Conveners
- Jen Hammock - Encyclopedia of Life, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA
Core members
- Anne Thessen - Oregon State University, USA
- Annie Simpson - U.S. Geological Survey, USA
- Antonio Mauro Saraiva - Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
- Chris Mungall - Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA
- Dmitry Schigel - GBIF Secretariat, Denmark
- Ely Wallis - Atlas of Living Australia, Australia
- Francisco Pando - Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Spain
- Jennifer Hammock - Encyclopedia of Life, Smithsonian Institution, USA
- John Wieczorek - University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Jorrit Poelen - Global Biotic Interactions, Netherlands
- José Augusto Salim - Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
- Juliana Saragiotto Silva - Instituto Federal de Mato Grosso, Brazil
- Katja Schulz - Smithsonian Institution, USA
- Lydia Buntrock - (last: Institute of Molecular Parasitology, HU Berlin, Germany)
- Prabha Prabhakar - Strand Life Sciences
- Quentin Groom - Meise Botanic Garden, Belgium
- Remy Jomier - Service du Patrimoine Naturel, France
- Willem Coetzer - South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, South Africa
Summary
Scientists use a variety of methods to collect, record, and store biological interaction data, that include predator-prey, parasite-host, pollinator-plant, among others. Uses for those data are equally diverse, as they are collected primarily to answer different scientific questions. Biological interaction data can be very important in other situations and domains. For example, they could play an important role in building decision support systems for conservation and sustainable use in agriculture.
Despite of their importance, a very limited amount of biological interaction data is available online, especially if compared to the amount of data registers available on occurrence data portals, which have been boosted by the development and adoption of a data standard, the Darwin Core. Numerous efforts are underway to aggregate, organize, and efficiently disseminate biological interaction data. However, we lack a formal data standard to support that work.
Therefore, in this Interest Group we want to discuss, formalize and develop a common background to help standardize biological interaction data in the Biodiversity Informatics community, avoiding duplication of efforts, sharing knowledge and solutions. Our final aim is to promote digitization, sharing, aggregation and, ultimately, a wide use of biological interaction data.
Becoming involved
During the 2016 TDWG Conference, in Santa Clara de San Carlos, Costa Rica, a group of people has gathered to start discussing this issue under the TDWG umbrella. We, now, propose the creation of an Interest Group on Biological Data Interactions where this topic can be discussed within the broader biodiversity informatics community.
All interested parties are encouraged to become involved with the Interest Group or specific Task Groups it may convene in the future. Membership of the group is open. If you work with biological interaction data at any level, whether digitization, publication, aggregation or analysis, and you would like to be able to universally share and benefit from all advantages which a data standard can provide, you are welcome to join the Biological Interaction Data Interest Group.
Please contact the convenors or any core member about how to become involved.
The TDWG process requires that any new Task Group be launched through an Interest Group. The Biological Interaction Data Interest Group can facilitate establishment of new Task Groups that relate to this topic. Please contact the convenor to discuss potential projects or join existing Task Groups.