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magazine / jf01
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January/February 2001 issue |
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DISCOVERY
Tracking biodiversity
By Elizabeth Shilts
Delicate butterflies
are carefully pinned behind glass in museums and research institutes
across Canada and around the world. But until now, a scientist
studying a particular butterfly species would have no way of
comparing his specimens with those amassed in other corners of
the globe.
All that is about to change with the launch of the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility (GBIF), a series of interconnected databases
on all living things, from microbes to marigolds to moose. By
simply logging on to the web, anyone can find out how a species
is classified and will eventually be able to get a compilation
of facts about any organism in the world.
Cataloguing species in a standardized way allows scientists
to look at trends and make models and informed predictions. "Until
we have a good understanding of what’s out there, we’ll be failures
at trying to keep species healthy," says Mark Graham, research
director at the Canadian Museum of Nature and a member of the
GBIF steering committee.
One of Canada’s main species databases, the Biota of Canada
Information Network, has so far catalogued 250,000 butterflies,
and Canadian birds will soon follow.
Digitizing decades of species data stored on paper is one
main challenge for GBIF’s participating nations. "The problem
is multiplied when you’re in non-developed countries," says
Graham. "They don’t have the resources to even get the data
in the first place."
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