Abstract:
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.
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
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.
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
Dr. Jacob van der Land, National Museum of Natural History, 1997 Bibliography on the Marine Biota, version 1, bibliography The Netherlands, ETI-UNESCO-IOC.
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