Biodiversity Informatics Vs
MOHD. SAJID IDRISI & MOMD. IMRAN KHAN le ic
rt Biodiversity networks and databases will play a crucial role in managing the vast and A Biodiversity increasing information on biodiversity re components all around the world. India u t with its emerging strength in Information a
e Technology is in an excellent position to
F Informatics take up the challenge of developing robust Digitizing the Web of Life information networks and databases.
N the wake of increased threats from population genetics, philosophy, microorganism repositories in various Ideforestation, alteration in land use, anthropology, sociology, information universities, natural history museums, species invasion, soil degradation, technology, economics etc. For research institutions and organizations pollution and climate change, the global conservation biologists or biodiversity concentrated mainly in developed community felt an urgent need to address experts it is a challenge to preserve the countries. Experts are often asked for quick biodiversity as an important perspective evolutionary potential and ecological advice or input by government and private of our lives. Global concerns for the viability of a vast array of biodiversity, and agencies regarding issues such as status conservation of biodiversity led to the preserve the complex nature, dynamics of a species population in a particular Convention on Biological Diversity. At the and interrelationships of natural systems. region or area, potential effects of moment, 188 countries including India are This calls for high connectivity between introduced species, forest fire impacts in party to the convention. experts and their available work in various a protected area, ecological effects of The Convention on Biological Diversity research institutions and organizations. For development, and so on. Such experts are (CBD) has three main objectives: focused research in the future, readily often hamstrung by the lack of easily 1.Conservation of Biological Diversity available information is required on each accessible information. 2. Sustainable use of its resources. and every aspect of biodiversity. Therefore, the need of the hour is to 3. Fair and equitable share of the genetic Therefore, utilizing the tools of information digitize all the available information on and other resources of biological diversity. technology experts are trying to digitize biodiversity and place it on information The CBD in its Article 17 and 18 lays the available information on biodiversity networks to aid the current generation of emphasis on the development of various into user-friendly databases that can be researchers. networks for sharing information and easily accessed on the Internet from Many international conservation expertise. anywhere in the world. information networks have been Since biodiversity conservation is a developed during the last few decades multidisciplinary science, it seeks help and Need for Biodiversity (see Table), most of which are open to applies the principles of many other Informatics public. These information networks include disciplines such as ecology, taxonomy, Much of the biodiversity information is news, expertise, searchable databases, systematics, biogeography, available in the form of scientific and any other kind of relevant material that geoinformatics, molecular biology, collections such as specimens, herbaria, can be put on websites. Some major databases providing online information services for conservation Name Website Description GBIF www.gbif.org Hotspots Global biodiversity facility, unit level records Hotspots www.biodiversityhotspots.org Provides information on global hotspots ETI-WBD www.eti.uva.nl/tools/wbd.php Global taxonomic database IUCN SIS www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/our_work/sis.htm IUCN Information service on species IUCN Redlist www.iucnredlist.org IUCN information on conservation status of species UNEP-WCMC www.unep-wcmc.org Information centre with multiple databases on conservation SCIENCE REPORTER, FEBRUARY 2011 28 Feature Article
Biodiversity networks and databases will play a crucial role in managing the vast The databases are playing an and increasing information on biodiversity components all around the world. important role in providing baseline as well as key information to many scientists and mission statement is “to make the world’s Biodiversity Informatics vs. researchers working for conservation primary data on biodiversity freely and Bioinformatics projects in different regions of the world. universally available via the Internet”. Biodiversity informatics includes They have also inspired others to develop Currently, 47 countries and 32 international application of information technologies databases and information networks for organizations are members in GBIF, and to the management, algorithm ease of information dissemination and the membership steadily grows, as does exploration, analysis and interpretation of networking in their area of expertise. the data content. Ocean Biogeographic primary data regarding life particularly the The information networks may be Information System (OBIS) is among the species level organization regional or global and may be complex largest data providers to the GBIF. while or fairly simple in structure depending India has also developed a number upon their objectives. Nevertheless, experts of excellent biodiversity involved in constructing these information information networks and networks tend to make them user-friendly databases such as for public convenience. Environmental Information At the global level, GBIF is playing a System (ENVIS) by the Ministry lead role and is the most ambitious of all of Environment and Forests, information networks as far as integration Govt. of India; Centre for of biodiversity data is concerned. GBIF’s Biodiversity Informatics of the data portal is already available online as National Chemical Laboratory, a standard source providing integrated CSIR, Pune; the Biotechnology primary data (label or observational) on Information System by all species of living organisms. It does this Department of Biotechnology, by providing software and web services Govt. of India; Traditional (using extensible markup language, or XML) Knowledge Digital Library by CSIR; Bioinformatics that enable integration of data drawn from Indian Medicinal Plants Database by is the use of computer multiple resources distributed around the Foundation for Revitalization of Local technologies for mining, capture, world. Health Traditions (FRLHT), Bangalore; storage, search, retrieval, modelling, and GBIF is currently serving over 10 million National Wildlife Database and Zoo analysis of genomic and proteomic data. records from 34 distributed databases and Database by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), In