Leen Vandepitte

Vlaams Instituut Voor De Zee | VLIZ · Data Centre

GuardIAS is a three-year Horizon Europe project starting in January 2025, uniting diverse expertise to address aquatic invasive alien species (IAS) management. This multidisciplinary initiative comprises seven interconnected work packages targeting all invasion stages (pre-border, border, post-border) to develop tools for disrupting invasions. Guar...

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) started in 2007 with the question “how many species live in our oceans?”. Now, a little over 15 years later, WoRMS is able to answer several questions related to marine species discovery rates and provides a dynamic number of existing marine species, based on the information provided by hundreds of taxon...

The European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (EurOBIS) was established in 2004, as part of the Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning European Union Network of Excellence (MarBEF) project. One of the key project tasks was to integrate different resources on marine biodiversity. This gave birth to EurOBIS, a data system to capture, inte...

EMODnet Biology is the EU’s operational in situ service for marine biodiversity data, with actions focusing mainly on data publishing, creation of data products and publication of informative material covering the European Seas and the following groups: (macro)algae, angiosperms, benthos, birds, fish, mammals, phytoplankton, reptiles and zooplankto...

We provide an overview of the World Amphipoda Database (WAD), a global species database that is part of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Launched in 2013, the database contains entries for over 10,500 accepted species names. Edited currently by 31 amphipod taxonomists, following WoRMS priorities, the WAD has at least one editor per maj...

EMODnet Biology (hosted and coordinated by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)) is one of the seven themes within the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet). The EMODnet Biology consortium aims to facilitate the accessibility and usage of marine biodiversity data. With the principle of "collect once, use many times" at its core, EM...

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait info...

Based on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), there are currently c. 242,000 known valid marine species living in the world's oceans and marine biota continue to be discovered and named steadily at a current average of 2,332 new species per year. The “average” newly described marine species is a benthic crustacean, annelid, or mollusc betw...

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait info...

Biological ocean science has a long history; it goes back millennia, whereas the related data services have emerged in the recent digital era of the past decades. To understand where we come from—and why data services are so important—we will start by taking you back to the rise in the study of marine biology—marine biodiversity—and its key players...

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is an authoritative classification and catalogue of marine names. The WoRMS portal and available web-services are a gateway to access a treasure-chest of information, not only on taxon names themselves, but also on their mutual relations (e.g., original names, accepted versus unaccepted names, taxonomic...

The rise in demand for more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data is being answered by increasingly automated ways to capture, process, publish and register biodiversity datasets. Coupled with the increasing possibilities for detecting hundreds of species in a single sample/event (i.e., eDNA), this results in taxonomic infor...

DiSSCo Flanders aims at developing a standardised natural science collections management infrastructure, ensuring proper long-term conservation, and future re-usage of the collections. Meise Botanic Garden coordinates the Flemish consortium. This four-year project, funded by the FWO (Research Foundation – Flanders), started in January 2021. The con...

Historical biodiversity documents comprise an important link to the long-term data life cycle and provide useful insights on several aspects of biodiversity research and management. However, because of their historical context, they present specific challenges, primarily time- and effort-consuming in data curation. The data rescue process requires...

EMODnet Biology is part of a network of more than 150 organisations working towards making European Marine data easily accessible and available across seven thematic disciplines. It focuses on species, distributions, species attributes, sampling methods and biological indicators data from 9 functional groups: algae, angiosperms, benthos, birds, fis...

This paper recommends best practice for the use of open nomenclature (ON) signs applicable to image-based faunal analyses. It is one of numerous initiatives to improve biodiversity data input to improve the reliability of biological datasets and their utility in informing policy and management. Image-based faunal analyses are increasingly common bu...

A major historical challenge for the management of anthropogenic introductions of species has been the absence of a globally standardised system for species nomenclature. For over a decade, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has provided a taxonomically authoritative classification and designation of the currently accepted names for all k...

Aim As a consequence of the 2007 European Union Maritime Policy, the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) was established to improve access to high quality marine data. From 2009 to 2012, a set of preparatory actions led to the development of an online portal which allowed for the access and download of these data European marine...

Most foraminiferal research is founded on sound taxonomy. To clearly communicate such research, similar species concepts and consistent use of names is desirable. As a contribution to this larger goal, the World Foraminifera Database (http://www.marinespecies.org/foraminifera) was set up in 2010 as a subset within the World Register of Marine Speci...

