Species lists

Information about species is important. Knowing what species exist, where and how they live, how they grow and interact, helps us understand patterns of change, and provides better knowledge of how to change our behaviour to support our fragile biodiversity.

Scientists have so far described an estimated 1.8 million species of animals, plants, fungi and other organisms. Millions more are believed to exist. Their interactions ensure functioning ecosystems in oceans, freshwater and on land. Many of these may disappear before they have even been named, as climate change, land-use change and other factors take their toll.

There exist already some “Global Species Information Systems". A “Global Species Information System” aims at gathering and making available information on all known species on earth and which serves as a tool for information and awareness raising for the wider public as well as for enhanced scientific cooperation.

An overview of some species lists:

1. Global initatives for species lists

Marine:

• Marinespecies.org (http://www.marinespecies.org/)
• SeaLifeBase (www.sealifebase.org)

Marine and terrestrial:

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (www.itis.usda.gov)
• Species2000 (http://www.sp2000.org/)
• Species2000 + ITIS: Catalogue of Life (http://www.catalogueoflife.org)

2. European initatives for species lists

Marine:

• European Register of Marine Species (ERMS) (www.marbef.org/data/erms.php).

Marine and terrestrial:

• Euromed plant base (http://www.emplantbase.org/home.html)
• Fauna Europaea (www.faunaeur.org)

3. Regional marine initatives for species lists

Marine:

• http://www.scarmarbin.be/scarramsabout.php
• http://www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/narms/
• http://www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/masdea/

4. Species-specific initatives for species lists

Marine:

• http://www.fishbase.org
• http://www.algaebase.org/
• http://www.marinespecies.org/porifera/
• http://www.marinespecies.org/rhabditophora/
• http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm
• http://nemys.ugent.be/
• http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/
• http://www.marinespecies.org/cumacea/
• http://www.marinespecies.org/phoronida/

5. Other initatives for species lists

5.1 Information pages by aggregating all known data about every living species:

Marine and terrestrial

• Encyclopedia of Life (EoL) (http://www.eol.org/).
• WikiSpecies: (http://species.wikimedia.org)

5.2 Systems for biogeographic information on marine organisms:

Marine:

• EurOBIS (http://www.marbef.org/data/eurobis.php)
• OBIS Ocean Biogeographic Information System (http://www.iobis.org/)

5.3 Systems for Global biodiversity information Marine and terrestrial:

• GBIF Global Biodiversity Information System (http://www.gbif.org/)
• Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) (http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org