishBase (Global Fish Information System)

NIISS (US National Institute of Invasive Species Science)

I3N-Argentina (Agentine database of the Invasives Information Network of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network)

GLIFWC (US Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission)

How has TDWG failed us?GISIN has been encouraged to

develop itself as an extension to Darwin Core

Element designation example:<dc:Genus>Temnothorax</dc:Genus>

But "dc:" means Dublin Core!Proper abbreviation is "DwC:"

Difficult to be an extension of a 'standard' with so many 'flavors'

How has TDWG failed us?

Standards Creation ProtocolHow many people to include?How do we know when we've

reached agreement?How long will it take?What should our

product look like?

TDWG is overwhelmingly

supported by academicians who enjoy solving biodiversity data

problems with complex solutions.

Not always best to do as told

Aristolochia flower although used in medicineis poisonous

TAPIR Compliant Ping: Simple call to insure the service is

available Metadata: Default operation to retrieve

basic information about the service Capabilities: Requests which operations

are supported and for which Models Inventory: Requests the type of records

a provider has for a particular Model and, optionally, how many

Search: Requests a set of requested records for a particular Model

Information for the Data Model 'SpeciesStatus'

Common Concepts for 'SpeciesStatus'

ID Name Required Parameter

Field Type Values

68 Citation   No Yes String  

66 Concept   Yes No String Any defined values for the specified model. If there are no Concept parameters, all supported concepts are returned.

64 Count   Yes No String true or false for the parameter, field returned is the number of records

13 CountryCode   Yes Yes String See United Nations Country Codes

15 CountryName   Yes Yes String See Protocol Specification on Locations

52 DateLastModified   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

56 DateLastModifiedMax

  Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

55 DateLastModifiedMin

  Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

11 EndValidDate   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

20 Kingdom   Yes Yes Enumerated

Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia

17 LanguageCode   Yes Yes Enumerated

 

65 Limit   Yes No Integer  

16 LocalityName   Yes Yes String See Protocol Specification on Locations

92 Memo   No Yes String  

19 ScientificName Yes Yes Yes String

Examples of scientific names include: Tamarix; Tamarix ramossissima; Tamarix ramossissima Ledeb.; Boiga irregularis Merrem, 1802; Moerckia hibernica var. wilsoniana Gottsche; Epipenaeon ingens latifrons Bourdon, 1979; Symphyotrichum lanceolatum ssp. hesperium var. hesperium (Gray)

63 Start   Yes No Integer  

10 StartValidDate   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

14 StateName   Yes Yes String  

53 USA_FIPSCode   Yes Yes String See Protocol Specification on Locations

54 USA_HUC   Yes Yes String See Protocol Specification on Locations

58 ValidDateMax   Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

57 ValidDateMin   Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

Concepts for 'SpeciesStatus'

ID Name Required

Parameter Field Type Values

5 Abundance   Yes Yes Enumerated Dominant, Common, Rare, Zero, Unknown, Monoculture

4 Distribution   Yes Yes Enumerated Widespread, Moderate, Localized, Unknown

8 Harmful Yes Yes Yes Enumerated Yes, No, Potentially, Unknown

97 LocalityStandard   Yes Yes Enumerated USA_FIPS, USA_HUC, AR_PostalCode

96 LocalityType   Yes Yes Enumerated State/Province, County, Postal code, Watershed

98 LocalityValue   Yes Yes String  

1 Origin Yes Yes Yes Enumerated Indigenous, Exotic, Unknown

3 Persistence   Yes Yes Enumerated Persistent, Temporary, Transient, DiedOut, Unknown

2 Presence Yes Yes Yes Enumerated Absent, SometimesPresent, Present, Unknown, Reported

93 PublicationDate   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

7 RateOfSpread   Yes Yes Enumerated Rapid, Moderate, Slow, Unknown

9 RegulatoryListing   Yes Yes Enumerated Prohibited, Restricted, NotConsidered, Unknown

6 Trend   Yes Yes Enumerated Stable, Declining, Unknown, Expanding

Concepts for 'Occurrence'

ID Name Req

uired Parameter Field Type Values

75 Accuracy   No Yes Floating Point  

77 AccuracyMax   Yes No Floating Point  

76 AccuracyMin   Yes No Floating Point  

72 CollectionDateMax   Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

71 CollectionDateMin   Yes No Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

74 EndCollectionDate   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

73 StartCollectionDate   No Yes Date See Protocol Specification on Dates.

95 TemporalPrecision   No Yes Enumerated Day, Month, Year

Concepts for 'SpeciesResourceURL'

ID Name Requir

ed Parameter Field Type Values

91 Description   No Yes String  

94 ResourceType   Yes Yes Enumerated

Profile, Expert list, Image, Video, Reference list

90 Title   No Yes String  

69 URL   No Yes String A full URL starting with 'http://'

Data Model SummaryThree stable GISIN data models:

Occurrences (based on Darwin Core)SpeciesStatus (native or not, harmful

or not, etc.)ResourceURLs (where results are lists

of URLs containing a species profile, image, video, reference list, or experts list)

Four more under development:ManagementStatusDispersalStatus ImpactStatusCitations

Technology & Biology Don't Always Mix

Lessons Learned

Image by Avi Abrams

Thank you!