We give estimated counts of known accepted genera of the world (301,108* ±62,998*, of which approximately 22% are fossil), and unaccepted genera (synonyms sensu lato: 190,741* ±62,998*), for “all life” based on the March 2020 release of the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG); a further approx. 9,400* accepted genus names are an...

Organisms’ traits are increasingly being targeted to describe systems and their functionality. In ecological studies, analysis of traits’ as units are largely applied to communities, while the application of traits to taxonomic levels is receiving less attention. The project “Talitraits” was launched to target: 1) a relatively low taxonomic level,...

The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is responsible for the set-up of the LifeWatch Taxonomic Backbone (LW-TaxBB), as a central part of the European LifeWatch Infrastructure. The LW-TaxBB aims to (virtually) bring together different component databases and data systems, all of them related to taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, genetics and literature...

Describing species patterns and their underlying processes are essential to assessing the status and future evolution of marine ecosystems. This effort requires biological information on functional and structural species traits, such as feeding ecology, body size, reproduction, and life history. Basic trait information was already available within...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by scientists to perform research and support innovation. A number of EU research infrastructures [e.g. e-Science and Technology European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (LifeWatch) European Research Iinfrastructures Consortium (ERIC); The European lif...

The World Register of marine Cave Species (WoRCS) constitutes a Thematic Species Database of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). It was launched in 2016 by 8 founding Thematic Editors and the WoRMS Data Management Team with the aim to create a comprehensive taxonomic and ecological database of species known from marine caves and anchialin...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Polar marine regions are facing rapid changes induced by climate change, with consequences for local faunal populations, but also for overall ecosystem functioning, goods and services. Yet given the complexity of polar marine ecosystems, predicting the mode, direction and extent of these consequences remains challenging. Trait-based approaches are...

This supplement presents image sources as one example to help overcome lack of trait data in polar (and other) areas. Pros and cons are discussed.

This supplement explains how the 323 (standardized) traits found via our literature survey of 233 marine trait-based studies where grouped into 20 topical clusters (see Supplement 1: Degen EcolIndApp1 2018). Based on these 20 clusters the Table 2 in the main text was constructed.

This supplement (excel spread sheet) includes the references to 233 peer-reviewed publications that focus on marine species traits. Additional to the reference, the ecosystem component, research topic, trait label, and source are given. The trait labels are listed 1) as occurring in the original reference, 2) in a standardized form, and 3) belongin...

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017. WoRMS is a unique database: there is no comparable global database for marine species, which is driven by a large, global expert community, is supported by a Data Management Team and can rely on a permanent host institute, dedicated to keeping WoRMS online. Over t...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

The World Register of Marine Species aims to provide the most authoritative list of names of all marine species, ever published through a freely available online portal. In 2017, WoRMS celebrated its 10 th anniversary. This was an excellent opportunity to both look backward and forward, by analyzing how the system has grown, how it is used and how...

The World Register of Marine Species aims to provide the most authoritative list of names of all marine species, ever published through a freely available online portal. In 2017, WoRMS celebrated its 10 th anniversary. This was an excellent opportunity to both look backward and forward, by analyzing how the system has grown, how it is used and how...

The World Register of Marine species (WoRMS) has been established for a decade. The early history of the database involved compilation of existing global and regional species registers. This aggregation, combined with changes to data types and the changing needs of WoRMS users, has resulted in an evolution of data-entry consistency over time. With...

The biological works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle include a significant amount of information on marine animals. This study is an overview of Aristotle’s scientific contribution to the knowledge of marine biodiversity and specifically to taxonomic classification, nomenclature and distribution of marine species. Our results show that Aristotle...

Recognition of the threats to biodiversity and its importance to society has led to calls for globally coordinated sampling of trends in marine ecosystems. As a step to defining such efforts, we review current methods of collecting and managing marine biodiversity data. A fundamental component of marine biodiversity is knowing what, where, and when...

Data providers in the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) network are not just recording species occurrences, they are also recording sampling methodology details and measuring environmental and biotic variables. In order to make OBIS an effective data sharing platform, it needs to be able to store and exchange these data in such a way th...

The importance of describing species patterns and the underlying processes explaining these patterns is essential to assess the status and future evolution of marine ecosystems. This requires biological information on functional and structural species traits such as feeding ecology, body size, reproduction, life history, etc. To accommodate this ne...

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) aims to integrate smaller, isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive picture of life in our oceans. Therefore, OBIS provides a gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been observed. The datasets within OBIS are contributed by a network of hundr...

