Scratchpads in the Biodiversity
Informatics Landscape
D. Roberts, K. Harman, S. Rycroft & V. Smith

Nomenclators Checklists
Biodiversity
Molecular
Phylogenetic
Index Fungorum PESI: Databases ALA
ZooBank Tree of Life
ERMS
CONABIO
IPNI TreeBase
Fauna Europea NCBI/EMBL/DDBJ CRIA (Brazil)
(Kew/AUS/Harvard) CIPRES
Euro+Med Plantbase CBoL IUCN
ING ORBIS Barcode of Life SEEK
AFD/APC/APUI WORMS Initiative OPAL
NZOR Flora Europea
DAISIE
CoL (Sp2000& ITIS)
iNaturalist
ZooRecord
Molecular
Distribution
Functions
Name Functions
CDM Functions
GNOMA
GNA (NameBank)
(Nomenclatpr
LifeWatch
Architecture)
uBio
GBIF
TDWG
Scan / Mark/up
PLAZI Note:
Inotaxa there are 600 biodiversity
Literature
BHL projects listed by TDWG
Morphological Functions Specimen Access
Functions
eFloras including most of the
projects listed here.
Bibliographic
IPNI Inter-Institutional Institutional
Descriptive / Identification
Google Scholar classification Key2Nature EMu (=MOA)
Synthesis
Connotea
IdentifyLife Recorder
BCI
EoL
ViTaL
BioCASE
Scratchpads
ISI
GeoCASE
CATE
MaNIS
MorphoBank
Wikipedia
Indicated a link yet to be realised A many-to-many relationship

EDIT Directions &
European
Distributed
Challenges
Institute of
Taxonomy
1. Collaborative working
2. Publication & Accessibility
3. Adaptability to the internet age
Business as usual
is not an option.

Scratchpads: Rationale
Hosted web sites, with
tools for taxonomists
Intended to encourage
community building
Unbranded, to encourage
community identity
Tools to facilitate
structuring of data

What is a Scratchpad?
A website for you & your community
1 2 3
Uploaded & Published & reviewed
Your data
tagged on your site

Your data
DNA & Phylogenies
Specimens
Descriptions
Images
Literature

Taxonomy backbone
• Classification import from uBio
Classification Bank
• Import from tab delimited files in three
different formats
• Makes use of a core feature of Drupal

Auto tagging
• Quick and easy
• Data available immediately after upload
• Works with any extra data that may be
added to a taxonomy (vernacular
names, synonymy)

Small pieces loosely joined
Has many potential meanings:
• Joining contributors together to form
communities

Small pieces loosely joined
Has many potential meanings:
• Joining contributors together to form
communities
• Joining the data together that go towards
forming a Scratchpad

Small pieces loosely joined
Has many potential meanings:
• Joining contributors together to form
communities
• Joining the data together that go towards
forming a Scratchpad
• Joining Scratchpad content with the
landscape of biodiversity informatics data
on the web

TapirLink provides
specimens to GBIF
based on Darwincore

Common Drupal base
means LifeDesk
modules will work with
Scratchpads

Working with colleagues
in Berlin, we’ll also be
providing data to the
EDIT CDM

Current Scratchpads
Ants
Sites: 70+ Bees
Beetles
Users: 850+ Big-headed flies
Birds
Pages: 130k Blackflies
Ciliates
Since March 2007 Cockroaches
Dragon Trees
Dung Beetles
False Buttonweed
Flat worms
Flies
Foraminifera
Fossil Insects
Fungus Gnats
Holometabola
Leaf-miner Flies
Lice
Lichens of Bermuda
Malvaceae
Megalastrum ferns
Milichiid flies
Mosquitoes
Mosses
Nannotax fossils
Nepticuloid moths
Palms
Pearl oysters
Polychaete worms
Scaleworms
Stick insects
Sulawesi Ferns
Termites
Triticid grasses
Weevils
Wood Ferns

Questions?