Dissemination of data on environmental characteristics,using innovative electronic (CD-ROM) data management

Dissemination of data on environmental characteristics,using
innovative electronic (CD-ROM) data management: Tools for protection
of biodiversity in the endangered areas of the World's Tropical Ocean

The leading oceanographic institutes of Ukraine and Russia hold
extensive and very valuable information on the species diversity and
spatial-temporal variability of physical, chemical and biological
characteristics from the World's Tropical Ocean. Up to now, this
information has been practically inaccessible to scientist outside the
Former Soviet Union (FSU). This project aims to make these data
available through the establishment of scientific links between
western Europe and FSU countries, which will enable the data to be
evaluated, jointly analysed and made available to the international
scientific community. In 1997, a joint research project was funded by
the International Associate for the Promotion of Co-operation with
Scientists from the Independent States of the FSU (INTAS) in the frame
of project UA952-80 with additional funding from the Dept. of
Environment and Transport (DETR)UK.

The evaluation and modern analysis of these data can fill the gap
of our knowledge on biovariability required for the macroscale and the
synoptic scale. The above data will form a basis to become combined
with those obtained by USA, UK and The Netherlands during recent
expeditions to the Indian Ocean.

The project involves the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas,
Ukraine; Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukraine; Institute of
Oceanology, Russia; Expert Centre for Taxonomic Identification,
University of Amsterdam; Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK. The project
involves the co-operation between the institutes to digitise the basic
oceanographic datasets and release them on CD-ROM, to be widely
available to scientists all over the world.

The data includes physical (temperature, salinity), Chemical
(dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite) and Biological
(Chlorophyll-a, primary productivity, Bacterioplankton, phytoplankton,
microzooplankton, mesozooplankton, micronekton and nekton)data. The
collected plankton and trawl samples were treated to the level of
genus and part of them to the species level. The sampling procedure
included the studies of vertical profiles, trawls, horizontal plankton
continuous records and net catches in mainly the upper 200m layer.

This information was taken from the Ukraine GLOBEC website
"http://darwin.defra.gov.uk/project/8251/"