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The Role of OBIS in

Canadian Research Data PolicyMary Kennedy1 & Robert Branton2

1OBIS Canada2Ocean Tracking Network

Monitoring and Adapting to Change on the Coast

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News Highlights …• May 2013 - Mike Flavell joined IOC Project Office

for IODE, in Oostende Belgium to provide technical support to OBIS and marine biodiversity related activities at IODE.

• Nov 2012 - Second IODE Steering Group for OBIS meeting was held at IOC Project Office for IODE in Oostende, Belgium.

• 2012 - All OBIS activities previously at Rutgers University, USA were transferred to IODE in Oostende.

http://iobis.org/news

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OBIS history and database growth

http://www.iobis.org/about/statistics

2000 - OBIS began under the Census of marine Life program

2010 - OBIS part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission IODE

Statistics - January 2013Number of records: 35.5 million records identified to genus/species: 31.1 million

valid species with data: 146,496valid marine taxa: 163,313 valid marine species: 120,259 valid marine genera: 27,333 Number of datasets: 1,130

Census of Marine Life IOC/IODE

http://iobis.org/obis/regional-nodes

OBIS nodes (data assembly centres) are engaged in a wide spectrum of activities, which demonstrates that the role of OBIS is not limited to raw data encoding but also to develop tools and products and offering services (including capacity building) for data-science and science-policy activities on a local, regional to global scale.

41 OBIS Canada Collections

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Typical Use ScenariosWhat organisms have been found or observed here?

Where has this organism been found or observed?

Oncorhynchus nerka / sockeye salmon

http://iobis.org/mapper/

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What does OBIS means to Canada?Census of Marine Life OBIS Canada (2004)Data flows into OBIS thru regional nodes. Fisheries & Oceans Canada hosts the Canadian node

OBIS Canada ensures data are•Authoritative•Discoverable•Accessible•Interoperable

OBIS Canada data management team•decade of experience in processing OBIS data•experience with data management of biological oceanographic and fisheries data.

Data: scientific names and locations

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Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe)A strategic network focused on biodiversity science for the sustainability of Canada's three oceans

http://chone.marinebiodiversity.ca/

Water body CHONe

ARCTIC 5

GREAT LAKES

NE PACIFIC 12

NW ATLANTIC 19

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Ocean Tracking Network (OTN)Understanding the effects of climate change on the behaviour of marine animals.

http://oceantrackingnetwork.org/

Water body OTN

ARCTIC 4

GREAT LAKES 1

NE PACIFIC 44

NW ATLANTIC 28

Public Policies2011 Canadian Research Data

Summit• all data from public funded

research to be made openly available in a timely manner as a condition of funding

• Exceptions being sought by OTN include: – not reporting location

information on endangered species as a means of protecting them from illegal harvest,

– protecting the thesis data for Highly Qualified Personnel who are in training.

http://rds-sdr.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/events/data_summit_201104/13/23 11

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Roles for OBIS Canada & new program data management teams

Mentoring-data management best practices (preparation of data and metadata)-knowledge transfer

Facilitating data submission- new and refreshed updated content

Promoting citation and use of data- proper metadata and terms of use

Providing public portal to access data- Canadian data and data in area of interest to Canada

Highlighting Canadian research and associated data

Representating the OBIS community on Canadian network of data holders and in the global OBIS community

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Benefits Of Collaborating With An OBIS Regional Node

Standards & Vocabularies

Mobilize Canadian data & make it accessible & available for re-use!

Filling Gaps In Coastal Knowledge

• From broad maps, one sees that although more data is available from coastal areas than from open waters, less is known about smaller animals than larger ones and on the southern hemisphere than on the northern.

• OBIS is an open-access database with data from every corner of the world, whereby any provider (individual, institution, or otherwise) who cares to upload to the server and contribute to the global maps OBIS seeks to fill out.

http://iobis.org/about/vision http://iobis.org/maps/distribution

For example: invasive species like tunicates.

Didemnum vexillum Didemnum vexillum marine vomitmarine vomit

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Summary•OBIS Canada has assumed a role as mentor and collaborator to the individual network data management teams to facilitate the publication of these datasets via submission to OBIS.

•Routine CHONe and OTN data submissions to OBIS would clearly fulfill such data policy requirement to make the data accessible.

•Underlying this would be implementation of best practices, whereby these data are inventoried, archived, and described so that the datasets are discoverable, accessible and reusable.

•Knowledge transfer and training of students and data managers.

Thank you

AcknowledgementsL. Bajona, H. Hayden and others at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography for developing and

operating the OBIS Canada node.

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