The availability of biodiversity data is a major issue at a time of global habitat loss. As the world’s largest single data portal, one of GBIF’s strategic objectives is to make possible scientific research that has until now been impossible. These data are an important source of information for the biological researcher. They can be used for taxonomic revisions, environmental niche modelling, compiling redlists of threatened species and biodiversity assessment.
Yesson C, Brewer PW, Sutton T, Caithness N, Pahwa JS, et al (2007) How Global Is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility? PLoS
ONE 2(11): e1124. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001124
Example 1: Crop wild relatives
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GBIF – Providing means for evaluating the impact of climate change on crop wild relatives
Crop wild relatives are a vital source of genetic diversity and can be used to adapt cultivated crops to climate change. However, today they are under threat from the impacts of climate change.
In this study, we use data accessible through GBIF to evaluate the possible threats posed by climate change on 11 wild gene pools of some of the major crops across the globe, comprising a total of 343 species.
For each species, we compiled data from both herbarium collections and germ plasm accessions from GBIF, and analysed the potential distribution of each species using the Maximum Entropy approach in Maxent. Based on 18 global climate models for the year 2050 under emissions scenario A2a, we also mapped the future geographic distribution of species, assuming unlimited migration rates.
We then mapped the current richness of crop wild relatives, their future predicted richness and the predicted change. The results show the hotspots of change where significant loss of diversity is expected to occur. These sites – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, eastern Turkey, the Mediterranean region, and parts of Mexico – are priority areas for future collection of ex situ genetic resources and their long-term conservation in gene banks.
Andy Jarvis(1), Samy Gaiji (2), Julian Ramirez (1) and Emmanuel Zapata (1)
1. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
2. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat (GBIF)
Example 2: Agriculture
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The value of GBIF in mobilising information for adapting agriculture to climate change
Recent analyses of the impacts of climate change on appropriate habitats for the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) show that many areas of the world are losing climatic suitability for its growth.
There are 268,000 ex situ accessions of common bean held in gene bank collections around the world. Each of these accessions may have useful traits for adapting new varieties to future changes in climate.
GBIF already has information available for about a third of these accessions. Data mining such a global information resource provides a unique opportunity to identify germ plasm with potential useful traits, such as drought tolerance.
For example, through the GBIF Data Portal, it is possible to identify germ plasm held in gene banks which where originally collected in locations with less than 300 mm rainfall during the 3-month growing season. Most of these 3,608 accessions come from Central Europe, but many from the Sahelian belt and the dry regions of the southern Andes. These are the kinds of candidate accessions needed in a breeding program for drought tolerance.
In this way, the global GBIF infrastructure permits the identification or pre-screening of valuable biodiversity resources and enables more advanced bioinformatics analyses. It is therefore a critical tool for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of breeding programs to adapt to climate change.
Andy Jarvis(1), Samy Gaiji (2), Julian Ramirez (1) and Emmanuel Zapata (1)
1. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
2. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat (GBIF)
