Comparison of Conceptural Plans for Biodiversity Informatics: National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII-2); Global Biodiversity Informatics Facility (GRIF), and National Collaborative Institute (NCI)

CONCEPTUAL PLANS FOR BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION EXCHANGE/ANALYSIS

I. Most Urgent Needs For Biodiversity Information Sharing

Lack of guidelines and standards for linking information about biodiversity

Lack of software tools for accessing, synthesizing, analyzing multiple databases

Lack of electronic access to vast stores of data in paper and other forms.

Need for bringing together information about biodiversity and using and developing the technology to access it.

II. Comparison of Conceptual Plans for Biodiversity Informatics: National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII-2); Global Biodiversity Informatics Facility (GBIF), and National Collaborative Institute (NCI) for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Informatics

CHARACTERISTIC	NBII-2	GBIF	NCI
Sponsor	President’s Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST): Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystems	Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup of Office of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Megascience Forum’s Working Group on Biological Informatics	CENR Workgroup on Biodiversity and Ecosystem, Informatics
Name of Proposed Project	National Biological Information Infrastructure – the next generation	Global Biodiversity Information Facility	National Collaborative Institute
Geographical Coverage	USA with link to global biodiversity resources	Global – OECD member support, access for all	USA

CHARACTERISTIC

NBII-2

GBIF

NCI

Goal

Development of an extensive and frequently updated environmental knowledge base which can evaluate alternative plans for managing biodiversity and ecosystems to optimize the union between the environment and the economy (Focus research on biodiversity and ecosystems information to promote use of that information in management decisions, in education and research and by the public.

Development of an international mechanism to make biodiversity data and information accessible worldwide.

Development of knowledge products of biodiversity and ecological information and on the standards and tools needed to deliver them.

Suggested Funding Source

US Federal Government

with support shifting to other partners gradually, although a permanent government presence will be needed.

Member countries to provide host institution, resource assistance, and/or other specific services; leverage effect as planned result of coordinated international action; existing funding levels within national/regional research programs can be redistributed according to new needs.

Co-funded and supported in-kind by agencies and cross-sector partnerships.

CHARACTERISTIC

NBII-2

GBIF

NCI

Suggested Funding Amount(s)

$40 million/yr for 5 years and maintenance after that for next generation NBII.

$200 million annually (phased in over 3 years)in addition to current federal expenditures in the areas of biological economic and information science research and support for education.

Combined value of in-kind services and direct payments to support GBIF secretariat of at least $2 M/year for four years.

Greatest support from countries that have the greatest financial, scientific and technical

capacities to do so (although access to all countries).

Total five-year funding of "authority file" of $280 M.

No specifics.

Initial Funding priorities

Investment in new technology tools to electronically organize, interlink and deliver biological information.
Making existing data electronically available.

Targeted investments in information technology high priority in first 4 years.

"Authority File" Catalog of Known Organisms

Focus on infrastructure in support of more effective discovery, indexing, access, archiving, and integration of biodiversity and ecological information

ORGANIZATIONAL ARCHITECHTURE
Comment: Organizational details of all three plans, as presented in the documents, are compatible with each other, GBIF being the overarching organization with NBII-2 representing organization in one country (USA) with a connection to GBIF, and NCI representing one or more focuses (possibly a node or nodes) within the USA..
NBII-2	A distributed facility in the USA that would provide automatic discover, indexing and linking of all datasets, more functional than a traditional library and more encompassing that a typical research institute. 5 regional nodes sited at appropriate institutions (national laboratories, universities) connected to each other and to the nearest telecommunications providers. Every desktop PC or mini computer that stores and serves biodiversity and ecosystems data via the internet.
GBIF	A distributed, information-based facility that would include computer servers that provide single datasets as well as Nodes, located in diverse countries, that hold and provide multiple datasets from which biodiversity information would be available on-line in a format tailored for the particular user. Set up with the initial support of at least 5 OECD countries. Organizational features: Governing Board with members from OECD countries; Technical Advisory Group appointed by GB; Secretariat with Director and initial staff of 4-6 growing to 10, housed at one or more host institutions.
NCI	A physical presence embodied by technical and administrative staff. Physical space for the "Institute" to proved some spatial stability, but only as a point of presence for highly distributed and collaborative initiatives.

OBJECTIVES
NBII-2	Integrate up-to-date knowledge into management, use and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. Search out USA biological species, their characteristics and interrelationships. Explore fundamental ecological principles, to monitor ecosystem status, better predict change and optimize sustainable productivity. Design new mechanisms to encourage a sustainable relationship between economy and environment. Apply leading edge information science and technologies to electronically organize, interlink and deliver biological information for use by all sectors of society. Educate Americans about the ecological and economic importance of biodiversity and ecosystems and the economic impact of choices in management of natural capital. Fully participate in management and conservation of global biodiversity resources by sharing information and expertise and assisting in building a scientific infrastructure in developing nations.
GBIF	An infrastructure to support knowledge discover for global biodiversity research including Support of sharing, use and coordination of massive datasets; High end computation and communications; New technologies applicable to biodiversity information; An organized framework for collaboration among international, national and regional organizations, public and private sectors; Electronic forum on biodiversity; Global focus for development of an "authority file" a comprehensive catalog of names of all species currently known to science and constantly updated.
NCI	Focus on critical and catalytic infrastructure. Support of more effective discovery, indexing, archiving and integration of biodiversity and ecological information.

III. Similarities In All Plans

Collaboration among governments, scientific entities, technical/industrial entities, educational entities.
Limited physical presence at one site; diverse sites or "nodes" developed.
Open access of all sectors of society and all countries to information about biodiversity.
Importance of biodiversity as a critical partner in economic decision-making and sustainable development.
Ability to access multiple databases, using new tools for gathering analyzing and synthesizing data.
Ability to present computational results so that findings in areas of biodiversity/ecosystem are more applicable to management/policy/etc.
Resource leveraging between countries/nodes/sectors.

Schematic Diagram of Suggested Organizational Interrelationship Among NBII-2, GBIF, and NCI

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