recent years, high throughput intends to make the entire world’s Dehradun, and Birds of India by Salim Ali experiments on genomes of different biodiversity information available to all Centre for Ornithology and Natural History organisms such as whole genome within the next 10 year period. The GBIF (SACON), Coimbatore. sequencing, functional annotation, gene 29 SCIENCE REPORTER, FEBRUARY 2011 Feature Article Benefits of Biodiversity Experts involved in constructing these information networks tend to make Informatics websites user-friendly for public convenience. Permits mining, capture, would further generate huge data on a The same information is also required storage, search, retrieval, particular species and its characteristics, by persons with policy and decision making visualization, mapping, modelling, which would help give solutions to several responsibilities, and because the analysis and publication of data. complex questions. information is not immediately at hand, it Networking of databases between SPANDAN-The Bip (Biodiversity is often not applied in policy and different institutions, laboratories, Inventory by People) (www.spandan- management decisions that affect the universities, and research thebip.org) is an initiative on these lines by organisms involved. Biodiversity, directly or organizations that will help scientists the World Institute of Nature (WIN) based in indirectly is linked with food security and and research scholars carry out Pune. poverty alleviation, which are important research on different aspects of There are other databases that are issues to be addressed in this age of biodiversity conservation. group specific, for example, climate change and global food Access to useful data at little or SeasonWatch, an online database that insecurity. Therefore, better networking no cost with interactive and user- monitors plant phenology (the timing of between scientists, policy and decision makers would result in right policy defined readability. seasonal events like flowering and fruiting) formulations and appropriate fund Improved education and training across India. It is the brainchild of Suhel allocations, which would help generate process as teachers can obtain real Quader, a research fellow at the National public confidence and trust in government data sets for various student Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), developmental projects. exercises. Bangalore. Observations collected Biodiversity informatics will also Significant role in policy and through this network are believed to address issues such as linking information decision-making processes that contribute to an understanding of the on the large holdings of biological directly or indirectly affect billions effects of climate change on plant specimens of developing countries, of lives. ecology. including of Indian origin, located in Migrant Watch (http//: Information and data gaps are herbaria and museums abroad. migrantwatch.in) is another database more apparent, and these gaps will India with its emerging strength in initiated by research fellows at NCBS to encourage scientists to carry out Information Technology as well as track the arrival of migratory birds in the research on the neglected, biotechnology is in an excellent position country. unexplored and much awaited to take up the challenge of developing Another example of information themes and issues. robust information networks and network, still under construction, is NEIBN Increased public confidence and databases. This calls for networking of the participation in more transparent (North East India Biodiversity Network), an country’s existing biodiversity databases to and accessible science. initiative of the North East Centre for take advantage of synergies. The existing Environmental Education and Research biodiversity databases will need to be expressions in various research laboratories (NECEER), Manipur, which aims at bringing considerably augmented and and research institutions have led to scientists, researchers, forest officials, and strengthened, and new ones created. dramatic increase in the amount of students working on biodiversity and There is strong need to come up with information compelling scientists to look environmental issues of North East India on novel ways of bringing on board the out for alternatives to store the huge a single platform for better networking and substantial knowledge base of the amount of data generated during the to foster research programs and country’s barefoot ecologists and grass- experiments. This molecular level development in the entire biodiversity roots innovators and to devise a country information is believed to be very useful, if hotspot region. These initiatives are wide decentralized system of monitoring linked to various species and their habitats strengthening the role of common people biodiversity. Such a decentralized system in databases, for studying their natural and motivating them to protect their could serve to enhance the quality of history and evolutionary relationships. surrounding biodiversity. education by engaging teachers and Progress and growth in the area of Biodiversity networks and databases students in first hand understanding of Bioinformatics has prompted experts to will play a crucial role in managing the biodiversity and associated knowledge develop databases for various plants and vast and increasing information on and in creating, using, and managing animal species distribution in space and biodiversity components all around the electronic databases, including those time leading to the birth of Biodiversity world. Most importantly, they will ease the employing Indian languages. Informatics. process of research, as in most cases to find data a researcher needs to travel Mr Mohd. Imran Khan is doing M.Sc. Bioinformatics Calling Citizens physically to the place where the herbaria (Final yr.) from the Dept. of Computer Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi- To document each and every observation or specimen is actually housed making the 110025; Address: H.No. 224/383, Street no. 15, on biodiversity, some organizations have research expensive and exhaustive. Gaffar Manzil, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025 taken initiatives to build public-supported Through biodiversity networks and biodiversity databases, where databases, the information will be readily Mr Mohd. Sajid Idrisi is a Research Fellow at the observational information on various available for the young generation Centre for Biodiversity Informatics, North East species can be fed into the database. researchers, irrespective of their place of Centre for Environmental Education and Research These fragmented pieces of information residence. (NECEER), Imphal, Manipur SCIENCE REPORTER, FEBRUARY 2011 30