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Operational objective 3. Facilitate an improved and effective infrastructure/system for access to taxonomic information, with priority on ensuring that countries of origin gain access to information concerning elements of their biodiversity
| Release date | 14/02/2006 |
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| 7. Is your country involved in the development of a coordinated global taxonomy information system, in particular the infrastructure to access digitized data/information? | |
| a) No | |
| b) no, but some plans are being considered | |
| c) yes, to a limited extent (please provide details) | |
| d) yes, to a significant extent (please provide details) | X |
Further comments on involvement in the development of a coordinated global taxonomy information system
General:
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility' (GBIF): Belgium is a voting participant in this global network and has established a national node.
- European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI): European response to GBIF.
- International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases (TDWG): several Belgian institutions participate actively in this working group.
- Species 2000: Belgium contributes to this global initiative, via its participation in the project Species 2000 Europa / Eurocat: the catalogue of Life.
- Assembling the Tree of Life (ATOL): several Belgian researchers participate to this collaborative Internet project containing information about phylogeny and biodiversity.
Taxon-based:
- Fauna Europaea: Belgium takes part in this EU-funded initiative (via the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and others).
- Global Information System on Fishes (FishBase): the Royal Museum of Central Africa, is one of the seven research institutions that form the FishBase consortium. It is also responsible for all information on African fresh- and brackish water fishes.
- Ant'Phipoda: Antarctic Marine Biodiversity Reference Centre, devoted to amphipod crustaceans, is under development at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Includes specialised databases that record and organise the information on taxonomy, geographic and bathymetric distribution, ecological and biological characteristics, and bibliography. http://www.naturalsciences.be/amphi/
- NeMys: Generic Taxonomical Database System. The database was developed at the Marine Biology Section (Ghent University) mainly with focus on marine Nematoda and Mysida. For both Mysida and Nematoda, information on species worldwide is entered. http://intramar.ugent.be/nemys/
- Peperomia.net: the Internet Peperomia Reference, developed at Ghent University. Peperomia.net, currently the only website worldwide, is dedicated exclusively to the plant genus Peperomia. It provides scientific information to botanical researchers as well as general information to novices eager to know more about these plants. http://www.peperomia.net/
For a more complete description of the projects and processes mentioned in this answer, please go to the box 'additional information' at the end of the report.