A call for participation of citizen scientists to help to convert the half billion of pages of biodiversity legacy literature into Linked Open Data, an imperative for conservation of the worlds declining biodiversity, but as much as a scientific frontier: How many species are there? Traditionally, citizen scientist plaid a decisive role in describing the Earth's biodiversity. Now the confront a paradoxical challenge that they do not have access to their published scientifc corpus and might have to launch into a second wave of discovery: This time in the printed record. Lecture held at the "Opportunities and challenges for citizen scientists" workshop at the ETH Zurich, January 23, 2015

1. Donat Agosti, Plazi
Opportunities & Challenges of Citizen Science
ETH Zentrum, Zurich
23.1.2015
Plazi or the challenge to free
biodiversity data caught in hundreds
of millions of pages of over 250
years of scientific publications

2. 4 years after the Rio Earth Summit

3. Image of ant book : not an easy social task
Harvard library
One book
1996: The Museum of Comparative
Zoology at Harvard University as the only
place on Earth with a complete collection of
ant taxonomic publications.
The ant community got together to create a
standard protocol to collect ants
1996

4. 14 years after the Rio Earth Summit

5. Image of online catalogue and library
Access to everybody
2006: Antbase.org allowed as a first of its kind online open access to
all the literature with up to 10,000 visitors per month.
2006

6. 23 years after the Rio Earth Summit

7. 45,000,000 pages scanned by the
Biodiversity Heritage Library; many more,
but private digital repositories
Millions of specimens digitized
Better than before
2015

8. 23 years after the Rio Earth Summit
2015

9. These are only scans of a fraction of the
estimated 500,000,000 pages with poor
OCR.
We still have no complete «phone book»
of the species of the world, nor access to
the data provided when they have been
described or re-used.
2015

10. because
23 years after the Rio Earth Summit

11. Taxonomic publications
PDFs are stupid –
only we can
understand them,
lots of them are
copyrighted
despite…

12. Text
<tax:treatment>
<tax:nomenclature>
<tax:name>
<tax:xid source="HNS" identifier="193329"/>
<tax:xmldata>
<dc:Genus>Mystrium</dc:Genus>
<dc:Species>leonie</dc:Species>
</tax:xmldata>
Mystrium leonie
</tax:name>
<tax:status>n. sp.</tax:status>
Fig 1 D - F
</tax:nomenclature>
<tax:div type="description">
<tax:p>HOLOTYPE WORKER: TL 3.95, HL 1.02, HW 0.95, CI
1.30, SI 137, PW 0.73, ML 0.38. Mandible outer margi
to a sharp apical tooth, the apex parallel to the an
(Holotype with material in mandibles, so mandibles a
$ described below from paratypes.) Median clypeus
....
</treatment>
Semantically
enhanced text
… alternatives: From human to machine readable text
RDF

