15 min
S3, E1: The World Register of Marine Species is the #1 authority. LifeWatch ERIC
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- Nature
Season Three of the LifeWatch ERIC podcast 'A Window on Science' starts with a close-up on WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species, hosted and curated by the Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), the Flanders Marine Institute, in Ostend. The interview with Stefanie Dekeyzer, data management specialist at VLIZ, takes us from how the Institute was founded by Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden in 1843, to its current operations, the citizen science events, and the Editorial Board, Steering Committee and the Data Management Teams who ensure that it remains the "authoritative and comprehensive list of all the names of marine organisms that were ever published."
VLIZ developed the Aphia database that keeps everything in the one place and provides a global reference point. While WoRMS is the comprehensive list, WRIMS - the World Register of Introduced Marine Species - contains 2,300 introduced species and is an essential part of the LifeWatch ERIC Species Information Backbone. These records link to the Global Invasive Species Database and the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a key organisation in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Surprisingly, most of the specialists who work on WoRMS and WRiMS are volunteers.
Season Three of the LifeWatch ERIC podcast 'A Window on Science' starts with a close-up on WoRMS, the World Register of Marine Species, hosted and curated by the Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), the Flanders Marine Institute, in Ostend. The interview with Stefanie Dekeyzer, data management specialist at VLIZ, takes us from how the Institute was founded by Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden in 1843, to its current operations, the citizen science events, and the Editorial Board, Steering Committee and the Data Management Teams who ensure that it remains the "authoritative and comprehensive list of all the names of marine organisms that were ever published."
VLIZ developed the Aphia database that keeps everything in the one place and provides a global reference point. While WoRMS is the comprehensive list, WRIMS - the World Register of Introduced Marine Species - contains 2,300 introduced species and is an essential part of the LifeWatch ERIC Species Information Backbone. These records link to the Global Invasive Species Database and the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a key organisation in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Surprisingly, most of the specialists who work on WoRMS and WRiMS are volunteers.
15 min