VertNet

VertNet
Name	VertNet
Formation	2010
Headquarters	Berkeley, California
Region served	Global

VertNet VertNet is a collaborative biodiversity data infrastructure that aggregates vertebrate specimen records from natural history collections worldwide, providing access to millions of specimen and observation records for research, conservation, and education. It interoperates with major biodiversity platforms, museum databases, and informatics projects to enable integrated analyses across disciplines such as ecology, biogeography, conservation biology, and paleontology. VertNet supports standards and tools that facilitate data discovery, mobilization, and reuse by researchers, policymakers, and educators.

Overview

VertNet aggregates specimen-level data from natural history institutions including museums, herbaria, and research collections such as the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum, London, California Academy of Sciences, and Field Museum of Natural History. It harvests metadata described using standards like Darwin Core and exposes data through aggregators including Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Integrated Digitized Biocollections, Biodiversity Heritage Library, iDigBio, and regional networks such as Atlas of Living Australia and GBIF Spain. VertNet has been used in studies connected to Linnean Society of London initiatives, United Nations Environment Programme assessments, and conservation programs run by organizations like BirdLife International and the IUCN. The initiative has intersections with informatics projects such as OpenRefine, Symbiota, EcoData Retriever, MorphoBank, and platforms maintained by National Science Foundation grantees.

History

VertNet originated from collaborations among curators, collections managers, and informaticians associated with institutions like University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum, University of Washington Burke Museum, and the University of Florida collections. The project built on precedents set by digitization efforts at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History and leveraged funding mechanisms such as awards from the National Science Foundation and partnerships with agencies like the National Institutes of Health for data infrastructure. Early milestones included workshops with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, pilot aggregations with the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, and technical collaboration with groups at University of California, Davis and Cornell University. Subsequent phases integrated with global portals like GBIF and national initiatives including National Ecological Observatory Network and projects supported by the US Geological Survey.

Data and Technology

VertNet ingests specimen metadata fields aligned with Darwin Core terms and employs indexing strategies similar to those used by ElasticSearch implementations at institutions like the Natural History Museum, London. Data cleaning and georeferencing workflows reference tools and standards from Georeferencing Best Practices and resources promoted by the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). The technical stack has been influenced by open-source projects such as Symbiota, Arctos, and computational frameworks developed at University of California, Berkeley and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Data citation practices are influenced by recommendations from the DataCite consortium and interoperability with services like ORCID and Zenodo for dataset DOI minting. VertNet supports machine-accessible APIs and encourages integration with analytical tools including R (programming language), Python (programming language), and packages maintained by communities around rOpenSci, Bioconductor, and EcoDataRetrieval.

Participating Institutions and Networks

Major participating museums, universities, and consortia include the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, Field Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum, London, California Academy of Sciences, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum, Florida Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Museum of Nature, Australian Museum, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, National Museum of Natural History, Paris, British Antarctic Survey, and regional networks such as the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and the Neotropical Biodiversity Information Facility. VertNet collaborates with data aggregators and platforms including GBIF, iDigBio, Atlas of Living Australia, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Monarch Joint Venture, and citizen science projects linked to eBird and iNaturalist. Professional societies and funding partners engaged with VertNet activities include the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and national collections programs funded by agencies like the National Science Foundation and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Uses and Impact

VertNet data have been used in studies published in journals associated with organizations such as the Ecological Society of America, Society for Conservation Biology, American Society of Mammalogists, Herpetologists' League, and by researchers affiliated with universities including Harvard University, Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Yale University, and Stanford University. Applications include species distribution modeling in collaboration with initiatives like the IPBES assessments, retrospective climate change analyses connected to datasets used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, invasive species research tied to USDA pest risk analyses, and conservation prioritization used by agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. VertNet-supported data underpin museum-based outreach efforts at institutions like the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County and informatics training at centers including the Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas.

Governance and Funding

VertNet has been shaped by governance involving university-based principal investigators and steering committees with participants from institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, University of Florida, University of Kansas, and the Smithsonian Institution. Funding sources historically include grants from the National Science Foundation, philanthropic support from foundations like the W. M. Keck Foundation, and partnerships with federal programs run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Geological Survey. Project governance has liaised with standards organizations such as Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) and data policy initiatives associated with the DataONE network and USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program.

Category:Biodiversity databases