Morphbank

Morphbank is a continuously growing database of images that scientists use for international collaboration, research and education.1

Description

Exeretonevra angustifrons, Bago Forest, Batlow, NSW. Christine Lambkin2

Images deposited in Morphbank document a wide variety of research including: specimen-based research in comparative anatomy, morphological phylogenetics, taxonomy and related fields focused on increasing our knowledge about biodiversity.

Overall, Morphbank facilitates research efforts by making it possible to store, discuss and share detailed images of specimens from all over the world. Currently, Morphbank holds more than 63,000 public images of more than 4500 different species. Many more images are in the system that are presently not public, but are held private until the contributing scientists are ready to release the images. These images to document characters and features to describe organisms, make observations about the organisms, or make a comment about the images themselves. The set of morphological features unique to a specimen can be used to identify future specimens. New species are discovered and described by looking at images in Morphbank and extinct or very rare specimens are preserved for current and future generations to study.

Morphbank was established in 1998 by a Swedish-Spanish-American group of entomologists and is currently housed at the School of Computational Science (SCS) at Florida State University. The project has grown immensely since its beginnings and presently includes a team of 15 biologists, computer scientists and information scientists who are working on developing the software. Morphbank is dedicated to using open-source software and is a Fair Use Web Site.

The project receives its main funding from the Biological Databases and Informatics program of the National Science Foundation.3

Function

• Data cleaning and manipulation
  • Data validating – taxonomy
• Visualisation tools
  • Images
• Taxonomy
  • Identification
• Provider interaction
  • Data preparation
• User interface
  • Personal and institutional
  • Visual presentation

Why use this tool?

Morphbank is an excellent source of information for identification of biological specimens.

In taxonomy, descriptions of new species or other nomenclatural acts can be documented by images and image comment tools in Morphbank. Biologists who use Morphbank can mark an image, make comments about images that are seen by other researchers often continents away.

Morphbank provides stable Web links to image collections for use in online and traditional print publications. Large biological inventory projects can use Morphbank to share image information about morphological types and allow experts to do remote identification.4

Who will use this tool?

• Data creation
  • Experts - taxonomy
• Data capture
  • Curators – specimens, identification
• Data providers
  • Institutions
  • Private collections
  • Casual users
• Data users
  • Expert
  • Interest groups
  • General public
• ALA infrastructure

How will the tool be used?

Morphbank users who wish to access, add and modify data will be required to login into the system.5 Members are assigned appropriate taxonomic privileges. Without login, only published (public) information that can be browsed or searched by the casual user (specimen, image, publication, locality, view, or collection data) can be seen.6

• Online searchable database of images
• Upload: web interface, ftp, CD and Excel spreadsheet 7
• Browser required with pop-ups and cookies, Java and JavaScript, pdf, media player 8
• User input is required
• Batch mode for submission

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• Data source
• ALA central
• User’s machine

When could this tool be used?

• Before data is made available to ALA
• While data is stored with ALA
• At the time of a user request

Availability

• Morphbank: http://www.morphbank.net/
• User manual: http://www.morphbank.net/About/Manual/
• Documentation: http://www.morphbank.net/Help/Documents/
• ENBI - Digital Imaging of Biological Type Specimens - A Manual of Best Practice: http://circa.gbif.net/Public/irc/enbi/comm/library?l=/enbi_reports/biological_specimens&vm=detailed&sb=Title
• Version 2.7,  November 2007
• Cost: free
• Copyright: http://www.morphbank.net/About/Copyright/
• Licence: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Creative Commons by-nc-sa for every image: 9

Comments