Ozboneviz: an Australian precedent in FAIR 3D imagery and extended biodiversity collections
Billions of specimens are in biodiversity collections worldwide, and this infrastructure is crucial for research on Earth's natural history. Three-dimensional (3D) imagery of specimens is an increasingly important part of the digital extended specimen network of metadata. Open-access, high-fidelity 3D imagery of biodiversity specimens improves researcher efficiency and equity and increases public engagement with collections. We introduce Ozboneviz, an open-access collection of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) 3D imagery aiming to enhance research capacity in Australasian vertebrate skeletal morphology. Ozboneviz is an Australian test case demonstrating the feasibility of creating multi-institutional, FAIR 3D biodiversity imagery collections. We outline its project design, challenges, and use by the international research community. We then discuss the urgent need for investment in infrastructure and curatorial support to progress the digitization of Australian biodiversity collections in a way that maximizes stakeholder benefit and facilitates 3D data discoverability and retrieval.
Authors
- Jacob D. van Zoelen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2952-8549)
- Sofía Samper Carro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0743-4026)
- Erin Mein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5272-5084)
- Sandy Ingleby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2573-2622)
- Diana A. Fusco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-7304)
- Sue O’Connor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9381-078X)
- Jorgo Ristevski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9006-219X)
- Ariana B. J. Lambrides (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7492-448X)
- Adam M. Yates (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3568-2585)
- David Stemmer
- Vera Weisbecker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2370-4046)
- Tiina Manne
- Pietro Viacava (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4874-4848)
- Keith Maguire
- Thomas J Peachey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8557-2363)
Institutions
- Griffith University (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- Australian Museum (AU)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Flinders University (AU)
- South Australian Museum (AU)
- Department of Arts and Museums (AU)
- Australian National Wildlife Collection (AU)
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (DE)
- James Cook University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BioScience
- Published
- 2025-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf064
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.84
Funders
- Flinders University
- Australian Research Council