1) OBIS is a global open-access online database containing over 40 million records of marine species observations from over 1,600 datasets. It was established by the Census of Marine Life and is now managed by IOC-UNESCO. 2) OBIS contains biological occurrence data following Darwin Core standards including species names, locations, dates and environmental data. Users can access and visualize data through the OBIS website and web services. 3) OBIS data is used to study marine biodiversity patterns and changes. Over 900 papers have cited OBIS and its analysis has provided baselines on global sampling efforts, species richness indices, and distributions of invasive and threatened species.

1. Ocean Biogeographic Information
System
Ward Appeltans
UNESCO, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO)
International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE)
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
Phlip Goldstein
University of Colorado at Boulder
OBIS-USA

2.  OBIS from Census of Marine Life to IODE
 OBIS Organization and Status
 OBIS Data, Access, and Participation
 Outcomes
 Global Relationships
 Your Role and OBIS’s Role in biodiversity:
How many species in the oceans?
OBIS: Biodiversity Data, Community,
Relationships, Outcomes

3. From Census of Marine Life …
OBIS was established as the data
repository and information
dissemination system for CoML

4. … to UNESCO-IOC/IODE/OBIS
"Knowledge of the oceans biodiversity is of
such importance to national and global
environmental issues that the responsibility
for OBIS’s continuing success should be
assumed by governments” IOC 2009
OBIS secretariat, database +
website moved from Rutgers
University (USA) to the IOC Project
Office for IODE in Oostende
(Belgium)
In June 2009, the 25th Session of the IOC Assembly decided
through Resolution XXV-4 to adopt OBIS as part of IODE

5. OBIS Nodes
(bold = NODC status, blue = thematic)
1. Antarctica / AntOBIS
2. Arctic / ArcOD/AOOS
3. Argentina / ArOBIS
4. Australia / OBIS-
Australia
5. Black Sea /
BlackSea-OBIS
6. Canada / OBIS-
Canada
7. China / OBIS-China
8. Europe / EurOBIS
MedOBIS
13.South-East Pacific /
ESPOBIS
14.South-West Atlantic /
WSAOBIS
15.South-West Pacific /
NZOBIS
16.Sub-Saharan /
AfrOBIS
17.USA/ OBIS-USA
18.Iran/ PEGO-OBIS
1. Global / MicrOBIS
2. Global / OBIS-
SEAMAP
3. Global / Hexacorals
1. MicrOBIS
2. OBIS-
SEAMAP
3. Hexacorals
4. FishBase
5. Seamounts
Regional / National …
Thematic

6. OBIS is the world’s largest open access,
online data system on the diversity,
distribution and abundance
of marine species
> 40 million
observations
115,000 marine
species
> 1,600 datasets
> 450 data providers
in 56 countries
www.iobis.org

7. OBIS Steering Group

8. OBIS trainings
Access, process, quality control, publish and use …
… marine biodiversity data

9. OBIS: Data Record of Biological Occurrences:
 Named Taxon, location, date/time
 The Standard: Ratified Darwin Core
 Circumstances of Observation
 Biological details
 Sampling method
 Environmental Conditions
 Administrative details:
 Institution and Individual Attribution
and Citation Requirements
What type of data is in OBIS?
Biological Occurrence Data
Occurrence data may
represent:
• Specimen / Historical
/ Literature
• Survey data / Human
Observation
• Machine
Observation FUTURE

10.  Web Site: www.iobis.org
 Web services and tools: OGC, IPT
 Query by dataset, taxon, location
 Access by association with physical/ chemical/
climate data
How do users access OBIS Data?

11. Association of observation points
with oceanography
Observation data associated with
 Bottom depth
 Temperature
 Salinity
 Nitrogen / Oxygen
 Phosphate / Silicate
Visualized through interactive graphs
 Time-series graphs
 Histograms
Climate variables from World Ocean Atlas

12. Association of observed species
with oceanography
Climate variables from World Ocean Atlas
Observation data associated with
 Bottom depth
 Temperature
 Salinity
 Nitrogen / Oxygen
 Phosphate / Silicate
Visualized through interactive graphs
 Time-series graphs
 Histograms

13. Species climate envelopes
Calanus finmarchicus

14. Species depth distribution
Calanus finmarchicus

15.  OBIS Nodes recruit and develop data and
metadata
 Program Office harvests data from nodes,
integrates into aggregate database
 Distributed system; Nodes control their data
 Nodes’ local community can be reflected in
their activities and outcomes
How Do Data Become Part of OBIS?

16.  Publications
 OBIS Analysis and Baseline Products
 OBIS / Synthesis Application Outcomes
OBIS Outcomes

17. OBIS Outcomes: Publication
More than 900 papers have cited OBIS,
growing at ~7 papers per month
100 times series
from OBIS

18. Number of sampling days per depth volume
99% of ocean volume is
still undersampled
Appeltans W., Dujardin F., Flavell M., Miloslavich P., Webb T. (2015). Biodiversity Baselines in the Global Ocean. In: Fischer A. et al (Eds).
Open Ocean Technical Assessment Report for the GEF Transboundary Water Assessment Programme (TWAP). UNEP, IOC-UNESCO. In
press.
OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products

19. Nr of records through time (latitude)
Global monitoring
since 1950
Progressively
increased in the
Southern
Hemisphere
Appeltans W., Dujardin F., Flavell M., Miloslavich P., Webb T. (2015). Biodiversity Baselines in the Global Ocean. In: Fischer A. et al (Eds).
Open Ocean Technical Assessment Report for the GEF Transboundary Water Assessment Programme (TWAP). UNEP, IOC-UNESCO. In
press.
OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products

20. Species richness indices
Hulbert index
Completeness based on Chao2
OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products

21. OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products
Appeltans W., Dujardin F., Flavell M., Miloslavich P., Webb T. (2015). Biodiversity Baselines in the Global Ocean. In: Fischer A. et al (Eds).
Open Ocean Technical Assessment Report for the GEF Transboundary Water Assessment Programme (TWAP). UNEP, IOC-UNESCO. In
press.
Two third of known species are uniques

22. Species richness indices
Hulbert index per MPA
Number of IUCN threatened species
OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products

23. Invasive species
Lionfish invasion in Caribbean (black before 1985, red after 1984)
OBIS Outcomes: Analysis & Baseline Products

24. OBIS Application
Outcomes
These density
models are used
to estimate
official “takes”
for marine
mammal
protection act
and endangered
species act
regulations in
the USA
OBIS-SEAMAP
Conservation

25. CBD-COP10 listed OBIS as a key source of information for the
identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs)
Areas of high
biodiversity
Areas of special
importance for the life
history of a species
Areas of significant
naturalness
Areas of unique-
ness or rarity
Area-based management
OBIS Application Outcomes

26.  Global Science Programs / Ocean Governance
 Requirements-Based
 Active Outreach
 Continuing Expansion
OBIS Relationships

27. OBIS Relationships
( only a partial view! )

28. GEO
GEO BON
• WG marine ecosystem change
• WG data integration and interoperability

29.  Scientific and data management community
 Historical data (setting baselines) and data from non
commercial, non-target fishery species
 Assessments of current knowledge, geographical and
taxonomic gaps
 Indicators of biodiversity, species richness and species
community composition (and changes through time)
 Open-access data portal, integrating biodiversity data with
climate variables (temperature, salinity, oxygen…)
 Capacity building (training)
OBIS Relationships
Contribution from OBIS to global programmes

30. One Planet – One Ocean
THANK YOU