As specified in national and European laws and directives (INSPIRE, Aarhus convention…), ecological data in Europe must be accessible and free for use by the research community as well as other stakeholders. Scientific research questions in ecology can be resolved at local, regional and global response scales by concomitant stakeholders only by combining data of different disciplines. Do you know any review or list of existing databases in your own disciplinary field in ecology?
Given your focus on ecology, you may want to start with this GEO BON document:
http://www.earthobservations.org/documents/cop/bi_geobon/geobon_information_architecture_principles.pdf
The GEO Secretariat (https://www.earthobservations.org/index.php) is dedicated to the coordination of data acquisition and analysis in a wide range of thematic fields called "Societal Benefit Areas (SBA)", and strongly advocates open access and inter-operability.
The weather and climate community has a very long history (>150 years) of developing common measurement protocols and sharing data, so you may gain insight by investigating the work and findings of
- the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/), which coordinates and oversees efforts to acquire, archive and distribute climate data worldwide, in particular for atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial applications. Look, in particular, at the various pages under "About GCOS", "Observing Systems and Data", and "Outreach" (in this latter case for a list of publications).
- the World Meteorological Organization (WMO: https://www.wmo.int/pages/index_en.html) and specifically the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS: https://www.wmo.int/pages/governance/ec/global-framework-for-climate-services_en.html).
Another large, multidisciplinary organization to monitor is the International Council for Science (ICSU: http://www.icsu.org/), including its flagship programme called "Future Earth" (http://www.futureearth.org/).
All these international structures share a common interest in database structure, inter-operability, effective and open access, etc., not only to stimulate interdisciplinary research but also to promote the sustainable development of nations and societies.
Dear Romain,
start with this at the european level:
- European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity: http://bd.eionet.europa.eu/
and at a world wide level go to:
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility: http://www.gbif.org/
For the marine environment:
- Ocean Biogeographic Information System: http://www.iobis.org/
- World Register of Marine Species: http://www.marinespecies.org
At a french level:
- Inventaire National du Patrimoine Naturel: http://inpn.mnhn.fr/
- BBEES - UMS 3468 -Bases de Données sur la Biodiversité, Ecologie, Environnement et Sociétés: http://bbees.mnhn.fr/
Hope this helps
Cyril
Dear Romain,
for soil biodiversity data please go to http://www.edaphobase.org (Soil organism data warehouse for taxonomy, ecology and references).
Best regards,
Ulfert
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