Ocean Biogeographic Information System

Biodiversity in ABNJWard Appeltans, Manager OBIS

IOC-UNESCOIODE

6th UNGA BBNJ Meeting, 19-23 August 2013, New York

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IOC of UNESCO

Established in 1960 Functional autonomy

within UNESCO 145 Member States Focal point for ocean

observations, science, services and data exchange

Competent international organization for marine science and transfer of marine technology (UNCLOS)

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From vision to execution

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Major IOC ProgrammesOcean Observations and Services

Global Ocean Observing System. GOOS is a permanent global system for observations, modelling and analysis of marine and ocean variables to support operational ocean services worldwide. (and JCOMM)

International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange. Established in 1961, IODE facilitates the exchange of oceanographic data and information between participating Member States, and serves the needs of users for data and information products.

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NODCs 1961

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NODCs 2013

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1. To facilitate and promote the discovery, exchange of, and access to, marine data and information including metadata, products and information in real-time, near real time and delayed mode, through the use of international standards, and in compliance with the IOC Oceanographic Data Exchange Policy for the ocean research and observation community and other stakeholders;

2. To encourage the long term archival, preservation, documentation, management and services of all marine data, data products, and information;

3. To develop or use existing best practices for the discovery, management,

exchange of, and access to marine data and information, including international standards, quality control and appropriate information technology;

4. To assist Member States to acquire the necessary capacity to manage marine research and observation data and information and become partners in the IODE network;

5. To support international scientific and operational marine programmes, including the Framework for Ocean Observing for the benefit of a wide range of users.

IODE Objectives (2013)

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Foundation: IOC Data Policy (2003)

Clause 1: Member States shall provide timely, free and unrestricted access to all data, associated metadata and products generated under the auspices of IOC programmes..

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Ocean Biogeographic Information System

OBIS is the world’s largest open access, online data system on the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine species

• 35 million species observations

• 120,000 marine species• 1,130 datasets• >450 institutions, 56

countries

In ABNJ• 6 million species

observations • 74,000 species, of which

17,000 are unique to ABNJ• 35,000 species live

exclusively at a depth below 200m.

WWW.IOBIS.ORG

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High-level goals of OBIS

Jointly with other IOC programmes:

"OBIS will strive to develop a global ocean observing framework for monitoring the state of marine biological species diversity, populations and habitats, to assess risks and impacts on ecosystem services and to underpin an ecosystem approach for marine spatial planning and conservation policies for the protection and sustainable management of the ocean”

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High-level goals of OBIS

"OBIS will provide the infrastructure and knowledge base necessary to predict or early detect emerging issues such as marine invasive species, harmful algal blooms, shifts in abundance and species distribution ranges, extinction risks of species, regime shifts, and loss or degradation of marine habitats"

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High-level goals of OBIS

"OBIS will build the historical baseline, against which future change can be measured. It will close the data gap by growing in terms of geographic, taxonomic and temporal coverage, as well as expanding in capturing additional data types and information"

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OBIS contributes to TMT:1. National and regional technical centres

(OBIS nodes)2. Open Access to data and information3. Standards and guidelines on best practices

(Quality Assurance)4. National/regional reporting/modeling tools5. Training in data management, data transfer

and data analysis, Regional training centres

Transfer of Marine TechnologyIOC criteria and guidelines

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22 OBIS nodes (national, regional and thematic)1. Argentina

2. Australia

3. Belgium: EurOBIS, AntOBIS

4. Brazil

5. Canada

6. Chile: SE Pacific

7. China

8. Greece: MedOBIS

9. India

10. Japan

11. Korea

12. New Zealand: SW Pacific

13. Oman: (Persian Gulf)

14. Philippines: FishBase, (SEAOBIS)

15. South-Africa: AfrOBIS

16. Ukraine: BlackSea OBIS

17. USA: US-OBIS, SEAMAP, ArCOD, MicrOBIS, Hexacorals, SeaMountsOnline

18. Venezuela: (Caribbean OBIS)

(Regional nodes)(Thematic nodes)(Candidate nodes)

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Species name (and classification) Position (single point, bounding box, transect line) Time Abundance (individuals, biomass) Depth Cruise, sampling gear, environmental

parameters, … + Metadata on dataset (who, what, where, when,

how, and citation)

Open-Access to data: what data?

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Sample and observation data from scientific cruises (long-term) national monitoring small-scale research projects continuous observations (CPR) scientific literature museum collections …

Open-Access to data: Data sources

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Benefit Sharing: data repatriation

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

102293

23016

9349

102745

182042

266302

1106458

1327640

419965

2104304

8951

52498

0 0 0

2178

5375

310673

25848

18823

442862

743579

2573860

105964

35316

121300

10936

613595 806219 967159

records not from nat. OBIS node

records from nat. OBIS node

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Benefit Sharing: data repatriation

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

4551

1929

790

9248

1961

6554

8900 23415

5459

111517853

3072

0 0 0

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762

8620

1976

2477

13336

4391 12787

4469

24902221

1281

8187 4480 7983

taxa not from nat. OBIS node

taxa from nat. OBIS node

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Catodon (Meganeuron) krefftii Gray, 1865 (synonym)Catodon australis Wall, 1851 (synonym)Catodon colneti Gray, 1850 (synonym)Catodon macrocephalus Lacépède, 1804 (synonym)Cetus cylindricus Billberg, 1828 (synonym)Delphinus bayeri Risso, 1826 (synonym)Phiseter cylindricus Bonnaterre, 1789 (synonym)Phiseter mular Bonnaterre, 1789 (synonym)Phiseter trumpo Bonnaterre, 1789 (synonym)Physalus cylindricus Lacépède, 1804 (synonym)Physeter andersonii Borowski, 1780 (synonym)Physeter australasiensis Desmoulins, 1822 (synonym)Physeter australis Gray, 1846 (synonym)Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758 (synonym)Physeter maximus G. Cuvier, 1798 (synonym)Physeter microps Linnaeus, 1758 (synonym)Physeter microps rectidentatus Kerr, 1792 (synonym)Physeter novaeangliae Borowski, 1780 (synonym)Physeter orthodon Lacépède, 1804 (synonym)Physeter tursio Linnaeus, 1758 (synonym)Physeterus sulcatus Lacépède, 1818 (synonym)Tursio vulgaris Fleming, 1822 (synonym)

Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758

Standards and Best practicesTools for taxonomic quality control

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Tools for geographic quality control

Example dataset “Marine Turtles”:sightings and strandings of marine turtles around the coast of UK and Ireland”

Outliers due to missing of minus sign. Corrections made after consultation data provider.

-Water/Land positions- Outlier detection

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Tools for quality control based on environmental/habitat parameter ranges

Salinity range

Temperature range

Depth range

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Information for national, regional and global reporting

Increased Nr of reporting obligations for Member States• 2014: CBD 4th Global Biodiversity

Outlook• 2014: GEF Transboundary Water

Assessment• 2015: UN 1st World Ocean

Assessment • 2018: 1st IPBES assessment

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>800 papers have cited OBISincrement of 7 papers per month

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Invasive species

Source: OBIS, 2013

First record in Germany in 1979

Wide spread in NW EU

Ensis directus (razor shell)

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Migratory Species TrackingOBIS-SEAMAP and OTN

Images

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Species distribution modeling (aquamaps)

Flathead mullet (point data)

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Species distribution modeling (aquamaps)

Flathead mullet (native range)

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Species distribution modeling (aquamaps)

Flathead mullet (Year 2050 range)

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Trends of pelagic North Sea species

Regime shiftHerring recovered after the fish ban

Trends in species’ Commonness

Trends in species’ Commonness

Albatros top-ranked seabird because of tagging

Trends in species’ Commonness

Fulmar?Start or end of major surveys?ORUnderlying trends?

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Marine Genetic Resources

Phylum level summary of the distribution of c.

11.7M DNA sequences across c. 190,000 marine species (Source Thomas Webb, unpublished data)

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Marine Genetic Resources

Number of GenBank sequences plotted against number of records in OBIS for approx. 80,000 species common to both databases (Source Thomas Webb, unpublished data)

Some of the uncommon species have many DNA sequences

Some of the common species have few DNA sequences

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Biological data for area based management

OBIS provides scientific and technical support the development of MSP and other area-based management tools.

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Benguela Upwelling System

Areas identified to meet the EBSA criteria (May 2013, SCBD)

EBSA MAP REMOVED UPON REQUEST FROM CBD SECRETARIAT

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OBIS holds 1,000,000 species observations of 15,000 marine species in UNESCO’s 46

marine world heritage sites

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Training in observations, data management and analysis

OceanTeacher Academy is a cornerstone of the IODE

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OceanTeacher in numbers

• 2009-2012:• > 700 onsite trainees• ~120 countries

• 8 courses/year

2009 2010 2011 2012 20130123456789

Courses 2009-20132009 2010 2011 2012

0

50

100

150

200

250

180155

203177

IODE trainees

2009 2010 2011 20120

100200300400500600700800900

1000

663

953 908736

Trainee person days

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Next step: Regional Training Centres

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International cooperation

IMOSEMODNET

MarineGEOCBMP

SAUPEOL

GBIF IUCN GOBI

FAO

IPBES

IODE

GOOSGEO

GEO BON

GEO BON

NEON

LifeWatch

EBONE UNEP

CBD

WoRMS

SMEBD

Future Earth

SCOR

SCAR

MoL

OHI

ICSU

UNESCO

WCMC

OBIS

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International cooperation

IMOS

EMODNETMarineGEO

CBMPSAUP

EOLGBIF

IUCNGOBI

FAOIPBES

IODE

GOOSGEO

GEO BON

GEO BONNEON

LifeWatch

EBONE

UNEP

CBDWoRMS

SMEBD

Future EarthSCOR

SCARMoL

OHI

ICSU

UNESCO WCMCOBIS

• Through organization of meetings and scientific conferences and data analysis workshops.

• Establish partnerships, cooperation agreements, participation in boards and networking activities

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GBIF recognizes OBIS as its marine sister network

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OBIS is recognized as a data core component of GEOSS

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UN-Biodiversity in ABNJ

May 2013 workshop, technical experts recognized OBIS as an appropriate mechanism for data and information sharing in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

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Potential OBIS role in BBNJ

Capacity Building Guidelines, standards and best practices Training in data collection, data management,

QC and data analysis Data repatriation National reporting tools Support in development, hosting and

maintenance of database infrastructure

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Potential OBIS role in BBNJ

One central global open access data portal, unlocking access to samples and data for Selection of marine sites to be protected Environmental Impact Studies Scientific advancement (e.g. determine the

geographical origin of Marine Genetic Resources)

Monitoring of changes to the ecosystem (incl. setting baselines)

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OBIS is unique because

It is truly global (in terms of data and network), It is part of UN through IOC-UNESCO,

recognized by UNCLOS for Marine Science and Transfer of Marine Technology and;

OBIS holds data from non commercial, non-target fishing species, which allows an holistic (ecosystem) approach to measure impacts of activities in ABNJ.

One Planet – One Ocean

THANK YOU