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FADA and WoRMS Announce a Renewed Collaboration
Added on 2024-06-04 13:24:41 by Vandepitte, Leen
The Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment Initiative (FADA) is pleased to announce a renewed start and partnership with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), managed by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). Last year, BELSPO – the (Belgian) Federal Public Planning Service Science Policy – has granted the re-instatement of the FADA expert consortium and the FADA database, under the project ‘Upgrading the taxonomic backbone of global freshwater animal biodiversity research infrastructures’ (InfraFADA). This project is a collaboration between the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS, Belgium, home of FADA) and BOKU University (Vienna, Austria).
As FADA and WoRMS have collaborated in the past, this renewed start was an excellent opportunity to renew the WoRMS-FADA MoU, which dated already from 2017, and was linked to the previous BELSPO-AquaRES project.
This renewed collaboration aims to enhance data exchange between FADA and WoRMS databases, enabling better development and sharing of critical freshwater biodiversity information. WoRMS will provide access to FADA to integrate selected freshwater data into its systems. Conversely, FADA will allow VLIZ to use the collected taxonomic information within the WoRMS environment.
The data collections consist of authoritative taxonomic data curated by international experts and contribute to initiatives such as the Catalogue of Life (COL), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and e-Science initiatives like LifeWatch. Most of these initiatives rely on a wide array of specialists’ contributions to independent checklists and require extensive interactions with a broad expert network. Given the potential overlap in taxonomic specialists and the complex nature of the data, exchanging expertise and data among these initiatives is highly beneficial for all parties involved.
This collaboration represents a significant advancement in the management and protection of aquatic biodiversity. By combining expertise, this partnership will ensure high-quality taxonomic biodiversity data in open access, essential for scientific and policy applications, and promoting sustainable diversity governance.
The renewed MoU and FADA-WoRMS partnership also contribute to LifeWatch and the LifeWatch Species Information Backbone. LifeWatch is the E-Science European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, a distributed virtual laboratory, which is used for different aspects of biodiversity research. The Species Information Backbone of LifeWatch aims to bring together taxonomic and species-related data, to fill knowledge gaps and to avoid duplication of efforts.
As FADA and WoRMS have collaborated in the past, this renewed start was an excellent opportunity to renew the WoRMS-FADA MoU, which dated already from 2017, and was linked to the previous BELSPO-AquaRES project.
This renewed collaboration aims to enhance data exchange between FADA and WoRMS databases, enabling better development and sharing of critical freshwater biodiversity information. WoRMS will provide access to FADA to integrate selected freshwater data into its systems. Conversely, FADA will allow VLIZ to use the collected taxonomic information within the WoRMS environment.
The data collections consist of authoritative taxonomic data curated by international experts and contribute to initiatives such as the Catalogue of Life (COL), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and e-Science initiatives like LifeWatch. Most of these initiatives rely on a wide array of specialists’ contributions to independent checklists and require extensive interactions with a broad expert network. Given the potential overlap in taxonomic specialists and the complex nature of the data, exchanging expertise and data among these initiatives is highly beneficial for all parties involved.
This collaboration represents a significant advancement in the management and protection of aquatic biodiversity. By combining expertise, this partnership will ensure high-quality taxonomic biodiversity data in open access, essential for scientific and policy applications, and promoting sustainable diversity governance.
The renewed MoU and FADA-WoRMS partnership also contribute to LifeWatch and the LifeWatch Species Information Backbone. LifeWatch is the E-Science European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, a distributed virtual laboratory, which is used for different aspects of biodiversity research. The Species Information Backbone of LifeWatch aims to bring together taxonomic and species-related data, to fill knowledge gaps and to avoid duplication of efforts.
Link: https://www.marinespecies.org/documents/MoUs_ToUs/MoU_WoRMS_ODNature_FADA_2024.pdf
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