Biodiversidade e Transporte (BIOTrA)
DATA PAPERS A IMPORTÂNCIA DE PUBLICARMOS NOSSAS BASES DE DADOS! ! O QUE DIZEM AS PRICIPAIS REVISTAS DE CONSERVAÇÃO ?
A grande mudança Durante anos, talvez séculos, fomos instigados a coletar dados, armazená-los e, quando pudéssemos, publicá-los. Mesmo após termos publicado a informação principal, nos sentimos compelidos a continuar guardando estas informações para “talvez" algum dia darmos um uso a esta base de dados. Hoje vivemos uma nova realidade, uma realidade colaborativa, onde agregar parceiros e difundir as informações se tornou o cotidiano. Também vivemos um momento de tomada de decisões emergênciais, onde muitas ações de conservação não podem aguardar a realização de um novo projeto, para coletarmos um novo banco de dados, para só então definirmos estratégias e propormos políticas públicas. Ecologia de Estradas é a essência desta realidade, ainda mais em países em desenvolvimento e franca expansão das suas infraestruturas viárias. Pensando nisso, a BIOTrA apresenta nas próximas páginas, cinco artigos publicados em 2014, em duas das principais revistas interncionais de conservação da biodiversidade (Biological Conservation e TREE). Estes artigos sumarizam o objetivo de estarmos empregando um grande esforço em reunir o maior número de banco de dados de estudos de Ecologia de Estradas no Brasil e na América Latina. Esperamos que mais pessoas compreendam a importância de Data Papers e as inigualáveis vantagens que a publicação deste tipo de informação pode trazer para o pesquisador e para a conservação da biodiversidade. Veja como publicar seu data paper no número 2 da BIOTrA no link abaixo: http://issuu.com/portal.cbee/docs/chamada_n_2_ano_0
Biological Conservation Society is becoming more aware of how species, habitats and ecosystems provide irreplaceable services and resources that sus- tain human life. Conserving these so called ‘‘ g o o d s a n d s e r v i c e s ’’ r e quires rapid access to as much data as possible on the spatial and temporal distribution of species and their habitats within an envi- ronmental
context. The most efficient way to deliver this data is to have it published in standardised databases on the internet. This process began a decade ago and is now delivering results. This Special Issue of Biological Conservation contains examples of how this new field of biodiversity informatics is aiding conserva- tion of b i o d i v e r s i t y. I n t h i s
introduction we summarise the policy context, the development of biodiversity informatics, and how these databases may be developed and analysed.
Biological Conservation
Abstract There is increasing pressure from t h e s c i e n t i f i c c o m m u n i t y, including funding agencies, journals and peers, for authors to publish the biodiversity data used in published articles and other scientific literature. This enables reproducibility of research and c re a t e s n e w o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r integrating data between research
projects and analysing data in additional ways. The long-term availability of data is especially important in conservation science because field data can be costly to collect. In addition, historic data, especially on threatened species and their associated biota, become more valuable over time. This paper summarises current standards and best practices for the management and
publication of biodiversity data. It i n c l u d e s recommendations for citing sources of s p e c i e s determination and standards for format- ting species distribution data. Whenever possible, data should be published for inclusion in data access platforms that integrate datasets (e.g. GBIF, GenBank) and so enable new analyses and broader impact. Data centres (e.g. PANGAEA) provide added value in quality checks on data. A minimum standard recommended is that data should be permanently archived in an online, open-access repository with sufficient metadata for potential users to understand how and why they were collected.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution Abstract Concerns over data quality impede the use of public biodiversity databases and subsequent benefits to society. Data publication could follow the well-established publication process: with automated quality checks, peer review, and editorial decisions. This would improve d a t a a c c u r a c y, reduce the need for users to ‘clean’ the data, and might increase data use. Authors and editors would get due credit for a peerreviewed (data) publication through use and citation metrics. Adopting s t a n d a rd s re l a t e d to data citation,
a c c e s s i b i l i t y, m e t a d a t a , a n d quality control would facilitate integration of data across data sets. Here, we propose a staged publication process involving editorial and technical quality controls, of which the final (and optional) stage includes peer
r e v i e w, t h e m o s t m e r i t o r i o u s publication standard in science.
Biological Conservation
Abstract There is increasing pressure from t h e s c i e n t i f i c c o m m u n i t y, including funding agencies, journals and peers, for authors to publish the biodiversity data used in published articles and other scientific literature. This enables reproducibility of research and c re a t e s n e w o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r integrating data between research
projects and analysing data in additional ways. The long-term availability of data is especially important in conservation science because field data can be costly to collect. In addition, historic data, especially on threatened species and their associated biota, become more valuable over time. This paper summarises current standards and best practices for the management and
publication of biodiversity data. It i n c l u d e s recommendations for citing sources of s p e c i e s determination and standards for format- ting species distribution data. Whenever possible, data should be published for inclusion in data access platforms that integrate datasets (e.g. GBIF, GenBank) and so enable new analyses and broader impact. Data centres (e.g. PANGAEA) provide added value in quality checks on data. A minimum standard recommended is that data should be permanently archived in an online, open-access repository with sufficient metadata for potential users to understand how and why they were collected.
Biological Conservation Abstract S c i e n t i s t s s h o u l d e n s u re t h a t high quality research information is readily available on the Internet so society is not dependant on less authoritative sources. Many scientific projects a n d i n i t i a t i v e s p u b l i s h i n f o rmation on species and biodiversity on the World Wide Web without users needing to p a y f o r i t . H o w e v e r, t h e s e resources often stagnate when project funding expired. Based on a large pool of experiences world- wide, this article discusses what measures will help such data resources develop beyond the project lifetime. Biodiversity data, just as data in many other disciplines, are often not generated automatically by machines or sensors. Data on for example species are based on human observations and interpretation. This requires
continuous data curation to keep these up to date. Creators of online biodiversity databases should consider whether they have the resources to make their database of such value that other scientists and/or institutions would continue to finance its existence. To that end, it may be prudent to engage such partners in the development of the resource from an early stage.
Managers of existing biodiversity databases should reflect on the factors being important for sustainability. These include the extent, scope, quality and uniqueness of database content; t r a c k re c o rd o f d e v e l o p m e n t ; support from scientists; support from institutions, and clarity of Intellectual Property Rights.
Continuação Science funders should give special attention to the development of scholarly databases with expert-validated content. The science community has to appreciate the efforts of scientists in contributing to openaccess databases, including by c i t i n g t h e s e re s o u rc e s i n t h e Reference lists of publications that use them. Science culture must thus adapt its practices to support online databases as scholarly publications. To sustain such databases, we recommend they should (a) become integrated into larger collaborative databases or information systems with a consequently larger user community and pool of funding opportunities, and (b) be owned and curated by a science o r g a n i s a t i o n , s o c i e t y, o r institution with a suitable mandate. Good governance and p ro a c t i v e c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h
contributors is important to maintain the team enthusiasm that launched the resource. Experience shows that ‘bigger is better’ in terms of database size because the resource will have more content, more potential and known uses and users of its content, more contributors, be more prestigious to contribute to, and have more funding options. F u r t h e r m o re , m o s t s u c c e s s f u l biodiversity databases are managed by a partnership of individuals and organisations.