Data_Sheet_1_Collating biodiversity occurrence data for conservation.PDF

Plant and animal checklists, with conservation status information, are fundamental for conservation management. Historical field data, more recent data of digital origin and data-sharing platforms provide useful sources for collating species locality data. However, different biodiversity datasets have different formats and inconsistent naming systems. Additionally, most digital data sources do not provide an easy option for download by protected area. Further, data-entry-ready software is not readily available for conservation organization staff with limited technical skills to collate these heterogeneous data and create distribution maps and checklists for protected areas. The insights presented here are the outcome of conceptualizing a biodiversity information system for South African National Parks. We recognize that a fundamental requirement for achieving better standardization, sharing and use of biodiversity data for conservation is capacity building, internet connectivity, national institutional data management support and collaboration. We focus on some of the issues that need to be considered for capacity building, data standardization and data support. We outline the need for using taxonomic backbones and standardizing biodiversity data and the utility of data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and other available sources in this process. Additionally, we make recommendations for the fields needed in relational databases for collating species data that can be used to inform conservation decisions and outline steps that can be taken to enable easier collation of biodiversity data, using South Africa as a case study.

搭载保育状态信息的动植物名录，是生物多样性保育管理的核心基础。历史野外调查数据、新近生成的数字化数据集，以及各类数据共享平台，均可作为整理物种分布位点数据的优质来源。然而，不同来源的生物多样性数据集格式各异，命名规范也缺乏统一标准。此外，多数数字化数据源并未提供便捷的按保护地范围下载功能。进一步而言，对于技术能力有限的保育机构工作人员而言，尚无开箱即用的数据录入与整合软件，可用于整合这些异构数据并为保护区域生成物种分布地图与名录。本文所述的研究结论，源于为南非国家公园（South African National Parks）设计生物多样性信息系统的构思过程。我们认识到，要实现保育相关生物多样性数据的标准化、共享与高效利用，核心前提包括能力建设、互联网接入、国家层面的机构数据管理支持，以及跨利益相关方协作。本文重点探讨了在能力建设、数据标准化与数据支持服务领域需考量的若干关键问题。我们阐述了采用分类学骨干体系以标准化生物多样性数据的必要性，以及全球生物多样性信息设施（Global Biodiversity Information Facility）等现有数据源在该标准化流程中的应用价值。此外，本文以南非为案例研究对象，针对用于整合物种数据的关系型数据库所需字段提出优化建议，并梳理了可简化生物多样性数据整合工作的可落地实施步骤。