Highlights of EMODnet Biology's first year activities in phase II (September 2013 - September 2014):
- Publication of a detailed assessment of the data and databases that will be available through EMODnet Biology, including taxonomic and geographical coverage, temporal range and number of available distribution records, the data transfer protocol and timeline for delivering the data. A total of 702,976 records from 93 marine biological datasets became already available through the EMODnet biology data portal. Some of these datasets were collected within the framework of ongoing activities of the European Ocean Biogeographic Information System (EurOBIS).
- Creation of the ‘World Register of Introduced Marine Species (WRIMS). The aim is to provide a global dataset of all marine introduced, cryptic and previously considered alien species. The data system integrates data and information from different databases and allows users to select per regional sea, lists of alien and or invasive species.
- Draft version of a list of species tagged with their role and importance within the MSFD reporting. This deliverable provides a species list for regional seas, linked to specific descriptors, criteria, classes, indicators and links to the data available for that species through the EMODnet Biology portal. Thus far this list is completed for the North East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, and will become a functional tool to support access to data used for MSFD assessments and monitoring.
- The methodology to create the gridded abundance maps, using DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis) has been tested and validated. Currently data products are available for more than 40 species from the North Sea, Baltic Sea and North East Atlantic. The products are currently made for different species groups, such as benthos, zoo- and phytoplankton, birds, fish and mammals.
- A detailed user- and functional analysis of the data portal proposes a new portal concept that differentiates more between data – unprocessed raw observations or measurements- and data products derived from the data. The data component should focus on its easy and intuitive downloading, while the focus of the data products component focuses on a good visualization, a better overview of existing data and a quick understanding of the dataEMODnet_lots_annual report_2014_biology.pdf
