Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2012 Mar;27(3):151-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.09.007. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
Global knowledge about the spatial distribution of species is orders of magnitude coarser in resolution than other geographically-structured environmental datasets such as topography or land cover. Yet such knowledge is crucial in deciphering ecological and evolutionary processes and in managing global change. In this review, we propose a conceptual and cyber-infrastructure framework for refining species distributional knowledge that is novel in its ability to mobilize and integrate diverse types of data such that their collective strengths overcome individual weaknesses. The ultimate aim is a public, online, quality-vetted 'Map of Life' that for every species integrates and visualizes available distributional knowledge, while also facilitating user feedback and dynamic biodiversity analyses. First milestones toward such an infrastructure have now been implemented.
全球物种的空间分布知识的分辨率比地形或土地覆盖等其他具有地理结构的环境数据集粗糙几个数量级。然而，这种知识对于破译生态和进化过程以及管理全球变化至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们提出了一个概念和网络基础设施框架，用于改进物种分布知识，该框架在调动和整合各种类型的数据方面具有创新性，从而使其集体优势克服了个体弱点。最终目标是建立一个公共的、在线的、经过质量验证的“生命地图”，为每个物种整合和可视化可用的分布知识，同时也促进用户反馈和动态生物多样性分析。实现这一基础设施的第一个里程碑已经实现。
