Transcript Document

Integrated Taxonomic
Information System
Janet Gomon, Deputy Director, ITIS
Smithsonian Institution
Museum of Natural History
[email protected]
The Colour of Ocean Data - Palais des Congrès,
Brussels, Belgium, 25-27 November 2002
Presentation Topics
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ITIS Overview
Technical Aspects
Benefits
Lessons Learned
Future Plans
What is ITIS?

An evolving standard reference for
taxonomic information on species
(biodiversity)

A partnership
 US, Canadian, Mexican governmental groups
 Non-governmental organizations
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Developed in collaboration with
systematics community and other list
keepers
Goal

To provide quality taxonomic information
about organisms that meets needs of
partners and user public
 Taxonomic coverage: all major groups; focus on
North America; world coverage where feasible
 Service:
• data quality assurance system for taxonomic
identification
• common reference point for exchange of data
• capacity building in taxonomy (regional datasets,
etc.)
History

NODC Taxonomic Code, 7th ed. – ITIS roots
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“VIMS Code” or “Taxonomic Code for the Biota of
the Chesapeake Bay” – NODC Tax. Code roots
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1996 – 7 U.S. federal agencies sign MOU, along
with Smithsonian Natural History Museum
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By 2002 – ITIS North America established;
Associate Member GBIF; joined with Species 2000
in “Catalogue of Life”
Partners
How many names?
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Over 320,000 scientific names
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186,000 valid/accepted species names
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80,000 additional common names
Data Process & Tools
1. Are my species
names in ITIS?
2. Data submission
3. Data development
4. Data load (public
site)
5. Data access &
delivery
- 4 ITIS homepages
- master DB resides in US
- freely downloadable via FTP;
embed ITIS within
your system or tools
- Develop a script & generate
reports at your site
- machine-to-machine
interoperability
- XML output
Required Data Elements
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Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN) – system assigned;
common reference point for exchange of data
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Scientific Name
 Author(s) – for records genus and below
 Rank
 Usage – current standing
 Parent Scientific Name – link into hierarchy
 Associated Accepted Name – synonym link
 Unacceptability Reason
 Reference(s) – experts, publications, other sources
Quality Indicators
for ITIS Metadata
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Taxonomic Completeness - complete; partial;
unknown
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Taxonomic Currency - year of revision; unknown
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Update Date - date record modified
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Taxonomic Credibility Rating - perceived level of
review and accuracy of taxonomic name and
attributes
ITIS Uses
Examples
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End-to-end data management support
 Cataloging applications – Specify, SMMS, mobile
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computing units
Portal applications – BiOSC Gateway ITIS NA
Digital library applications – Congo Expedition
AMNH
Look-up reference
 Linking point to other nomenclatures &
data sources
 Users link to ITIS
ITIS Uses (cont.)
ITIS Compliant Marine Databases
Examples
Users

Scientists
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Data managers
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Natural resource
managers
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General public,
hobbyists
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Publishers
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Educators, students
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Journalists, writers
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Private industry
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Collections managers,
librarians
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Policy analysts &
decision makers
Challenges &
Lessons Learned
1. Global vs. Regional Approach
2.
3.
4.
5.
Single Name vs. Multiple Classifications
Data Quality vs. Data Quantity
Current Names vs. All Names
Centralized vs. Decentralized
Future Plans
ITIS North America – 2003 meeting
 Integration with other systems
 Focus on sustainability of ITIS
 Improved circumscription of taxa
 Standard for taxonomic data exchange
 Distributed node architecture; new tools
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Distributed Node
Approach
Dissemination
User/Expert
(off-line)
ITIS
Node
Processing
Acquisition
User/Expert
(off-line
ITIS
CD
Mirroring
Off-line
Submission
ITIS Central
Server
ITIS
Node
Regional/
Multilingual
Dissemination
Regional
Acquisition
Final DB
Web
Net User/
Expert
Approved
Datasets
Incoming
Datasets
Harvesting
Direct
Submission
Net User/
Expert
Summary
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ITIS is an evolving standard reference of
scientifically credible, quality-controlled
taxonomic information on species (biodiversity)
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ITIS data are used in a variety of applications
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Referencing biological datasets to ITIS brings
significant value to your data - an indicator of
QA/QC of species identifications
Contact Information
 ITIS
homepage:
http://www.itis.usda.gov
 Webmaster:
[email protected]