Biology

Europe’s seas and oceans are home to a staggering abundance and diversity of life, from large charismatic species such as seals, whales and dolphins, to the microscopic marine algae that form the base of the marine food chain. More than 36,000 known species of marine plants and animals are found in Europe, and understanding their geographic distribution, abundance and seasonal, annual or decadal variation is key to detecting changes in the marine ecosystem and for assessing ecosystem health of maritime basins. Unfortunately, measuring or observing marine life on a large scale is difficult. For the most part, data are collected over short time periods or in relation to specific species in target locations. Often data are collected by different organisations using different standards, technologies and conventions, making it challenging to combine information from different surveys or different databases.

Objectives

The EMODnet biology data portal provides free access to data on temporal and spatial distribution of marine species and species traits from all European regional seas. It is built upon the World Register of Marine Species and the European Ocean Biogeographic Information System. EMODnet Biology aims to provide a single access point to European marine biodiversity data and products by assembling individual datasets from various sources and processing them into interoperable data products for assessing the environmental state of ecosystems and sea basins.

Read more about the specific objectives of EMODnet Biology

Provide public access to search, download and viewing tools for data, metadata and data products of marine species occurring in European marine waters;
Create specific biological data products to illustrate the temporal and geographic variability of occurrences and abundances of marine phytoplankton, zooplankton, macro-algae, angiosperms, fish, reptile, benthos, bird and sea mammal species with a priority to develop those required for support management, policy, planning and education;
Improve harmonisation of differing methodologies and strategies for data management under common protocols, data formats and quality control procedures (by adopting EMODnet and INSPIRE standards);
Ensure consistent distribution of data by making use of relevant open webservices for various user applications;
Provide tools for spatial, temporal and taxonomic queries.

Key services provided by EMODnet Biology

EMODnet Biology provides key services and products to users, these services and products allow users to search and also to visualise data and related data products:

Read more about the key services provided by EMODnet Biology

Data Portal – The data portal allows users to search for datasets by theme (e.g. benthos, fish, algae, pigments) and by both scientific and common name. The selected taxon can be plotted in an integrated map viewer which includes administrative and environmental layers that can be toggled on and visualised simultaneously. The search results also display links to download the dataset, and to the specific taxon on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
Data Catalogue – The data catalogue is the easiest way to access nearly 1000 datasets available through EMODnet Biology. Datasets can be filtered by multiple parameters via the advanced search from taxon, to institute, to geographic region. Each of the resulting datasets then links to a detailed fact sheet containing a link to original data provider, recommended citation, policy and other relevant information.
Data Products – EMODnet Biology combines different data from datasets with overlapping geographic scope and produces dynamic maps of selected species abundance. The first products are already available and they focus on species whose data records are most complete and span for a longer term.
Data Download Tool: - The data download tool guides the user through a step-wise workflow where one can select datasets, perform predefined geographic and temporal selections, can add specific taxonomic or functional filters, and select for data with a certain quality and precision.
Web Services – Occurrence data (species observations) as Web Feature Service (WFS); Additional measurements, linked to the occurrence data as Web Feature Service (WFS);

Retrieve data of the gridded abundance data products as WFS/WMS; Using the AphiaID to query by (biological) taxonomy; Using the IMISDasID to query by metadata dataset; Examples of EMODnet Biology Data applications written in R.

Approach

The project will use the data and metadata standards that have been used and developed under the ur-EMODnet prototype during EMODnet Phase I. To ensure interoperability, EMODnet Biology implements (and if necessary adapts) common standards defined by SeaDataNet, WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), OBIS (Ocean Biogeographic Information System), INSPIRE, GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and the Lifewatch infrastructure.

Read more about collaborations with other networks and data initiatives

The project will work in close collaboration with existing international networks on marine biological data collection and data management, such as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and its Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), part of the International Oceanographic Information and Data Exchange (IODE) programme and with partner institutes from the SeaDataNet network, a European data infrastructure linking 45 European marine national data centres.

Data sources

EMODnet Biology provides access to data from a wide range of sources and actively pursues inclusion of new and historical data sets to the inventory based on careful assessment of the ease of use and fitness for purpose of the data and associated databases. The databases feeding into EMODnet Biology contain data from all regional and sub-regional seas of Europe, as specified by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Read more about the main types of Data Contributors providing access to data to EMODnet Biology

International biogeographic datasets from the European Ocean Biogeographic data system (EurOBIS, VLIZ);
National monitoring programmes – typically these data providers have been collecting biological data, in some cases for several decades, and now make their datasets available through EMODnet;
International monitoring campaigns – databases storing data from multiples countries within the same regional European sea;
Data archaeology – datasets recovered from scientists’ personal files, excel spreadsheets, paper documents and other formats that would otherwise be lost or inaccessible.

EMODnet Biology data product development

A set of gridded map layers are available showing the average abundance of at least three species per species group for different time windows (seasonal, annual or multi-annual as appropriate) using geospatial modelling. In addition, spatially distributed data products specifically relevant for Marine Strategy Framework Directive Descriptor 2 (non-indigenous species) are available. Use is made of additional environmental information from other lots of EMODnet, e.g. on benthic habitat characteristics and water masses, to be used as co-factors in the gridding. The current Phase III of EMODnet's development will see a focus on the development of essential data products for key stakeholders.

Read more about the development of available EMODnet Biology data products

Implementation of a methodology, consistent with other EMODnet lots based on Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA, ULg) to produce statistically optimized gridded map layers.
Production gridded map layers showing the average abundance of at least three species per species group in a given time window (seasonal, annual or multi-annual as appropriate, depending on the purpose of the analysis and the availability and time resolution of the data).
Estimation of the accuracy of the gridding procedure by comparison with validation data.
Complementation of the gridded map of averages with indications of the precision of the result based on the distribution of the basic data used to calculate the products.
Production of spatial maps (data products) specifically relevant for Marine Strategy Framework Directive Descriptor 2 (non-indigenous species).
Production of spatial maps of relevant quality indicators for Marine Strategy Framework Directive, if and when agreed-upon indicators are available and computable based on data available in the present project.

Improvements in the current development phase III (2017-2021)

Development of core data products from EMODnet Biology to support management, policy, planning and education, considering both at European and regional seas level, as well as for global/international purposes.
Availability of EMODnet Biology API: Occurrence data (species observations) as Web Feature Service (WFS), additional measurements, linked to the occurrence data as Web Feature Service (WFS) and retrieval of data of the gridded abundance data products as WFS/WMS. Use of the AphiaID to query by (biological) taxonomy and IMISDasID to query by metadata dataset. Examples of EMODnet Biology Data applications written in R are also available.
Data layers provided to support Marine Strategy Framework Directive