Biological Taxa Standards for Marine Data:

Background

In January, 2008, the IOC and JCOMM convened a workshop entitled the IODE/JCOMM Forum on Oceanographic Data Management and Exchange Standards (IOC Workshop Rept. 206), to consider selected principal issues on establishing marine data standards, with the goal of furthering marine data interoperability. In particular the aim of the workshop was to get broad agreement and commitment to adopt a number of standards related to ocean data management and exchange, thereby assembling not only the agreed conditions by which we operate, but in fact enact these agreements in the participants' respective organizations.

Standards Recommendation

Mr. Roy Lowry introduced this item. While stating that decisions or recommendations on this item would require additional expertise, he recommended that WoRMS be considered as an early candidate as a global marine taxa standard.

• World Ocean Database Taxa List
  • Integrated with ITIS (see below)
  • Biological Grouping Codes are supplied for most taxa, consisting of 8-digit codes; ideally, animals within any higher-level taxonomic groups (i.e. Order, et supra) can be identified, as a group, by the digital sequences within these codes.
• World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) - "...an authoritative list of names of all marine species globally, ever published. WoRMS is a contribution to Species2000 and the Catalogue of Life, and will serve as the taxonomic backbone of OBIS." WoRMS is currently a hyper-database, called APHIA, linking to 16 global and regional marine species databases. It is a valuable source of primary identification information. No APHIA-wide index system exists to provide data managers with a direct means of coding marine observations.