MANUELA
Traditionally, marine researchers collect data in their own field of expertise, often with a confined temporal and spatial range. These data are then normally used in a rather limited context. The Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Network of Excellence (MarBEF) implemented besides 17 other research projects the MANUELA project. MANUELA – Meiobenthic and Nematode biodiversity: Unravelling Ecological and Latitudinal Aspects – aimed to integrate the scattered information on the dynamics and the functional role of meiofauna into one single database so that joint analyses could be performed.
Creating the MANUELA database
During 15 months (from December 2005 to February 2007) the data for the MANUELA project was collected. Twelve European institutes delivered 83 datasets containing data on the spatial distribution of meiofauna. Although the data covered a very wide geographical range – from the Arctic to the Antarctic – the focus was on European marine and estuarine habitats.
Upon arrival dataset was archived and described in detail at the data centre of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). Describing these datasets in a standardised way made it possible to create a searchable metadata inventory. This metadata - data about the data- helps scientists to discover desired data and also enables them to share their data with other scientists. Archiving the datasets prevents them from being lost by ensuring the long-term integrity of the data. All child databases can be found here
Data policy
Results
The MANUELA project gave scientist the opportunity to perform large-scale analyses of the nematode and copepod communities on an European and even larger scale. Six mayor topic have been addressed:
- large scale patterns in meiobenthic diversity and community composition
- the universal response of meiobenthos to disturbance,
- patterns in marine nematode morphometry,
- patterns in deep-sea nematode communities,
- prediction of nematode biodiversity by using artificial neural networks
- large scale patterns in harpacticoid copepod community composition and diversity.
Publications!!!