As reservoirs of sponge diversity, marine caves have attracted the interest of sponge researchers from around the world at an early stage. The need to compile all the existing largely scattered information on the sponge diversity of this unique ecosystem has been recently recognized and some regional overviews came out. The World Register of marine...

IRMNG, the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera, was commenced in 2006 as an initiative of the Australian OBIS Node (OBIS Australia) following an analysis of the taxonomic names management needs of OBIS, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System. The main objectives were to produce a hierarchical classification of all life, both extant...

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is the world’s most comprehensive online, open-access database of marine species distributions. OBIS grows with millions of new species observations every year. Contributions come from a network of hundreds of institutions, projects and individuals with common goals: to build a scientific knowledge...

Catalogue of diatom names resurrected: diatombase will be the new authority resource for diatom names and more.

Scientific exploration of marine cave environments and anchialine ecosystems over recent decades has led to outstanding discoveries of novel taxa, increasing our knowledge of biodiversity. However, biological research on underwater caves has taken place only in a few areas of the world and relevant information remains fragmented in isolated publica...

Dispersal plays a key role to connect populations and, if limited, is one of the main processes to maintain and generate regional biodiversity. According to neutral theories of molecular evolution and biodiversity, dispersal limitation of propagules and population stochasticity are integral to shaping both genetic and community structure. We conduc...

Few studies have addressed the terraces adjacent to the Tana River and delta. In May 2012 a survey assessed the woody vegetation of the terraces in anticipation of their conversion to a biofuel farm. The 64 000 hectares targeted by Bedford Biofuels for clearing for Jatropha curcas would have released over 1 million Mg of carbon at a social cost of...

The Aphia platform is an infrastructure designed to capture taxonomic and related data and information, and includes an online editing environment. The latter allows easy access to experts so they can update the content of the database in a timely fashion. Aphia is the core platform that underpins the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and it...

Background: Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems,...

This paper reviews the utility and availability of biological and ecological traits for marine species so as to prioritise the development of a world database on marine species traits. In addition, the 'status' of species for conservation, that is, whether they are introduced or invasive, of fishery or aquaculture interest, harmful, or used as an e...

Since 2006, the 'VLIZ Alien Species Consortium' has collected data and information on species that were introduced by humans in marine and brackish habitats and have established reproducing populations in the study area. The consortium consists of a network of experts in marine and brackish environments in Belgium, representing more than 22 differe...

Being able to assess the quality and level of completeness of data has become indispensable in marine biodiversity research, especially when dealing with large databases that typically compile data from a variety of sources. Very few integrated databases offer quality flags on the level of the individual record, making it hard for users to easily e...

All delegates are welcome to this workshop. This workshop will briefly review the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), a freely accesible, online database that covers 226.000 named marine species and about 20.000 of their freshwater and terrestrial relatives. It is permanently hosted by the Data Center at the Flanders Marine Institute, Belgium...

MolluscaBase, which will be a Global Species Database covering all marine, freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, recent and fossil, was launched on February 6-7, 2014 at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) at Ostende, host institute of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Currently, the WoRMS database contains more than 44,000 valid, verif...

The Mollusca, second largest phylum on Earth, lack a global listing of valid names or even precise figures for the number of Recent species. The launching of MolluscaBase is intended to fill this gap, expanding the contents of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) to include all marine, freshwater and terrestrial molluscs, recent and fossil....

Introduction-The African Register of Marine Species (AfReMaS) is recently launched taxonomic database of marine species found along the African coasts. The database was originally developed as the Marine Species Database for Eastern Africa (MASDEA). It was extended thereafter to include species from the entire African coast. Currently it has 24,016...

The main purpose of this document is cover the more general aspects regarding checklists for marine regions. It outlines the steps required to compile distribution notes, to set up a register and produce a marine taxonomic checklist, but also describes some of stumbling blocks that one might encounter along the way and offers suggestions on how to...

For seven years, village-based recorders monitored fish catches and water levels in seven floodplain-associated lakes of the Lower Rufiji, Tanzania. The lakes differ in the number of days and volume of inflows from the river, and thus provide a natural experiment to explore the links between catch composition, income per hour of fishing (IPHF) and...

The phytoplankton biomass data of the period 1979–2005 of the Belt Sea area and the Baltic Proper, separated into spring, summer and autumn data, were checked for trends, together with the relevant abiotic factors (temperature, salinity, and nutrient concentrations). The Mann–Kendall test was used for detecting monotonic trends over the whole inves...