Biodiversity Information Projects of the World

Azorean Biodiversity Portal

Project Website

http://www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/

Project Description

A group of Azorean researchers has built an open internet database of the terrestrial Azorean lichens, bryophytes, vascular plants, terrestrial molluscs, arthropods and vertebrates and coastal invertebrates,: The Azorean Biodiversity Portal (ABP) (www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/). This is a unique resource for fundamental research on systematics, biodiversity, and conservation management in the Azores (Portugal). It also provides an original platform for biogeographical and macroecological research in islands.
The species database (ATLANTIS database) comprises spatial grid-based (500x500 m) presence-absence information for ca. 5000 species, based on literature survey (dating back to the 19th Century) and also on unpublished records from recent intensive surveys in the Azores. Many species are also illustrated with images of collection and/or live specimens

Contact

Paulo A. V. Borges
Principal Investigator
University of Azores

Project Type

Data Provider

Project Language

English

Project Start Date

01-Jan-2004

Project End Date

01-Jul-2008

Key Inputs

1) Creation of a spatial based database - all taxonomic and incidence information dispersed in hundreds of publications is now concentrated in a SQL database that is easily accessible through a user-friendly software (ATLANTIS Tierra2.0) (see more below);
2) Taxonomic revision – several taxonomists revised the nomenclature and taxonomy of each taxonomic group. The database is organized in a way that all information (taxonomic and spatial) is linked to a document (all types of taxonomic works, but also unpublished reports) validated by a taxonomist coordinator;
3) Conservation management - a variety of areas of information related to conservation management could be introduced and filtered in the analysis process, namely: colonization status of a species (endemic from the archipelago or from Macaronesia, native, introduced); habitat of occurrence; conservation status (IUCN status, etc.);
4) Predictive modelling – current knowledge on biodiversity patterns and processes is yet insufficient to provide social actors and decision-makers with unquestionable models and scenarios to be used to decide conservation policies (see discussion in Whittaker et al., 2005). Moreover, surveying all the territory for all the species is an impossible task. As a consequence, we aim to model the spatial distribution and geographic responses on the species

This effort was started by the Canarian Conservation Bureau with the project BIOTA-Canarias, and resulted in the publication of a detailed list of terrestrial and marine biodiversity of the Canary Islands (Izquierdo et al, 2001, 2004; Moro et al., 2003). Later the idea was expanded to the other Macaronesian archipelagos (the Cape Verde Islands, Madeira-Selvagens and the Azores) through two INTERREG IIIB projects called ATLÂNTICO and BIONATURA (2004-2008). As a consequence of the cooperation between the Canarian, the Azorean and the Madeira governments, three more lists of species were published recently for Cape Verde (Arechavaleta et al., 2005), Azores (Borges et al., 2005a) and Madeira -Selvagens (Borges et al., 2008). With such cooperation, that included more that 200 taxonomists, now we know that the number of unique endemic species and subspecies of terrestrial organisms (fungi, plants and animals) in these islands is estimated to be around 420 for the Azores (Borges et al., 2005a), 1 419 for Madeira (Borges et al., 2008) and 3 672 for the Canary Islands (Izquierdo et al., 2004). With such a diversity of unique species, many of them under threat (Martin et al., 2008), it was critical to develop a project to highlight such importance.

Key Infrastructure

Borges, P.A.V., Cunha, R., Gabriel, R., Martins, A. F., Silva, L. & Vieira, V. (eds.) (2005) A list of the terrestrial fauna (Mollusca and Arthropoda) and flora (Bryophyta, Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta) from the Azores. Direcção Regional do Ambiente and Universidade dos Açores, Horta, Angra do Heroísmo and Ponta Delgada.

Key Technologies

In 1998 the Government of the Canary Islands started an important project on biodiversity, Project BIOTA-Canarias . A software called ATLANTIS Tierra 2.0 was developed for biodiversity data storage. This software was written in Visual Basic, using a common database environment; it uses the SQL language to develop interrogation queries and has an easy interface with all GIS software. With this database it is possible to store detailed information about the taxonomy and georeferrenced distribution of all species on the surveyed geographical areas of interest.

In the "Azorean Bodiversity Portal" information is imported from SQL and is being stored and accessed via MySQL in a Linux server.

Key Processes

We think that this Portal is now covering the following objectives:
a) Providing resources for colleagues in the academia (“Science”), in order to test biogeographical and macro-ecological hypothesis on island systems Data is usually provided as shapefile for GIS software or simple as presence/absence matrix;
b) Contributing to the conservation management in the Azores by giving detailed information on the distribution of species for several stakeholders (“Management”).
c) Helping students in their school project and reports (“Education”).

d) Attracting the cooperation of many nature photographers (“Communication”).

Geographic Scope

Regional - Azorean Islands

Taxonomic Scope

All - Lichens (Fungi), bryophytes (Bryophyta), vascular plants (Spermatophyta), terrestrial molluscs (Mollusca), arthropods (Arthropoda), vertebrates (Vertebrata) and coastal invertebrates (all animal Phyla)

Comments

The ABP contributes with species distribution data stored in a SQL database and allows scientists to test macroecological and biogeographical hypothesis on species distributions. ABP future developments should include the possibility of doing queries that could generate maps of species richness in order to identify hotspots of richness, distribution patterns of exotic species, gaps in species inventories, etc. We are working to provide these facilities in the future, since they are already available in the original ATLANTIS database. As the number of experts and non-experts involved on recording new localities for the species is still scarce, we hope that the ABP could inspire new efforts to accomplish this important task.

Record Status

Information about this project is Complete.
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