UNESCO IOC Register of Marine Organisms
Entry ID:
UNESCO_IOC_MarineOrganisms
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Summary
The UNESCO IOC Register of Marine Organisms is an easily searchable
database which is a component of the ETI World Biodiversity
Database. The Register of Marine Organisms is an already large and
gradually growing dataset that is being built up, and maintained at
the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, the Netherlands. As
... soon as datasets for particular groups are more or less complete and
reliable or at least useful, they are being transferred to the
database at ETI in Amsterdam. The same holds for updates in the
future. The register is basically only a list of species names but it
is tried to add at least some additional information, including author
names, vernacular names, information on geographical and bathymetrical
distribution and NODC numerical codes. Synonyms are added but only if
they are still in use or were used in recent times.
At the present time, many efforts are being undertaken to prepare
partial biodiversity inventories at different levels - global,
regional and national. The Register is, therefore, intended to act as
a tool for the collection of information necessary to the development
of strategies at the decision-making level for the conservation and
sustainable use of biological diversity.
Information was taken from the web site -
The Register will draw on a checklist of marine organisms with a bibliography
of key works. The initial phase of the project extends to the family level
and it has largely been completed. The Register can, thus, provide a
framework for more detailed work, such as compiling inventories of
species. Furthermore, as a comprehensive list of marine organism
families, the Register will act as an 'entering key' to more specific
lists/databases (e.g. the ETI products). The second phase, already
started, is aimed at expanding the Register down to the species
level. The further development of the project must, however, be
considered as an on-going exercise, leading to a product which also
includes tools as guidance for identification. The Register is also
aimed at building up a basis for an internationally agreed taxonomic
terminology of marine organisms. In fact, while the project of a
comprehensive register of marine organisms does not have the
pretention of making taxonomists agree once and for all, the Register
could hopefully act as a co-ordinating mechanism to help stabilize
nomenclature. This goal is being achieved through the involvement of
many specialists and, to this end, some 400 floppy disks with a draft
register of families were distributed worldwide and numerous
taxonomists were invited to contribute. Meanwhile many reviewed the
first draft and provided their inputs to the completion of lists of
species of several selected groups. Another important goal of such a
project is to come up with a reliable assessment of the number of
marine species. Assessing the effective number of marine species is
probably an impossible task. However, it is time to show what the
international scientific community does know in this field. The
Register, which will also be released on computer CD-ROM, is also
aimed at promoting computer assisted taxonomy. This appears very
important, especially in those countries where good libraries are
scarce or absent. Furthermore, a computer database can always be
easily updated. The US National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC)
Taxonomic Code - which is a hierarchical system of numerical codes
used to represent the scientific name of organisms - has been
introduced into the Register. This need for a coding system arises
because biological data are nowadays increasingly processed by
computer, and several taxonomic coding systems have been developed
accordingly. The advantage is that, once a coding system has been
introduced, the records can be easily manipulated. Similarly, FAO
provided their standardized lists of common names in use for fisheries
purposes for inclusion in the Register. The Register is also intended
to help circulate biological data within the International
Oceanographic Data Information and Exchange System (IODE), thus
becoming accessible to IODE system users as well.
