Ocean Biodiversity Information System (original) (raw)
News
Hack for a Livable Planet: join OBIS at the World Bank-led hackathon to answer biodiversity issues using available data
October 22, 2024 OBIS hackathon resources
Biodiversity loss is one of the three main global threats to life on Earth, and if not addressed, could lead to a massive ecosystem collapse. Finding implementable solutions to protect biodiversity is critical for sustaining life on Earth and mitigating the ongoing environmental crises. OBIS is teaming up with the World Bank in a hackathon where citizens of all ages, researchers, community leaders, educators, activists, and elders team up to transform troves of publicly available biodiversity data repositories into actionable tools for education, policymaking and analysis. The great news? You can take part, too!
OBIS eDNA services, expertise and data publication
October 22, 2024 OBIS eDNA
OBIS is actively engaged in eDNA research and the eDNA research community. Through its many projects, OBIS develops monitoring studies as well as tools for the bioinformatic processing and analysis of eDNA data, and works on the development of community-approved metadata standards. As a data publication platform, OBIS enables research teams, authors, and monitoring projects to publish occurrence data derived from quantitative (qPCR/ddPCR) or community-level (metabarcoding) eDNA approaches to make ocean biodiversity data globally accessible.
Laurent Chmiel joined the OBIS secretariat
October 17, 2024 Communication secretariat
We are glad to announce that Mr Laurent Chmiel has joined our OBIS secretariat. Laurent will contribute to enhance the OBIS team's capabilities in community engagement, partnerships, and outreach.
GBIF Ecuador Joins the OBIS Network as a New Node
October 11, 2024 OBIS Node Ecuador
We are excited to announce that GBIF Ecuador has officially joined the OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System) network and will now serve as the national OBIS Ecuador Node.
MARCO-BOLO Data Analysis Challenge for eDNA biodiversity monitoring
September 6, 2024 OBIS Data challenge eDNA
OBIS is joining forces with VLIZ and UiT to organise the MARCO-BOLO Data Analysis Challenge to improve recommendations for eDNA metabarcoding pipeline choice and develop indicator workflows to report on biodiversity monitoring. Already 43 participants have registered their interest to participate and add their pipeline to the comparison.
Recently published datasets
Use cases
State of knowledge on marine connectivity gathered by migratory marine species
ABNJ connectivity marine species management telemetry tracking
Advancements in technology have improved our knowledge of how different areas of the ocean are connected by the movement of migratory and mobile marine species. This information is vital to inform area-based management and conservation efforts. The authors of this study, led by the OBIS-SEAMAP node, performed a literature review of 25 years of accessible connectivity data for 173 marine mammal, fish, sea turtle, and seabird species to shed light on the current state of knowledge. They found telemetry methods are the most effective tool for demonstrating connectivity, but that significant gaps and obstacles remain in this field of research.
Invasive marine algae in the Mediterranean was misidentified for decades
Algae Invasive species Mediterranean Modelling
The red algae, "Lophocladia lallemandii", one of the worst invasive species in the Mediterranean, was misidentified for nearly three decades. The researchers who discovered this error recommend genetic analysis as a mandatory first step when identifying, monitoring and managing invasives. OBIS served as a useful data repository to confirm the occurrence of this misidentified species.
Preserving seagrasses in a changing climate
climate change modelling MPA seagrass
This study provides the first comprehensive global assessment of how climate change may affect the distribution and range of 66 seagrass species. It also examines how well the current global MPA coverage will protect these important ecosystems in the future. The authors relied on occurrence records from OBIS, along with other sources of data and expert knowledge, to develop species distribution models under various scenarios.
Metabarcoding is a promising tool for identifying species of fish from their eggs and larvae
DNA eggs fish larvae ichthyoplankton metabarcoding Indian Ocean
Understanding the diversity and distribution of fish egg and larvae in the ocean provides invaluable information on ecosystem health, capacity to recover from disturbances and helps guide management and conservation efforts. This study shows that metabarcoding is a promising tool that allows for rapid and accurate species identification. OBIS was used to validate and confirm the distribution range, habitat and occurrence of the species detected by metabarcoding.
How many species live in the world’s largest marine mineral exploration region?
Biodiversity Deep sea Pacific Taxonomy
This study offers the first comprehensive synthesis of published data for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the central and eastern Pacific. The authors report that this area, which covers 6 million km2, represents significant undescribed biodiversity with an estimated 88%–92% species waiting to be described. Data used in this research were extracted from OBIS highlighting its value as a global data repository for marine biodiversity.
Current knowledge on the reproduction of deep-sea corals
Corals Deep Sea Depth Distribution Reproduction
This study looks at the current state of research on the reproduction of deep-sea corals. Occurrence records were extracted from OBIS to find available information for species living at depths below 100m. Less than 7% of known deep-sea coral species were found to have any aspect of their reproduction reported in the literature highlighting significant gaps and priorities for future research.