An introduction to the BioCASE programme (A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe)

BioCASE – A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe

An introduction to the BioCASE programme(A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe)

The Irish National Node Workshop: October 13th, 2003. The Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

Brian BeckettEcological Consultancy Services Ltd. (EcoServe)


This Presentation:

• Participation

• Historical overview and predecessor projects

• Implementation of the information service

• How can you participate / the future of BioCASE?


BioCASE – An Introduction

“The aim of the BioCASE programme is to enhance the over-all value of biological collections as an essential, but presently fragmented and under-exploited European research infrastructure for environmental sciences, systematics, and life sciences in general, by means of implementing a sustainable and expandable information service, which provides researchers with unified access to all European collections, while leaving the control over the information supply in the hands of the information providers.” – www.biocase.org


Potential Participants

Biological collections of primary importance for biodiversity research include those housed in:

• natural history museums• herbaria and arboreta• botanical and zoological gardens, marine stations / aquaria• microbial and tissue culture collections• plant and animal genetic resource collections• geological museums • universities / research centres• and other observational data (biological surveys, mapping projects)


BioCASE: new information access

BioCASE will potentially be useful for:

• taxonomists

• scientists / public researchers

• industrial / private sector applications

• General public information

BioCASE’s national and international importance

• Standardisation of collection holding practice

• Information dissemination through the internet

• Enhance the profile of collections on all scales


BioCASE: predecessors

• Data structure research and modelling (CDEFD project 1993 – 1996)- A Common Datastructure for European Floristic Databases

• Resource identification and project proposals (BioCISE project 1997 – 2000)

• CETAF Collection networking (ENHSIN Project, Jan. 2000 – ongoing)- Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities

• European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI ~ March 2002 – ongoing)


The BioCISE Project: User requirements

• What has been collected in area X, and when?

• Where has species Y been collected?

• Where can I find (bulk) material of species Y for (destructive) analysis?

• Where can I get substance Z

• What biological collections do I find in X?

• Easy-to-use search and result interface


The BioCISE Project

• Data received from 470 collection holders

• Total no. of collections estimated at > 5000

• Address list of c. 2600 collections

• 253 with database, total 401 databases

• Est. x * 106 electronic specimen records

• Est. x * 107 electronic survey records

• Collection holders are willing to share unit-level data


The BioCISE Project: Identified Problems

1. Data availability

• Low percentage of recorded objects• Low percentage of records online• Disparate data structures• Inconsistent vocabulary• Different technologies• Inconsistent and undocumented data quality


The BioCISE Project: Identified Problems

2. Collection Community fragmentation

• along taxonomic boundaries • species survey vs. specimen collection • collections: archives or means to an end • along national and organisational lines • according to size


European Natural History Specimen Information Network

• January 1999 – December 2003

• Networking project of CETAF members

• Focus on mobilizing specimen data

• Investigating problems related to that task (IPR, User needs, Technologies, etc.)

• Berlin workpackage: implementation of a prototype for a common search and access system


Data Levels

• BioCISE prototype– Collection-level data (“metadata”)– Data on the contents of entire collections or

subcollections: BioCISE prototype

• ENHSIN prototype– Unit-level data– Data on individual specimens or observations

(ENHSIN: only specimens)


By January 2002……..

• CDEFD had prepared the theoretical base

• BioCISE assessed resources and prototyped a collection-level network

• ENHSIN united some key players, investigated some basic questions, and prototyped a unit-level network……..

BioCASE implementation


BioCASE: implementation

A Biological CollectionAccess Service for Europe

• Proposal organised by BioCISE, supported byCETAF and ENHSIN

• BioCASE -implementation phase

• www.biocase.org

35 Institutions: 31 National Nodes


BioCASE: Programme Information

• 3 year programme, running from November 2001 to 31st October 2004

• Principal Coordinator – Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (Walter Berendsohn, project leader)

• 35 Institutions involved with 31 National Nodes in total

• Approximately a 2 million Euro budget, funded from the EU fifth framework programme (Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development)

• 7 principal contractors: FUB-BGBM (Berlin), NHM (London), USOTON (Southampton), UPMC/LIS (Paris), INPA (Tel-Aviv), UvA (Amsterdam), RBGKEW (Kew)


BioCASE: the concept

BioCASE unites earlier approaches:• Combines unit- and collection-level access

– Collection-level organised by National Nodes – Unit-level data remains under control of the

collection holders• Overcomes fragmentation• Organizes unit-level access: mobilise data• Provides support services (thesaurus and indexing)


BioCASE: the work packages (major tasks)

• National node development & networking• Collection profile development• “Central” node development• Thesaurus modelling, design, data acquisition• Indexing• User interface. User panel input• Legal base & best practice. Business model


BioCASE: programme schematic

National Nodes

User Panel

Central Node

Thesaurus

Collection Profile

User Interface

Indexing

Legal Basis Future Plans


Summary

• BioCASE collection-level network functional

• BioCASE unit-level network starting

• BioCASE user-interface under development

• BioCASE business, IPR and access models under discussion


BioCASE: How can you contribute?

Your contribution:

• We would like you to consider participation in the BioCASE programme

• Participation will involve simply providing us with some basic metadata information on you biological collections

• This information will be incorporated into the central database, integrating in a European and global resource.

• Evolution of the project: BioCASE after 2004.


Where does BioCASE go after 2004?

Related Projects:

• GBIF – Global Biodiversity Information Facility

• ENBI – European Network for Biodiversity Information

• Species 2000 europa (a.k.a. EuroCat)

– Fauna Europaea, Euro+Med Plantbase, ERMS – Global Species Databases located in Europe

• SYNTHESIS – FP6 project by the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF)

• Further proposals under Framework Programme 6


EN

BI

(Eur

ope’

s co

ntri

buti

on to

GB

IF)

GB

IF

LICHI

Specimen Db

Case

Search tools

Specimen Db

Additional information

sources Catalog

of Names

Euro-Hub 1

EU Taxon-based Db

EU Taxon-based Db

Euro-Hub 2

Global Hub

Global Species Db’s

Global Species Db’s


Further Information

• BioCASE project: www.biocase.org

• ENHSIN project: www.nhm.ac.uk/science/rco/enhsin/

• ENBI: www.faunaeur.org/enbi/info.html

• EuroCat: www.sp2000.org/

• ERMS www.erms.biol.soton.ac.uk/

• TDWG: www.tdwg.org

• ABCD: www.bgbm.org/tdwg/

• Ecological Consultancy Services Ltd: www.ecoserve.ie

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An introduction to the BioCASE programme (A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe)

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