Title |
Darwin Core: An Evolving Community-Developed Biodiversity Data Standard
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, January 2012
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0029715 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
John Wieczorek, David Bloom, Robert Guralnick, Stan Blum, Markus Döring, Renato Giovanni, Tim Robertson, David Vieglais |
Abstract |
Biodiversity data derive from myriad sources stored in various formats on many distinct hardware and software platforms. An essential step towards understanding global patterns of biodiversity is to provide a standardized view of these heterogeneous data sources to improve interoperability. Fundamental to this advance are definitions of common terms. This paper describes the evolution and development of Darwin Core, a data standard for publishing and integrating biodiversity information. We focus on the categories of terms that define the standard, differences between simple and relational Darwin Core, how the standard has been implemented, and the community processes that are essential for maintenance and growth of the standard. We present case-study extensions of the Darwin Core into new research communities, including metagenomics and genetic resources. We close by showing how Darwin Core records are integrated to create new knowledge products documenting species distributions and changes due to environmental perturbations. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 14 | 30% |
United Kingdom | 3 | 7% |
Sweden | 2 | 4% |
Canada | 1 | 2% |
Australia | 1 | 2% |
Germany | 1 | 2% |
Argentina | 1 | 2% |
Ecuador | 1 | 2% |
Austria | 1 | 2% |
Other | 7 | 15% |
Unknown | 14 | 30% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 31 | 67% |
Scientists | 12 | 26% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 3 | 7% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 34 | 4% |
Brazil | 11 | 1% |
United Kingdom | 9 | 1% |
Germany | 8 | <1% |
Spain | 8 | <1% |
Australia | 3 | <1% |
Denmark | 3 | <1% |
Colombia | 3 | <1% |
Mexico | 3 | <1% |
Other | 28 | 3% |
Unknown | 730 | 87% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 208 | 25% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 116 | 14% |
Student > Master | 102 | 12% |
Student > Bachelor | 78 | 9% |
Other | 68 | 8% |
Other | 147 | 18% |
Unknown | 121 | 14% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 382 | 45% |
Environmental Science | 117 | 14% |
Computer Science | 84 | 10% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 32 | 4% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 23 | 3% |
Other | 53 | 6% |
Unknown | 149 | 18% |