Avibase

Avibase
Type of site	Taxonomic database
Available in	105 languages
Created by	Denis Lepage
URL	avibase.bsc-eoc.org
Launched	2003
Current status	Active

Avibase is an online

American Ornithological Society Checklist of North American Birds

since 1886). Taxonomic concepts in over 230 different taxonomic sources have been mapped and cross-referenced to Avibase concepts.

The website also offers checklists for more than 20,000 geographic regions of the world, species pages with taxonomic information and synonyms, and tools for observers to maintain their own sightings and obtain reports, such as a map showing countries or eBird hotspots with target species.

History and purpose

Avibase was created and is maintained by Denis Lepage, currently senior director, data science and technology at Birds Canada. The data contained in Avibase has been gathered starting around 1991.^[8] The Avibase website was launched in June 2003 and has been hosted by Birds Canada (formerly Bird Studies Canada) since its inception.

Features

Taxonomic concepts. The database is organized primarily around a table of unique taxonomic concepts. A taxonomic concept is a way of grouping similar taxa together in a database in a more flexible way as compared to specific species names.

color morphs

and invalid or dubious forms.

Nomenclature data. Each scientific name is described to include citation data and the name associated with the original description. Approximately 87,000 scientific names have been recorded in Avibase, and various types of synonyms are also available.

Regional species checklists are available for more than 20,000 regions of the world. This includes all countries, territories and dependencies, and most regions defined in the GADM subnational layers such as provinces, states, prefectures, counties, departments, municipalities and districts (GADM levels 1 and 2), as well as over 2,500 islands. Regional checklists are available in several taxonomic formats and can incorporate common names in a variety of languages. Data for regional checklists originates from multiple of sources, such as the eBird EBD dataset and forums such as the Facebook Global Rare Bird Alert.

Common names and synonyms are available in 271 different languages and regional variants, and there are 21 languages that have a coverage greater than 85% of species with a known common name.

MyAvibase, launched in 2013, provides free tools for users to maintain their life lists and generate reports that are focused on finding target species that the observer has not yet seen, or general regional statistics (e.g. total number of species by country).

Notes

^ "The concept of 'potential taxa' in databases." Berendsohn WG (1995) Taxon 44: 207–212.
^ "Standard data model representation for taxonomic information." Kennedy J, Hyam R, Kukla R, Paterson T (2006). OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 10: 220–230.
^ "Avibase – a Database System for Managing and Organizing Taxonomic Concepts.", Lepage, Denis, Gaurav Vaidya, and Robert Guralnick, ZooKeys, 420 (June 25, 2014): 117–35.
^ The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019 Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019.
^ Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. HBW and BirdLife International (Dec. 2019)
^ IOC World Bird List (v10.1) Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2020.
^ The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, version 4.1 (Downloadable checklist) Archived 2020-06-03 at the Wayback Machine Christidis et al. 2018.
^ "Avibase - The World Bird Database". avibase.bsc-eoc.org.
^ "Taxonomy for Humans or Computers? Cognitive Pragmatics for Big Data." Sterner, Beckett, and Nico M. Franz. 2017. Biological Theory 12 (2): 99–111.
^ To Increase Trust, Change the Social Design behind Aggregated Biodiversity Data. Franz, Nico M., and Beckett W. Sterner. 2018. Database 2018 (January).
^ "Controlling the Taxonomic Variable: Taxonomic Concept Resolution for a Southeastern United States Herbarium Portal." Franz, Nico, Edward Gilbert, Bertram Ludäscher, and Alan Weakley. 2016. Research Ideas and Outcomes 2 (September): e10610.

References

Mitch, Leslie (2004), "Where Eagles-and Sparrows-Dare", S2CID 220095931

Lepage, Denis; Vaidya, Gaurav; Gulralnick, Robert (2014), "Avibase – a database system for managing and organizing taxonomic concepts", PMID 25061375

What's in a name? Shifting meanings of biological names, Pensoft Publishers, 2014

Remsen, David (2016), "The Use and Limits of Scientific Names in Biological Informatics", PMID 26877660

Dickinson, Edward C. (2016), "Reinforcing the Foundations of Ornithological Nomenclature: Filling the Gaps in Sherborn's and Richmond's Historical Legacy of Bibliographic Exploration.", PMID 26877660

Sterner, Beckett; Franz, Nico M. (2017), "Taxonomy for Humans or Computers? Cognitive Pragmatics for Big Data", S2CID 90423947

Christidis, Les; Garnett, Stephen T. (2017), "Taxonomy anarchy hampers conservation", PMID 28569833

Vaidya, Gaurav; Lepage, Denis; Gulralnick, Robert (2018), "The tempo and mode of the taxonomic correction process: How taxonomists have corrected and recorrected North American bird species over the last 127 years", PMID 29672539

External links

Wikidata has the property:
Avibase ID (P2026) (see uses)

Official website

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avibase&oldid=1202281355"

[1] "The concept of 'potential taxa' in databases." Berendsohn WG (1995) Taxon 44: 207–212.

[2] "Standard data model representation for taxonomic information." Kennedy J, Hyam R, Kukla R, Paterson T (2006). OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology 10: 220–230.

[3] "Avibase – a Database System for Managing and Organizing Taxonomic Concepts.", Lepage, Denis, Gaurav Vaidya, and Robert Guralnick, ZooKeys, 420 (June 25, 2014): 117–35.

[4] The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019 Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019.

[5] Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. HBW and BirdLife International (Dec. 2019)

[6] IOC World Bird List (v10.1) Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2020.

[7] The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, version 4.1 (Downloadable checklist) Archived 2020-06-03 at the Wayback Machine Christidis et al. 2018.

[8] "Avibase - The World Bird Database". avibase.bsc-eoc.org.

[9] "Taxonomy for Humans or Computers? Cognitive Pragmatics for Big Data." Sterner, Beckett, and Nico M. Franz. 2017. Biological Theory 12 (2): 99–111.

[10] To Increase Trust, Change the Social Design behind Aggregated Biodiversity Data. Franz, Nico M., and Beckett W. Sterner. 2018. Database 2018 (January).

[11] "Controlling the Taxonomic Variable: Taxonomic Concept Resolution for a Southeastern United States Herbarium Portal." Franz, Nico, Edward Gilbert, Bertram Ludäscher, and Alan Weakley. 2016. Research Ideas and Outcomes 2 (September): e10610.

[8]