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Corals and sea anemones
on line: a functioning
biodiversity database
D. G. Fautin
R. W. Buddemeier
University of Kansas:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
Natural History Museum, Kansas Geological Survey
National Science Foundation grants
OCE 00-03970 (NOPP)
to Daphne G. Fautin and Robert W. Buddemeier
DEB95-21819, DEB 99-78106 (PEET)
to Daphne G. Fautin
LOICZ
Biogeoinformatics of Hexacorals
(http://www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral/)
An on-line information resource system that consists of
two interactive databases
one dealing with taxonomy and biogeography of
hexacorals (corals, sea anemones, and their allies)
one dealing with environmental information for the marine
environment
both served and linked by front ends offering user support for
searching,
analyzing, and
downloading the data
Useful biological ‘databases’ cannot be just
collections of numbers – nor can the databases that
support and interact with them!
“Hexacoral” serves
literature-derived,
specimen-based
distributional and
environmental data on
living hexacorallians of
all orders
Holdings are most complete
for the soft-bodied taxa, but
data on Scleractinia are
expanding rapidly and in
coordination with NMITA
961 genera and
7602 binomens and
trinomens
2612 original
descriptions
2712 valid species
1648 type specimen
lots (on line; about
as many waiting to
be entered)
4404 images
In addition to the
data listed at
right, fields have
been added for:
*
•nematocysts
•symbionts and
associates
*
*
•substrate type
•reproduction
•skeletal type
•common name
*
Syngraph: a synonymy tool with both graphical and tabular outputs
Developed by
Adorian
Ardelean,
Syngraph has
been fully
implemented for
actinians, and is
being applied to
other groups as
the database
expands
IMAGES
illustrations
from original
descriptions
original
photomicrographs
of type material
original
photos of type
specimens
For taxa with georeferenced records, a query of the companion global 30’
environmental database produces summaries of general environmental
conditions for individual entries or a summary for the taxon
“Hexacoral” as a research tool
to predict
habitats that
might be
vulnerable
to invasion
“Hexacoral” as a research tool
Occurrence records
displayed on a map
use symbols of a
different color for
each synonymous
name. This function
can be used for
investigating
whether a
synonymy is
justified.
The combined search page
yields an extended form of the
“Hexacoral” species data link
page
Joint search products
“Hexacoral” dynamic location
maps of NMITA fossil occurrences
NMITA stratigraphy
An On-line Atlas of Marine Diversity
and a growing
inventory of others
“Hexacoral” and its partners are members of OBIS
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System
provides a “system of systems” –
biological and environmental databases,
geospatially and taxonomically resolved,
with tools to meet the needs of a wide
range of users, disciplines, and problems
“Hexacoral” as a
research tool
Anemones of most species
seldom occur without fish
symbionts
Anemonefish never occur
without a host anemone
87 half-degree cells contain 516 usable anemone records
There is good overlap. Non-overlap is because of biological reality
(fish do not occur in Hawaii), and sources of data (e.g. publications
on anemonefish in Japan are not vouchered by specimens,
research on anemones is scarce in South Africa)
Biogeoinformatics of
Hexacorals
www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hexacoral