05 April 2018

FishBase and SeaLifeBase sign MoU with World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)



Databases are rich sources of information, serving not only as learning tools, but a means toward fruitful collaborations and a catapult in advancing scientific research.


This has been the very aim when World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), FishBase, and SeaLifeBase have officially formed a collaboration last March 2018 to best serve the scientific community.


Last September 2017, the WoRMS Data Management Team attended the 15th International FishBase Symposium in TervurenBelgium. The meeting focused on WoRMS’ underlying database Aphia and its potential use in global, regional and thematic registers, along with LifeWatch Taxonomic Backbone.


The team discussed the existing collaboration between FishBase and WoRMS, wherein FishBase has served as the taxonomic resource for fish names in WoRMS. Building on the ties that have strengthened both databases, the WoRMS team expressed their intention to also document in their database the fish distributions and traits from FishBase.


During the consortium meeting, the team has also seen the potential of FishBase's sister-database, SeaLifeBase—a joint project of the Sea Around Us (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) and the FishBase Consortium—in providing biological and ecological information of global non-fish species, which can then be maximized for biodiversity and ecosystem studies. WoRMS, in turn, would provide its taxonomic backbone to SeaLifeBase. 

Related links:
http://www.marinespecies.org/news.php?p=show&id=5335
http://www.lifewatch.be/en/news?p=show&id=5335
WoRMS-Q-quatics MOU


SeaLifeBase is on the lookout for a Research Assistant



Quantitative Aquatics, Inc. is hiring a Research Assistant I for SeaLifeBase, a database documenting all marine non-fish species of the world. 

Kindly see below the details for your reference.