13. What does this mean?
The Linking Open Data cloud diagram
Linked Open Data Cloud

14. zt03131p034
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8EDE33EB-3C43-4DFA-A1F4-5CC86DED76C8
http://treatment.plazi.org/id/BDA70EC9-F8AB-AED6-C2B7-628596A1714A
Jeremy Miller http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8918-9775
Pardosa zyuzini
new species
Developing persistent and openly accessible digital taxonomic literature
Pardosa zyuzini Kronestedt & Marusik, 2011
Torbjörn Kronestedt & Yuri M. Marusik, 2011, Studies on species of Holarctic Pardosa groups
(Araneae, Lycosidae). VII. The Pardosa tesquorum group, Zootaxa 3131, pp. 1-34: 25-28. DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.10109
Pardosa zyuzini sp. nov.
Figs 7-8, 22-23, 28, 31, 94-106, 116
Pardosa paratesquorum (misidentification, in part): Schenkel 1963: 360, fig. 208b (♀, not ♂)Plazi.
Pardosa paratesquorum (misidentification): Logunov & Marusik 1995: 115Plazi; Marusik et al. 1996: 35-36Plazi; Logunov et al. 1998: 139Plazi;
Marusik & Logunov 1999: 247Plazi.
Pardosa cf. paratesquorum . Marusik et al. 2000: 84Plazi; Marusik & Buchar 2003: 157Plazi; Logunov & Marusik 2004: 63Plazi.
Pardosa sp. 2: Marusik & Logunov 2009: 151Plazi.
Type material.Holotype♂ and GoogleMaps allotype ♀ from MONGOLIA, Oevoerkhangai Aimag, Zuunbayan-Ulaan Somon, Zamtyn
Davaa GoogleMaps (46°43'N102°51'E),2000 m,14-18 June 1997(Y.M. Marusik) in ZMMU. - GoogleMapsParatypes.MONGOLIA. Oevoerkhangai
Aimag GoogleMaps . same data as holotype (CAS, GoogleMaps ISEA, GoogleMapsIZAS, GoogleMaps NHRS, GoogleMaps ZMMU), GoogleMaps 110♂ 44
♀. GoogleMaps Bayankhongor Aimag. Gurvanbulag Somon, Lake Khokh-Nuur GoogleMaps (47 ° 32'N98 ° 32'E),2600 m,7-10 June 1997(Y.M.,IBPN),
10♂. GoogleMapsAssonge, Tola (Tuul) River ,1909(du Chazaud,MNHN), 1♀ . Arkhangai Aimag. Uu-bulan, Saikhany saravi ,24 June 1976(Tsug
Enkhtuyaa,IBPN), 1♂ 1♀. - RUSSIA.Altai: 8 km S of Chagan-Uzun Village GoogleMaps (50°04’N,88°24’ E),1800m, grassy bank of Chuya River,13
June 2009(A.A. Fomichev,ISEA), 2♀ GoogleMaps ; 2 km SE of Kosh-Agach ,27 June 1996(A. & R. Dudko,ISEA), 1♂ ; 70-75 km W of Kosh-
Agach,40-45 km W of Bel'tir , Taltura (Chagan-Uzun) River canyon ,2300-2500 m, mountain stony steppe,26-28 June 1999(V.V.
Glupov,ISEA), 2♂ 1♀ ; Kosh-Agach VillageGoogleMaps (50°01'N,88°38'E),1800m, saline swamps,13 July 2009(A.A. Fomichev,ISEA), 1♂
2♀ GoogleMaps . Tuva: MongunTaiga Distr.,12 km downstream from Mugur-Aksy by Kargy River ,1800 m, river bank,14 June
1989(D.L.,ISEA:SZM 001.1505), 2♂ 1♀ ; SE part of Kyzyl , steppe,22-24 July 1996(Y.M.,IBPN), 3♂ 2♀ ; Ovyur Distr, pass between Sagly and
Onachy rivers ,2200 m, ca20-25 km W of Sagly Village , wet habitats,13 June 1989(D.L.,ISEA:SZM 001.1506), 2♂ ; Ulug-Khem Dist.,6-7 km E
of Choduraa, Chulaanych site , near creek,10 May 1990(D.L.,ISEA:SZM 001.1514), 14♂ ; Tere-Khol' Lake, Sharlaa stand and
around GoogleMaps (50 ° 1.47'N95° 3.45'E),1050 m,6- 14 July 1996(Y.M.,ISEA), 19♂ 6♀ GoogleMaps ; 30-35 km W of Erzin, Shara-Nur
Lake GoogleMaps(50°12'N,94°32'E),900 m,8 June 1995(Y.M.,ISEA:SZM 001.1512), 5♂ 7♀ GoogleMaps ; Erzin Distr.,20 km NW of Erzin Village, Dus-
Treatment
about services projects communications Legal advocacy files
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Animalia [224130, 24756]
Arthropoda [1869565, 15066]
Arachnida [2959, 6934]
Araneae [2785, 5430]
Lycosidae [90, 850]
Pardosa [35, 557]
2020
2000
1980
1960
Pardosa zyuzini
Kronestedt & Marusik 2011
Pardosa sp. 2
Marusik & Logunov 2009
Pardosa cr. paratesquorum
Logunov & Marusik 2004
Marusik & Buchar 2003
Marusik et al. 2000 Pardosa paratesquorum
Marusik & Logunov 1999
Logunov et al. 1998
Marusik et al. 1996
Logunov & Marusik 1995
Expand all
Taxonomy [treatments, specimens]
Specimens
Pardosa paratesquorum
Schenkel 1963
Verbatim Taxon Name
Taxonomic Status
Treatment
RDA of cited treatments
Count of treatments and
specimens for and Taxon
Kingdom, Taxon Phylum,
Taxon Class, Taxon Order,
Taxon Family, Taxon
Genus for this species
(e.g., Pardosa zyuzini)
Taxon Name Authority (1) Authority (2) Year
mods:identifier
Map of georeferenced points
publication ID
publication LSID
persistent identifier
treatment provided by
scientific name
status

