The next stage of biodiversity informatics: community-driven synthesis and integration of biodiversity databases
Abstract Developing a predictive science of the biosphere depends heavily on the rapidly expanding biodiversity data that are commonly stored in biodiversity databases. Despite the proliferation of biodiversity databases, their independent operation has limited data discovery, comparison, and synthesis. Therefore, the biodiversity informatics community has called for improved alignment among these efforts to better catalog Earth's biodiversity. The primary challenges are incomplete knowledge of existing databases and incongruent taxonomic systems and data schemas. Addressing these issues will require development of a database registry, means to compare database contents, taxonomic harmonization, and tools that enable users to merge disparate databases based on their needs, all within a community of practice that enables people of various skill levels and roles to participate. We believe that synthesis and integration, driven by a growing and thriving community, will be the next stage of biodiversity informatics and will help unlock the full potential of biodiversity information.
Authors
- Pamela S. Soltis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9310-8659)
- Aaron M. Lien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5131-688X)
- Adam B. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6420-1659)
- Jennifer Hammock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9943-2342)
- Brian Joseph Enquist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6124-7096)
- Joyce C. Ho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9168-3916)
- Eric R. Sokol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5923-0917)
- Rachael V. Gallagher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4680-8115)
- Brian Maitner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2118-9880)
- Anna Willoughby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0504-0605)
- Xiao Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4638-3927)
- Brad Boyle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9934-6655)
- Elizabeth Wenk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5640-5910)
- Daniel Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2783-530X)
- Xin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0801-8566)
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Seoul (KR)
- Santa Fe Institute (US)
- Florida Museum of Natural History (US)
- National Museum of Natural History (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (US)
- Emory University (US)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Korea University (KR)
- Missouri Botanical Garden (US)
- National Ecological Observatory Network (US)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- University of South Florida St. Petersburg (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BioScience
- Published
- 2025-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf112
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.35
Funders
- National Science Foundation