FishBase An Internet Gateway to Information on Fish Rainer Froese Institute of Marine Research Kiel,...
Transcript of FishBase An Internet Gateway to Information on Fish Rainer Froese Institute of Marine Research Kiel,...
FishBaseAn Internet Gateway to Information on Fish
Rainer FroeseInstitute of Marine Research
Kiel, [email protected]
Overview
• What is FishBase?
• Who uses FishBase?
• Constraints to usage
• Important Partners
• Lessons learned
• Where is FishBase going?
What is FishBase?
• www.fishbase.de >>• Species summary information >>• Common names >>• Synonyms >>• Population dynamics >> • Life history tool >>• Wizards >>• Biogeographic modelling >>
Who Uses FishBase?
• Hits and Visitor Sessions
• Types of Users
• Where Do They Come From?
• What Do They Want? >>
• > 1000 pages link to www.fishbase.org
• Where is the Science?
Where is the Science?85 ISI Citations, 3 in Nature, 2 in Science
Fisheries
Ecology
Parasitology
Conservation
Genetics
PalaeontologyTaxonomy
IT
June 2002
Constraints to UsageFishBase Usage Compared with Internet Usage by
Country, in 2001
0.0001
0.001
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0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Internet Users (% of all Users)
Fis
hB
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of
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USA
Qatar
Fr Polynesia
Brunei
Japan
China
South Korea
Russia
Taiwan
India
Lebanon
Venezuela
>>
Important Partners
• Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes
• FAO Databases (SIDP, FIGIS, Catch)
• IUCN’s Red List
• National Fish Databases
• Genbank
• ECOTOX
• Bibliographies (ZR, NISC, ASFA)
Lessons Learned
• ‘Science first’ attitude
• ‘Yes’ attitude towards suggestions
• Invite, accept and act on criticism
• Data quantity and quality first
• Keep it simple, software keeps changing
• Invest in people
• Give more credit than expected
• What is not used is useless
Future Directions
• Play leading role in biodiversity research
• Participate in relevant initiatives (GBIF, ENBI, Species 2000, OBIS, MARBEF, EVBL, PBI, ECOFISH)
• From FishBase to SpeciesBase
www.fishbase.org
FishBase Web Usage over Time
0.00.51.01.52.02.53.03.54.04.55.05.56.06.5
January 1999 - April 2003
Mil
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50
100
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Th
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mo
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Hits
Sessions
FishBase vs Internet Usage
0
100
200
300
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1/00 4/00 7/00 10/00 1/01 4/01 7/01 10/01 1/02 4/02
Jan. 2000 - May 2002
Rel
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Use
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Internet: 254,299,000FishBase: 20,948
Internet: 566,000,000FishBase: 114,385
FishBase
Internet
Source for Internet growth: NUA Internet Services
FishBase Web Users
Individuals
Private sector
Universities
Governments
NGOs
Museums
Int. Research Centres
Based on 1391 entries in the FishBase Guest Book, June 2002
FishBase Users by Continent
North America
Europe
Asia
South America
Africa
Australia
Oceania
Based on 1391 entries in the FishBase Guest Book, June 2002
FishBase Web Usage by Topic
Common Names
Scientific NamesSpecies
Summaries
Photos
FishBase Book
Fish Quiz
Specialist Topics
Frequency of FishBase Hits by Topic
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Exotic species
Genetics
Ichthyology course
Ecology
Physiology
Population dynamics
Reproduction
Identification keys
Quiz
Quick identification
Trophic ecology
Fish collections
FishBase book
FishWatchers
FishForum
Eggs & larvae
Catalog of Fishes
Maps
References
Glossary
Scientific names
Country info
Photos
Summary information
Common names
Percent of total hits (October 2002)(1 % = 2000 hits)
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