15. FIGURES 29–31. Epigynes in
dorsal view. 29, Pardosa eskovi
sp. nov. (from Yakutia: Suntar).
30, P. mulaiki Gertsch (from
Saskatchewan: Hanley). 31, P.
zyuzini sp. nov. (from type
locality). cd, copulatory duct; sp,
spermatheca. Scale line (applies
FIGURES 94–101. Pardosa
zyuzini sp. nov. 94, left bulbus,
ventral view. 95–96, left
terminal part of bulbus in
ventral (95) and retrolateral (96)
view. 97, left male palp (patella,
tibia and cymbium), dorsal
view. 98, embolus of left palp,
FIGURES 102–106. Pardosa
zyuzini sp. nov., male (from type
locality). 99, terminal part of left
bulbus in ventral (102),
retrolateral (103) and ventro-
frontal (104) view. 105, left
tegulum with tegular apophysis
in ventral view. 106, tarsus and
FIGURE 116. Distribution of
Pardosa eskovi sp. nov. (■), P.
mulaiki (), P. paratesquorum
Downloads
Darwin Core materials citations
Darwin Core Archive
Plain XML
TaxonX
Shared with
Treatment reference graph
Pardosa zyuzini
Kronestedt & Marusik 2011
Schenkel 1963
2020
2000
1980
1960
Marusik & Logunov 2009
Logunov & Marusik 1995
Logunov & Marusik 2004
Logunov et al. 1998
Marusik & Buchar 2003
Marusik & Logunov 1999
Marusik et al. 1996
Marusik et al. 2000
♀ from Yakutia: Suntar. 2–3, P.
mulaiki Gertsch ♂ (2) ♀ (3), both
from Saskatchewan: Rosetown.
4, P. paratesquorum Schenkel ♂
(paratype of P. daqingshanica
Tang, Urita &
sp. nov. (from Yakutia: Suntar).
20, P. mulaiki Gertsch (from
Saskatchewan). 21, P.
tesquorumoides Song & Yu
(from Sichuan: Hongyuan Co.).
22–23, P. zyuzini sp. nov. (from
sp. nov. (Yakutia: Suntar). 26, P.
mulaiki Gertsch (from
Saskatchewan: Hanley). 27, P.
tesquorumoides Song & Yu
(from Sichuan: Hongyuan Co.).
28, P. zyuzini sp. nov. (from type

16. Journal of Hymenoptera Research
5170 specimens
4062 plottable specimens from
1138 unique locations

17. Treatment
Plazi Search and Retrieval
Server: Access to data
DwC-A
You
You
You
human
machine

18. Treatment
Linking of treatments to external resources

19. Pseudomyrmex ants and Vachellia ant-acacias
are a classic example of mutualism in biology.
allenii
melanoceras
ruddiae
chiapensis
collinsii
cookii
cornigera
globulifera
hindsii
janzenii
mayana
sphaerocephala
boopis
flavicornis
hesperius
ita
janzeni
kuenckeli
mixtecus
nigrocinctus
nigropilosus
opaciceps
particeps
peperi
reconditus
satanicus
simulans
spinicola
subtilissimus
veneficus
ferrugineus
gentlei
gracilis
Transbiotic link network
Associated species linked through
references in taxonomic treatments
Acacia-ant species: Pseudomyrmex gracili
Treatment: redescription
Associated ant-acacia: Acacia gentlei
Ants Plants
Photocredits: Alex Wild
Treatment
Treatments linked
through citations
Treatment

