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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 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 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 “VIMS Code” or “Taxonomic Code for the Biota of the Chesapeake Bay” – NODC Tax. Code roots 1996 – 7 U.S. federal agencies sign MOU, along with Smithsonian Natural History Museum By 2002 – ITIS North America established; Associate Member GBIF; joined with Species 2000 in “Catalogue of Life” Partners How many names? Over 320,000 scientific names 186,000 valid/accepted species names 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 Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN) – system assigned; common reference point for exchange of data 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 Taxonomic Completeness - complete; partial; unknown Taxonomic Currency - year of revision; unknown Update Date - date record modified Taxonomic Credibility Rating - perceived level of review and accuracy of taxonomic name and attributes ITIS Uses Examples End-to-end data management support Cataloging applications – Specify, SMMS, mobile 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 Data managers Natural resource managers General public, hobbyists Publishers Educators, students Journalists, writers Private industry Collections managers, librarians 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 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 ITIS is an evolving standard reference of scientifically credible, quality-controlled taxonomic information on species (biodiversity) ITIS data are used in a variety of applications 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]