Mapping Marine Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps Using Open Data

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2024) | Viewed by 7930

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Marine Zoology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2. Data Manager, OBIS, Deep-Sea Node, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Interests: biodiversity (informatics); biogeography; taxonomy and phylogeny; ecological modeling; deep-sea ecology

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Guest Editor
MISE (Molecular Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology) Laboratory, Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Marine Science, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Interests: marine biodiversity; Zoantharia; coral reefs; Anthozoa; coastal development; symbioses; taxonomy; eDNA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute for Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Interests: deep sea biodiversity; crusteceans

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Data digitization and the mobilization of marine species have greatly expanded over the last few decades via the establishment of biodiversity open access databases such as the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Despite these great efforts, in some areas more than 50% of the ocean lacks digital data, restricting accurate biodiversity assessments. The challenge at hand is first to determine the existing knowledge gaps and identify their drivers, such as a lack of sampling, data digitization or taxonomy efforts. Open data can help to determine areas requiring attention.

In this Special Issue, we aim to compile papers using open portals in addition to their own sampling methods to uncover knowledge gaps and biodiversity patterns in marine species at both regional and global scales. This Special Issue hopes to contribute to these fields and to establish recommendations for marine conservations strategies and the way forward.

Dr. Hanieh Saeedi
Dr. James Davis Reimer
Prof. Dr. Angelika Brandt
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • marine biodiversity
  • biogeography
  • biodiversity Informatics
  • macroecology
  • open data
  • knowledge gaps

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1022 KiB  
Article
Short-Term and Long-Term Predictions: Is the Green Crab Carcinus maenas a Threat to Antarctica and Southern South America under a Climate-Change Scenario?
by Iván Vera-Escalona, Lucas H. Gimenez and Antonio Brante
Diversity 2023, 15(5), 632; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050632 - 06 May 2023
Viewed by 1729
Abstract
Non-native species can have profound implications on the survival of native ones. This is especially true for some invasive crabs, such as the green crab Carcinus maenas, a native species to the Northern Hemisphere that has been introduced into southern Argentina, from [...] Read more.
Non-native species can have profound implications on the survival of native ones. This is especially true for some invasive crabs, such as the green crab Carcinus maenas, a native species to the Northern Hemisphere that has been introduced into southern Argentina, from where it could expand through Argentina, Chile, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Hence, there is interest in forecasting changes in C. maenas habitat suitability through time to predict if potential future invasions might occur. Here, by using a Species Distribution Model (SDM) approach, we estimated the habitat suitability for C. maenas along southern South America and the Antarctic Peninsula under two future climate-change scenarios. Our results reveal that under current conditions, habitat suitability for C. maenas along the Antarctic Peninsula is null and very restricted in Argentina and Chile. Habitat suitability along the Antarctic Peninsula remained null in the short-term (30 years) and long-term future (80 years), despite the climate-change scenario considered. Surprisingly, when considering future conditions, habitat suitability along the coast of Argentina and Chile decreased and became nil for some currently occupied locations. Thus, the SDM results suggest that climate change could have a negative effect on the habitat suitability of C. maenas leading to potential local extinctions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mapping Marine Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps Using Open Data)
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21 pages, 3878 KiB  
Article
Distribution and Species Richness of Benthic Polychaeta and Sipuncula in the Northwestern Pacific
by Katharina Kohlenbach, Henry Knauber, Angelika Brandt and Hanieh Saeedi
Diversity 2023, 15(4), 557; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15040557 - 14 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1863
Abstract
Polychaeta and Sipuncula are abundant inhabitants of benthic marine habitats and have been increasingly sampled in the Northwest Pacific (NWP). However, polychaete and sipunculan species richness, composition, and distribution patterns still require further investigation, despite previous studies due to increasing deep-sea data flow. [...] Read more.
Polychaeta and Sipuncula are abundant inhabitants of benthic marine habitats and have been increasingly sampled in the Northwest Pacific (NWP). However, polychaete and sipunculan species richness, composition, and distribution patterns still require further investigation, despite previous studies due to increasing deep-sea data flow. Using occurrence records for Polychaeta and Sipuncula from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), we analyzed sampling effort (the number of distribution records), alpha (the number of species per 700,000 km2 hexagon cells) and gamma (the number of species per 5° latitudinal band) species diversity, and estimated species richness along latitudinal and bathymetric gradients. The species richness estimations were also correlated with multiple environmental and topographic variables, including depth, temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, primary production, phytoplankton, current velocity, light, iron, nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and salinity. The dataset included over 30,000 distribution records belonging to polychaete (31,114 records, 98%) and sipunculan (690 records, 2%) species. Half of the distribution records were reported at a species level. The area around the island of Hainan and South Korea showed the highest alpha species richness (the number of species per 700,000 km2 hexagon cell), yet the estimated species richness (ES50) indicated that there might be many unknown, unsampled, or non-digitized species throughout the whole NWP. Correspondingly, most distribution records (sampling effort) and gamma species richness were found between latitudes 20 and 40° and decreased towards higher latitudes. Sipuncula were reported relatively more frequently from the deep sea than Polychaeta (62.8% vs. 12%). Overall, the number of species and records decreased with increasing depth, with a peak at about 5000 m. The alpha species richness had the strongest positive correlations with temperature, chlorophyll, primary production, and phytoplankton concentration. Here, we provide an overview of the species richness and distribution of Polychaeta in comparison with Sipuncula in the NWP, in both shallow and deep environments. This study demonstrates where further sampling efforts are needed to fill our knowledge gaps on annelids’ distribution and diversity along the NWP. This could improve the analyses of the distribution and diversity of annelids to better understand the current environmental drivers of biodiversity, as well as predicting potential future drivers. The outcome of the environmental correlation provides thus valuable knowledge for predicting the future impacts of global warming on potential distribution shifts of annelids into new environments such as the Arctic Sea, possibly resulting in biological invasions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mapping Marine Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps Using Open Data)
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14 pages, 2223 KiB  
Article
Mind the Gaps: Taxonomic, Geographic and Temporal Data of Marine Invertebrate Databases from Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe
by Marta Bento, Henrique Niza, Alexandra Cartaxana, Salomão Bandeira, José Paula and Alexandra Marçal Correia
Diversity 2023, 15(1), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15010070 - 05 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3014
Abstract
One of the best ways to share and disseminate biodiversity information is through the digitization of data and making it available via online databases. The rapid growth of publicly available biodiversity data is not without problems which may decrease the utility of online [...] Read more.
One of the best ways to share and disseminate biodiversity information is through the digitization of data and making it available via online databases. The rapid growth of publicly available biodiversity data is not without problems which may decrease the utility of online databases. In this study we analyze taxonomic, geographic and temporal data gaps, and bias related to existing data on selected marine invertebrate occurrences along the coastline of two African countries, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. The final marine invertebrate dataset comprises of 19.910 occurrences, but 32% of the original dataset occurrences were excluded due to data gaps. Most marine invertebrates in Mozambique were collected in seagrasses, whereas in São Tomé and Príncipe they were mostly collected offshore. The dataset has a temporal coverage from 1816 to 2019, with most occurrences collected in the last two decades. This study provides baseline information relevant to a better understanding of marine invertebrate biodiversity data gaps and bias in these habitats along the coasts of these countries. The information can be further applied to complete marine invertebrate data gaps contributing to design informed sampling strategies and advancing refined datasets that can be used in management and conservation plans in both countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mapping Marine Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps Using Open Data)
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