20. Solution: Biodiversity Literature Repository @ Zenodo/CERN

21. • Swiss based international NGO and
SME
• Founded in 2008
• Mission to foster (Open Access) Linked
Open (scientific) Data
• EU and volunteer support

22. Build as start a TreatmentBank that
includes direct access to 1 million
citable treatments, related metadata
and digital copies of the source
publications

23. Goal: Giant Global Species Graph
Legal
Social
Technical
Ontologies
Infrastructure

24. The paradox

25. Citizen Scientists (red, probably gray) create discoveries:
Current descriptions of new species in Europe (10 years: 5881 species.)
http://127.0.0.1:8081/plosone/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036881

26. Citizen scientists aka amateurs are major
contributors to this knowledge.
They have at best a difficult access to its
digital content. Even more so in the South,
where most of the biodiversity is.

27. In fact: citizen scientists have to discover
the world’s biodiversity a second time - by
making it digitally accessible this time.
The double work of citizen scientists

28. The challenge

29. Scientists and funding can only do so much.
digitizing collaboration, Open Access, sharing

30. How can we mobilize citizen scientists to
complement the scientists’ effort to build
an Open Biodiversity Knowledge
Commons by creating semantically
enhanced, linked data out of 500,000,000
million printed pages, 10s of millions of
digitized specimens, gene sequences,
etc?

31. I want to be able to find out what species
this ant is and whether I can still see this
ant in 20 years here in the mediterranean
city of Zurich.
I want to know how many species live on
Earth.

32. Thank you!
Donat Agosti
agosti@plazi.org

33. Links
Links
Further reading: http://plazi.org/?q=plazi_publications
Catapano, 2011 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK47081/)
Bouchout Declaration (http://bouchoutdeclaration.org)
Blue List (http://plazi.org/?q=blue_list)
Biodiversity Literature Repository (https://zenodo.org/collection/user-biosyslit
Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/about)
Refindit (http://refindit.org)
Refbank (http://refbank.org)
Pro-iBiosphere (http://pro-ibiosphere.eu/)
Introduction to persistent identifiers (http://wiki.pro-
ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Best_practices_for_stable_URIs)
Twitter
@plazi_treat; @bouchoutdec, @myrmoteras

34. Additional resources on the impact of amateurs (By Frank Krell)
In Austria about fifteen years ago, four fifth of all entomologists were amateurs (Malicky 1978). In a recent compilation
of the entomologists of Rhenania (Germany) of the last 250 years Evers (1992: 100) found out that only 23 % of the
living entomologists are professionals, 77 % are amateurs (n = 78), 13 % of the deceased entomologists are
professionals and 87 % amateurs (n = 111), altogether 17 % are professionals and 83 % amateurs (n = 189). At least in
Central and Western Europe and Japan, the situation the same. Bello et al. (1992) imparted that 13 % of Spanish
taxonomists were amateurs (56 % are professionals, 16 % have a temporary status, relying on grants, 13 % are
"Other").
I don’t know if there is anything newer. The references cited are
Bello, E. & Becerra, J.M. & G.-Valdecasas, A. 1992. Counting on taxonomy. Nature 357: 531.
Evers, A.M.J. 1992. Entomologie und Entomologen des Rheinlandes, insbesondere des Niederrheins. Entomologische
Blätter für Biologie und Systematik der Käfer 88: 93-102.
Malicky, H. 1978. Am Beispiel der Entomologie. Amateurwissenschaftler und Amateurforschung. Österreichische
Hochschulzeitung 30(4): 19-20.