World Register of Marine Species

World Register of Marine Species
Name	World Register of Marine Species
Formation	2007
Leader title	Executive Director

World Register of Marine Species is an authoritative taxonomic database that aims to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. It serves as a taxonomic backbone for biodiversity informatics initiatives, supporting research, conservation, and policy through curated species inventories and links to primary literature, specimen records, and nomenclatural decisions. The register integrates contributions from taxonomists, institutions, and global initiatives to resolve synonymies and standardize marine nomenclature.

History and development

The register emerged from dialogues among experts involved with European Commission marine initiatives, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and networks such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Early development was influenced by projects funded through the European Commission's Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development and collaborations with organizations including United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and Convention on Biological Diversity. Key milestones involved partnerships with museums and research institutes such as the Natural History Museum, London, Smithsonian Institution, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. Governance models drew on precedents set by databases like Integrated Taxonomic Information System and Catalogue of Life, while technical approaches referenced standards developed by Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) and datasets from the Global Names Architecture community.

Scope and content

The register catalogs marine taxa spanning phyla represented in collections at institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, California Academy of Sciences, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, and South African National Biodiversity Institute. Coverage includes entries linked to authors and works by figures like Carl Linnaeus, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Ernst Haeckel, and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and nomenclatural acts governed by codes such as the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Taxonomic scope ranges from extant taxa recorded by explorers associated with voyages like the HMS Challenger expedition to fossil taxa curated at institutions like the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Content integrates specimen metadata referencing collectors tied to expeditions including Lewis and Clark Expedition (historical context), Challenger expedition, and modern surveys by vessels such as NOAAS Okeanos Explorer.

Governance and data management

Management is overseen by networks of thematic editors and institutional partners, modeled after advisory structures seen in organizations like Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Data curators coordinate with repositories including Dryad (repository), GenBank, European Nucleotide Archive, and museum collection databases at Natural History Museum, Vienna. Metadata and identifier strategies align with persistent identifier infrastructures such as Digital Object Identifier and ORCID, while data exchange follows protocols developed by Open Geospatial Consortium and Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). Financial and institutional support has come from funders like the European Research Council and national research councils including NERC, NSF, and agencies like Agence nationale de la recherche.

Tools and services

The register provides web services and application programming interfaces used by platforms such as Encyclopedia of Life, GBIF, Pangea, OBIS, and portals maintained by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Tools enable taxonomic name matching used by projects like Barcode of Life Data System and link to molecular resources in GenBank and BOLD Systems. Visualization and data access integrate with mapping tools developed by groups behind ArcGIS, QGIS, and portals like Map of Life, while citation and provenance tracking reference standards promoted by DataCite and infrastructure developed by European Marine Observation and Data Network.

Collaborations and projects

The register participates in collaborative programs with initiatives such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Ocean Biogeographic Information System, Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, and regional efforts like Australian Antarctic Division projects and the Mediterranean Science Commission. It supports biodiversity assessments tied to conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and reporting mechanisms for the United Nations's sustainable development agendas. Partnerships extend to academic consortia including University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, and research institutes like Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Impact and usage

The register underpins biodiversity research cited in journals such as Nature, Science (journal), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Journal of Biogeography, and supports conservation assessments by entities like IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and policy work within the European Commission. Its taxonomic backbone is used by environmental consultancies, marine spatial planners, and monitoring programs run by agencies including NOAA, European Environment Agency, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Educational and outreach use spans museums and media produced by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and documentary producers referencing expeditions like Deepsea Challenge and broadcasters like the BBC Natural History Unit.

Category:Biological databases