Geographic Coverage
Spatial coordinates
| N: 90.0 |
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S: -90.0 |
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E: 180.0 |
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W: -180.0 |
Data Set Citation
Dataset Creator:
Joint project with UNESCO IOC, The National Museum of Natural History and The Expert Center for Taxonomic Identifcation
Dataset Title:
UNESCO IOC Register of Marine Organisms
Dataset Release Place:
The Netherlands
Dataset Publisher:
ETI Biodiversity Center
Data Presentation Form:
database
Online Resource:
http://www.eti.uva.nl/about/index.html
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Temporal Coverage
Location Keywords
Science Keywords
ISO Topic Category
Quality
The recognized phyla in the Register are as listed below (for the time
being multicellular animals only). Phyla that have been (partly)
incorporated in the database part of the Register are highlighted. For
these phyla there are separate classification pages which include
common names and go down to the family level; taxa for which species
have been entered in ... the database are indicated by an asterisk
(*). 01. Porifera 02. Placozoa 03. Mesozoa (includes Rhombozoa and
Orthonectida); 04. Cnidaria (Coelenterata) 05. Ctenophora
06. Sipuncula (Sipunculida) 07. Echiura (Echiurida) 08. Mollusca
(Cephalopoda) 09. Annelida (includes Pogonophora and Vestimentifera)
10. Arthropoda (Pycnogonida) 11. Tardigrada 12. Plathelminthes
(Platyhelminthes) 13. Nemertini (Nemertea) 14. Bryozoa (includes
Entoprocta, Ectoprocta, and Cycliophora) 15. Gastrotricha 16. Nematoda
17. Cephalorhyncha (includes Kinorhyncha, Nematomorpha, Priapulida and
Loricifera) 18. Chaetognatha 19. Rotatoria (Rotifera)
20. Acanthocephala 21. Phoronida 22. Brachiopoda
23. Echinodermata 24. Gnathostomulida 25. Hemichordata 26. Chordata
General Taxonomic Coverage is at:
http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:CKOhJ62WLUsJ:mercury.ornl.gov/...
A species list may be more or less unreliable because the group
involved has not yet been well studied ever or not for many years and
its taxonomy is in need of revision. Regrettably we may have to live
with this situation for many years, given the scarcity of
taxonomists. We try to indicate such circumstances but they cannot
always be determined easily. Poor original descriptions often make it
very difficult or even impossible to recognize certain species. We
mark these as dubious species or discard them.
The lists of described species may be incomplete. In most cases we
included these lists all the same, because half a list is better than
no list and moreover most important and well known species are likely
to be present. There are still many groups that are poorly known and
in which many or even most species still await detection and
description. The indication will be 'poorly known' in such cases. In
many cases additional data on distribution, life habits etc. are still
lacking in our data set and sometimes even names of authors and year
of description could not yet be included. In many groups all kinds of
data are not lacking because they are not available but just because
they have not yet been collected or not yet been digitized. We solicit
your help in completing such lists.
Access Constraints
It is IOC's plan to make copies of the final product available free of
charge to developing countries, as well as the other partners's
intention to provide each user with scientific and technical
assistance on how to best use the Register.
None
Use Constraints
Of course copyright cannot be claimed for scientific names and
references, nor to lists of these, and not even for basic
descriptions. However, we reserve the copyright for the Unesco-IOC
Register of Marine Organisms as far as this is legally possible. This
is not because we want to restrict its use but we want to avoid
... misuse. Everybody is free to copy all information presented and use it
for whatever purpose, but you are not free to use it for commercial
purposes without permission. You are free to distribute copies in
print or through electronic media but only if you state the origin and
you or your publisher do not claim copyright. You are also free to
correct, complete and update these lists. We welcome this but of
course then we should like to receive a revised copy for use in the
register.
Ancillary Keywords
Data Set Progress
Data Center
Personnel
JAMES
VAN DER LAND
Role:
TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone:
31 71 516 26 54
Fax:
31 71 513 33 44
Email:
evert at nnm.nl
Contact Address:
National Museum of Natural History
P.O. Box 9517
City:
R A Leiden
Postal Code:
2300
Country:
NETHERLANDS
TYLER
B.
STEVENS
Role:
DIF AUTHOR
Phone:
(301) 614-6898
Fax:
301-614-5268
Email:
Tyler.B.Stevens at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Change Master Directory
City:
Greenbelt
Province or State:
MD
Postal Code:
20771
Country:
USA
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Related URL
Publications/References
Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification
World Biodiversity Database, Database, Amsterdam, Netherlands
ETI, http://www.eti.uva.nl/Database/WBD.html
Dr. Jacob van der Land, National Museum of Natural History, 1997
Bibliography on the Marine Biota, version 1, bibliography
The Netherlands, ETI-UNESCO-IOC.
Creation and Review Dates
DIF Creation Date:
2001-09-26
Last DIF Revision Date:
2008-06-18
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Links
